One of the core objectives of the Center for Citizenship & Constitutional Government is to cultivate the next generation of civic-minded academics, forming scholars to form decades of students in stewarding the American constitutional order. To that end, the Center’s faculty and staff offer mentorship and research opportunities to postdoctoral fellows and staff pursuing faculty positions. This fall, two CCCG scholars, Dr. Luke Foster and Dr. Deborah O’Malley, are beginning tenure-track professorships in programs that focus on civic education. Foster is now an Assistant Professor in the Steve and Amy Van Andel Graduate School of Government at Hillsdale College’s Washington DC campus, and O’Malley is an Assistant Professor in the Institute of American Constitutional Thought & Leadership (IACTL) at the University of Toledo.
Foster, who was a Postdoctoral Research Scholar at the CCCG from 2022-24, holds a PhD from the University of Chicago’s Committee on Social Thought. From 2020-22, he was a Visiting Research Fellow at Sciences Po-Paris, the leading political science graduate school in France. He obtained a B.A. in English and history from Columbia University in 2015. The CCCG initially invited him to teach the Constitutional Studies gateway class in Spring 2022, before offering him a fellowship for the two subsequent years.
“Ever since I experienced the Core Curriculum at Columbia, I have had a fascination with the Great Books and a desire to grasp what they have to teach us about political order and to share those insights with others,” Foster explained. “But it is truly rare in academia today to find a place where the life of the mind and the pursuit of good character in a healthy community are integrated. The CCCG represents the best of philosophical grappling with first principles while caring deeply to form students as good citizens and as virtuous men and women.”
“The opportunities I have had during my fellowship with the CCCG have been extraordinary, “ he continued. “I have been able to develop syllabi for two new upperclassmen seminars, to travel to present research at leading conferences in political theory and constitutional studies, and to meet a series of distinguished guests, from scholars like Harvey Mansfield to practitioners like Michael Pompeo. These two and a half years have been extremely productive, resulting in three published articles, a complete book manuscript, and several drafts of new projects. A high point of my time here was hosting my friend Alexander Chula to speak on the legacy of the Western classics in the founding era of the Central African nation of Malawi, where I was born.”
O’Malley, who was Associate Director of the CCCG for two years, is excited to return to her home state of Ohio to pursue her teaching vocation. She was introduced to the study of the American political tradition at Ashland University in Ohio, where she majored in philosophy and political science and participated in the Ashbrook Scholar Program. She earned an M.A. and PhD in Political Science from Baylor University before spending a year as a postdoctoral fellow in Princeton University’s James Madison Program. She was then a Visiting Assistant Professor at Assumption University, where she taught American political thought and constitutional law. At Notre Dame, O’Malley managed the CCCG’s constitutional studies minor, the Tocqueville Fellows Program, and other student programming.
Both Foster and O’Malley credit the CCCG as well as Notre Dame’s Political Science Department for preparing them for the academic job market. They explained that seeking a professorship is a daunting process: writing applications, facing virtual screening interviews, and then, for the very fortunate, navigating an in-person, multi-day campus visit with a formal “job talk” lecture.
“The professors and visiting fellows in the CCCG and Political Science department were tremendously generous with their time,” O’Malley said, “The faculty and fellows, including Luke Foster, who was on the job market himself, participated in two practice job talks for me, gave me interview advice, and provided feedback on my scholarship that will benefit me for the rest of my career. And even now I’m still receiving guidance from Professor Muñoz on the development of my scholarship. I am immeasurably grateful for the mentors and friends that I found at Notre Dame.”
Foster explained that the CCCG, and Professor Muñoz especially, went above and beyond to help him as well. “They rallied the whole department–faculty, graduate students, and even colleagues from the quantitative fields of political science–to hear my practice job talk and give me detailed feedback.” He added, “Honest criticism is the most precious commodity in academia! Without that, I would not have received the job offers I did. Without the experience I gained at Notre Dame, I would not now be confident about teaching the art of government in our nation’s capital.”
O’Malley, who is also a Fellow with the Center for Religion, Culture and Democracy, said that her experience in the CCCG has shaped the intellectual community that she and her new colleagues are building in the University of Toledo’s new civic education institute. “Memories of the community that I was privileged to be a part of in the CCCG animate everything I do here at the University of Toledo,” O’Malley explained. “The CCCG is the preeminent model of a community that brings together students and scholars of a variety of political and philosophical perspectives, all sharing the desire to pursue Truth and develop excellence.”
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