This year marks the opening of Hillsdale College’s graduate program. The new school offers both a master’s and a doctorate in statesmanship.
The program has 13 students, seven in the masters program and six in the doctorate pro- gram. The graduate school will continue admitting this number of students, said Professor of Politics and Dean of the Gradu- ate School of Statesmanship Ronald Pestritto.
“It is hoped that the presence of the graduate program will el- evate the academic nature of the institution, enrich the intellectual environment generally and draw faculty and student from across campus into contemplation of the serious realities under study in the program,” Provost David Whalen said.
Hillsdale has been develop- ing and planning the graduate program since the start of 2001 during the college’s Founders Campaign, Pestritto said. The Founders Campaign is a capital-
earning project aimed at keeping Hillsdale’s independence from government funding.
After hiring enough faculty to teach the classes, the graduate program applied for accredita- tion in 2010. Hillsdale “passed with flying colors” after a year long accreditation review and opened for admission in August 2011, Pestritto said.
Students in the program will take classes in statesmanship, political philosophy, and Ameri- can politics. The faculty for the classes include President Larry Arnn, the entire politics depart- ment, and Paul Rahe, professor of history. Each semester, pro- fessors will rotate in and out of teaching graduate-level courses.
In addition to their course work, graduate students will attend eight lectures a year that cover a variety of topics in the humanities. These lectures are open to the public and started with Whalen’s lecture on Sept. 4.
Arnn will teach classes on Aristotle, Winston Churchill, and the Constitution, three classes he currently teaches at
the undergraduate level. He said he hopes to impart
on his students “a love of the good; a confidence that its pur- suits can lead to living well; an understanding of the meaning of their country and its claims for freedom and justice.”
Whalen said that the graduate program would not take away from the undergraduate politics department.
“The presence of the graduate program should have no effect — other than perhaps a salutary one — on the relation of faculty
to the undergraduates,” Whalen said. “Faculty are expected not to reduce the attention they give
their undergraduates at all.”
Doctorate student Josh Distel heard about Hillsdale while interning at his alma mater, Ashland University. Although he researched other universities, he said that Hillsdale has the best graduate school.
“The quality of the faculty, the focus of course, the serious- ness of the mission is what drew me to Hillsdale,” he said. “This is the place I knew I needed to be.”
Bruce Wykes, who is in the master’s program, is a retired member of the Air Force and taught undergraduate history for three and a half years at the United States Air Force Acad- emy. Wykes says his biggest adjustment is not from military to civilian life but from teacher to student.
“I want to learn and under-
stand,” he said. “Grapple with the philosophy and the founda- tional doctrines of the Western and American political traditions in a way that will make them more than familiar to me.”
Distel said that he is enjoying Hillsdale’s atmosphere.
“I like the campus. I like the small closeness of it,” he said. “So far everyone has been friendly and helpful.”
Pestritto said he looks for- ward to the graduate students integrating into the Hillsdale community.
“I hope they will come to exemplify the kind of virtues in our students that the mission of our college charges us to incul- cate,” he said.
