The Salmon P. Chase Center welcomes five new scholars this fall, expanding its expertise in law, history, education policy, political theory, theology, and civic leadership.
Joining the Center are faculty members Dr. Jacob Bruggeman, Dr. Albert Cheng, and Dr. Wan Ning Seah. Dr. Catherine Lemos and Dr. James McFetridge Wilson will be coming on board as post-doctoral scholars. These five will join the current 19 faculty members, two post-doctoral scholars, and two affiliated scholars at the Center, which is entering its second full year offering courses supporting its civics education mission.
The additions strengthen the Center's growing faculty roster and broaden the range of expertise available to students. The Center’s incoming faculty, like the colleagues they are joining, come from leading programs in the country, including Johns Hopkins, Duke, Notre Dame, and Cambridge University, and are published in leading journals and presses.
“Faculty excellence is essential to the Salmon P. Chase Center's success,” said Lee Strang, the Chase Center’s executive director. “Our faculty advance the Center's pursuit of rigorous inquiry and civic education. Ultimately, it is the students enrolled in our courses – and those who are declaring a major in Civics, Law, and Leadership – who are the beneficiaries of these faculty members’ knowledge and passion for citizenship education.”
Assistant Professor Jacob Bruggeman is a historian focused on the intersections of intellectual history, political economy, and technology in modern America. His research investigates how emergent digital technologies and their users shaped—and were shaped by—changing ideas of governance and civic life in the United States. He has a PhD from Johns Hopkins University, a Master of Philosophy from the University of Cambridge, and bachelor's and master's degrees from Miami University.
Associate Professor Albert Cheng studies K-12 education policy and practice, with particular interest in classical education, school choice, and educational outcomes. He is a research affiliate of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University, a senior fellow at Cardus, and a co-host of the Pioneer Institute’s The Learning Curve podcast. He has a PhD in education policy from the University of Arkansas, a Master of Education from Biola University, and an undergraduate degree in pure mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley.
Assistant Professor Wan Ning Seah is a political theorist with research interests in religious pluralism and toleration, the history of political thought, liberalism, and democratic theory. Her current book project examines religious pluralism as an alternative to liberal toleration. Before joining the Chase Center, she was a John and Daria Barry Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the James Madison Program at Princeton University. She holds a PhD in Political Science from Duke University and a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College.
Postdoctoral Scholar Catherine Lemos was a postdoctoral fellow with the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, where she taught Foundations of Theology. She researches Christian moral, legal, and political thought and has a particular interest in Thomas Aquinas. Lemos received her Bachelor of Philosophy from the University of Chicago and her Master of Theological Studies and PhD in Moral Theology from the University of Notre Dame. Her current research examines how law contributes to the development of moral virtue, drawing on theology, philosophy, and political theory.
Postdoctoral Scholar James McFetridge Wilson is a graduate of Deep Springs College, the University of Virginia, and Duke Divinity School. He recently earned a PhD in Theology from the University of Cambridge. His research explores modernist literature and secularization, classical metaphysics, and Augustine's Trinitarian thought. Before joining the Chase Center, he held a fellowship at the University of Notre Dame, where he taught in the Department of Theology.
These new faculty and postdoctoral scholars will begin teaching, conducting research, and engaging with students during fall semester, helping to fulfill the Chase Center's mission to advance civic education through scholarship, teaching, and public engagement.