We hope you enjoy these top news stories about TFAS activities, alumni and events this week. Please visit us on social media for additional up-to-the-moment TFAS news and information and sign up to receive weekly updates.

TFAS alumni, staff and faculty continue to make headlines. Read news, analysis and updates by visiting this week’s “Quick Links.”

TFAS Welcomes Spring 2021 Capital Semester Students

The new year brought a new TFAS program and new students to the nation’s capital! Fourteen outstanding young leaders were selected to attend the 2021 Spring Capital Semester program in Washington, D.C.

Students arrived in D.C. on Monday, Jan. 25, and are thrilled to begin their unique semester experience in the nation’s capital.

This orientation week has made me very excited for the months to come because there is so much still to experience and learn.” – Johanna Viik ’21

“Our first week in D.C. has been incredible even in a global pandemic,” said Johanna Viik, a student from Estonia. “I have loved chatting with the rest of the students. I feel like we are quite a diversely opinionated group and that we have a lot to learn from each other. This orientation week has made me very excited for the months to come because there is so much still to experience and learn.”

With four international students and 10 students from across the U.S., three of whom attend Penn State University, the program participants will learn as much from each other as they do from their classes and internships.

The students spent their first week getting settled into their new apartment building on Capitol Hill, participating in various orientation sessions, and touring the city while following social distancing guidelines.

Visit TFAS.org/CapSem21 to learn more about the new cohort.

TFAS Senior Scholar’s New Book Receives High Praise from Thought Leaders

The Fund for American Studies (TFAS) Grewcock Senior Scholar Dr. Donald Devine published his tenth book in January 2021.

His new book, “The Enduring Tension: Capitalism and the Moral Order,” provides a bold look into the failures of the current economic system, critiques the responses to it, and identifies a solution for reinstating capitalism as it was intended to be.

In the first week since its release, Devine’s new work has garnered the attention of leaders in academia, business, philanthropy and journalism. Among these is Barton Swaim of the Wall Street Journal, who believes Devine’s book perfectly summarizes the relationship between freedom, capitalism and conservatism.

“The book’s overarching theme is that economic freedom has always existed “in tension” with the moral and religious impulses that animate traditional life, and that American conservatism depends on that tension to flourish,” Swaim said. “It is a superb work of synthesis.”

Read the recent praise about Devine’s important work at TFAS.org/DevineBook21.

TFAS Executive Vice President Steve Slattery shares the importance of maintaining free speech and civil discourse in our nation in a recently published op-ed for The Washington Times.

TFAS Trustee Peter McPherson writes for Forbes on the importance of developing a national strategy for attracting international students to the U.S.

TFAS Grewock Senior Scholar Dr. Donald Devine was featured on an episode of The Jim Bohannon Show to discuss his new book, “The Enduring Tension.”

Glynis Gilio, Law ’19, is the recipient of the John Norton Distinguished Fellowship from the Goldwater Institute.

Maura Weber ’09 is now a trade and industry analyst at the Bureau of Industry and Security at the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Brendan Jaspers ’17 is the director of campaigns at The Club for Growth.

Helen Andrews, Novak ’17, was interviewed on C-SPAN about her new book titled “Boomers: The Men and Women Who Promised Freedom and Delivered Disaster.”

Alexandra Hudson, Novak ’19, discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic and remote working has led to more growth in small towns in a piece for USA Today.

Brent Skorup, Law ’10, PPF ’13, co-authors a piece for USA Today on expected growth in the commercial drone delivery industry in 2021.

Dina Aboughazala ’05, ’08 was interviewed by Digital Arabia Network about how her digital media platform “Egab” is helping to amplify voices of journalists in the Middle East and Africa.

Capri Cafaro ’94 was featured by her alma mater, Stanford University’s American Studies Program.

Will Weatherford ’02 is featured in Florida Politics for his role on the Tampa Bay Super Bowl LV Host Committee.

Micha Gartz ’18 is a research associate for the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER).

Blazer Research Fellow Jillur Rahim ’13 is pursuing his doctorate in health economics at the University of Alabama in Birmingham.

Rym Momtaz ’05, ’07 is now the France senior correspondent for POLITICO Europe.

TFAS Trustee Emeritus Mitch Daniels discusses America’s fiscal future in a piece for The Washington Post.

TFAS Director of Foundation Relations Tyler Groenendal was interviewed for Talent Market‘s “Placement Profile” series.

Bracket Capital, co-founded by Yalda Aoukar ’04, ’05, is featured by Fortune for raising $450 million in capital.

Lucero Pina ’14 was selected to join the 2020-2021 cohort of the Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy (ELP) of the Communities Foundation of Texas.

Daniel Lathrop ’98 is an investigative reporter for The Des Moines Register.

Dan Spuller ’06 is the director of industry affairs for the Blockchain Association.

Clint Bolick ’78 has a new book out titled “Unshackled: Freeing America’s K–12 Education System.” Find more TFAS alumni and scholars’ new books at TFAS.org/BookStars21.