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.”
D.C.’s Top Policy Professionals Convene for First Session of 2020-21 TFAS Public Policy Fellowship
TFAS welcomed a new cohort of young professionals working in government and policy in Washington, D.C. to the 2020-21 TFAS Public Policy Fellowship. The 18 accomplished Fellows join TFAS from the nation’s leading think tanks, government offices and policy organizations to participate in the rigorous year-long program designed to develop young leaders with a shared commitment to improving public policy.
During an opening session and orientation meeting on Sept. 8, Fellows heard from TFAS International professor and assistant professor and research fellow at Hillsdale College, Dr. David Azerrad, and executive director of the Claremont Institute’s D.C. Center, Arthur Milikh. Through an interactive discussion session, Fellows engaged in an honest assessment of America’s current political conditions and an examination of these conditions through the context of America’s Founding principles.
Current Fellow Luke Timmons, PPF ’20, welcomed the opportunity to engage in such topical discussions with two of the nation’s leading policy experts. An analyst at Stand Together Foundation, Timmons believes it is critical now, more than ever, to constructively challenge the U.S.’s current political state.
“It is abundantly clear that we are at a major political crossroads in the country right now, but I was taken aback by the starkness of Dr. Azerrad and Milikh’s warnings,” Timmons said. “I was excited at the opportunity for an open challenge to the current state of our society and to be able to engage in critical discussion around the answers and solutions to the challenges we are facing.”
Read more about the Fellowship and meet the 2020-21 cohort at TFAS.org/PPF20.
Young Leaders from Around the World Connect Online through TFAS Global Political Economy Seminar
This summer, 70 young leaders from 28 countries around the globe participated in our first-ever fully virtual TFAS International program, the Global Political Economy Seminar. Students originally selected to attend our programs in either Singapore or Prague were invited to engage in an eight week online program that examined the relationship between governments and markets and connected peer leaders from Sri Lanka to Armenia to Argentina and beyond.
The curriculum of the seminar was divided into three segments, delving into the alternatives of socialism, the welfare state and classical liberalism. Each section included a political philosophy and economics components, so students were able to learn about the philosophical strengths and weaknesses of each system, as well as their practical effects.
The live discussion sessions proved especially fruitful in allowing participants to engage in an open dialogue, something participant Michael Farrel ’20 says is lacking in university classrooms and communities in the U.S.
“With all the controversy going on in this country, there’s not a lot of places where you can still have free discussion,” Farrel said. “TFAS has created an environment for free thinkers to engage in important ideas. Personal experience tells me that you’re not going to find a better place to support American education than TFAS.”
Read more about the virtual program at TFAS.org/GPES20.
Economics Lesson of The Week: The Bread Market
TFAS continues to provide resources to help teachers and parents continue the important task of educating our nation’s future leaders. We are continuing our “Economics Lesson of The Week” series to feature another new lesson from our high school programming division – the Foundation for Teaching Economics (FTE).
This week’s lesson is “The Bread Market!” which is an emergent order activity designed to accompany the poem “It’s a Wonderful Loaf” by Hoover Institution economist, Russ Roberts. This lesson simulates a bread market that undergoes an unpredicted shock and the emergent order that follows. Over the course of the simulation, students acting as buyers and sellers develop expectations about the price of goods in the market. Once a demand shock occurs, students must use their knowledge of past price predictions along with their own willingness to buy or sell to experience how the market adjusts to an increase in scarcity.
TFAS offers a plethora of online lesson plans, readings, handouts, video demonstrations and hands-on activity guides to teach the “economic way of thinking” in engaging and relatable ways. Visit TFAS.org/FTELessons for a one-stop guide to our available resources.
Post of the Week
TFAS alumnus Phineas Underwood ’20 shares the impact of his TFAS experience on LinkedIn.
QUICK LINKS
Bakhrom Mirakilov ’19 co-authored a piece on Uzbekistan’s budding virtual civic space in The Diplomat.
Sen. Dan McConchie ’93, ’95 has been named as a “Champion of Free Enterprise” by the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.
Luci Willits ’95 won the 2020 Women of the Year Award from the Idaho Business Review.
Former TFAS professor Will Ruger has been nominated to be the new U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan.
Kari Travis ’12, Novak ’18, writes about cronyism in North Carolina politics for the Carolina Journal.
Graham Kilmer ’14 reports for Urban Milwaukee on an increase in the number of Americans on pandemic unemployment assistance.
Naomi Schaefer Riley, Novak ’01, opines for The Wall Street Journal on how bad teaching is negatively impacting America.
Kristin Tate, Novak ’19, has a new op-ed in The Hill on the 2020 presidential election.
Kylee Zempel ’17, PPF ’19, covers Mike Pence’s Wisconsin campaign stop in a piece for The Federalist.
TFAS Regent Emeritus Lee Edwards writes for The National Interest on how learning from the American Revolution can preserve U.S. democracy.
Jennifer Kabbany, Novak ’02, writes for The College Fix about university students’ opinions on modern-day constitutional interpretation.
Matthew Walther, Novak ’16, opines for The Week on how poor women in America are dehumanized and mistreated.
Firas Maksad ’01 is quoted in this VOA News piece about recent U.S. sanctions on Lebanon.
Elise Amez-Droz, PPF ’19, wrote a LinkedIn blog titled “Class of 2020: It’s Time to Build.”
Joseph Lai ’01, PPF ’07, writes about President Trump’s economic rebound for Inside Sources.
Karl Sharro ’98 discusses the future of cities in the Gulf in an Arts & Culture feature in The National.
Law Board of Visitors member Ilya Shapiro has a new book out titled “Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America’s Highest Court.”
Nicholas Ballasy ’07 interviewed Rep. Ocasio-Cortez for Just The News.
Tim Alberta, Novak ’18, writes for Politico on why Trump would benefit in the 2020 election by delaying his Supreme Court pick.
Curt Mills, Novak ’17, opines for The American Conservative on the potential impact Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing may have on the 2020 presidential election.
John McCormack, Novak ’11, writes for National Review on the Supreme Court vacancy.
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