Contact Us
Contact:
Thomas Merrill
Lincoln Scholars (Certificate in Political Thought) is a 15-credit certificate program for 1st and 2nd year students who want to explore the great questions of moral and political life in a context of intellectual and political diversity. Key points of the program include: small seminar classes on foundational texts; an intellectually and politically diverse set of readings, students, and faculty; and an intellectual community of students and scholars outside of the classroom.
This year, students applied to the program with some of the following books:
-
Vyasa, Bhagavad Gita
-
Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal
-
Toni Morrison, God Help the Child
-
Flannery O’Connor, Wise Blood
-
Albert Camus, The Stranger
-
Richard Wright, Native Son
-
William Carlos Williams, This Is Just To Say
-
Plato The Republic
-
Shakespeare, Hamlet
-
Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy
-
Austen, Pride and Prejudice
-
Douglass, Narrative of the Life
-
Beauvoir, Second Sex
-
Smith, Wealth of Nations
-
Marx, Communist Manifesto
-
Du Bois, Souls of Black Folk
-
Aristophanes, The Clouds
-
Shelley, Frankenstein
-
Mill, On Liberty
Lincoln Scholars Program: Challenging Books, Authentic Conve
Learn more about Lincoln Scholars from program director Thomas Merrill in this video.
The Purpose of a Liberal Education
Scholars Cornel West and Robert George demonstrated that it’s possible to have a deep bond and mutual respect, even when you disagree on fundamental issues. Speaking at an event on campus Dec. 7 moderated by SPA Associate Professor Thomas Merrill, the two professors underscored the importance of engaging in civil dialogue and the value of a liberal education. Read more about the event here.
The Annual Lincoln Scholar Lecture 2022
Zena Hitz, a tutor at St. John's College, Annapolis, and author of Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life, delivered the annual Lincoln Scholars lecture for 2022.
Many students come to college ambitious to be successful in politics and anxious about getting internships and jobs. But is that good for us as learners and as human beings? Is it good for society? Dr. Hitz argued that treating education as a purely instrumental value does violence to the activity of learning and encourages us to commodify each other. Only by opening ourselves up to the pleasures of the intellectual life for its own sake, she argues, can we foster a rich inner life for ourselves and learn to treat our fellow human beings with justice and dignity.
The Odyssey and Its Migrations
Daniel Mendelsohn delivers annual Lincoln Scholars lecture.
Director
Learn more about Thomas Merrill, Associate Professor in the Department of Government and Associate Director of the Political Theory Institute at American University.
Associate Director
Learn more about Christopher Utter, Professorial Lecturer in the Department of Government