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Our Events

Discove the events from Miami University’s Center for Civics, Culture, and Society. Explore lectures, discussions, and programs that strengthen civic engagement, highlight cultural perspectives, and connect students, faculty, and community members through meaningful dialogue and learning. Join us in shaping informed, engaged citizenship.

Constitution Day Lecture

“The Rise of Executive Power and the Decline of Everything Else”

Adam White, Laurence Silberman Chair in Constitutional Governance at the American Enterprise Institute

September 15, 2025

5pm, 128 Pearson Hall

Adam White

Literature and Leadership Symposium

November 18-20, 2025

Tuesday, Nov. 18

Plutarch and Shakespeare as Teachers of Leadership

“Plutarch’s Education for Leadership,” presented by Hugh Liebert
“Weaving Tales of Leadership and Civilization: What Shakespeare Learned from Plutarch,” presented by Rebecca Burgess

4:00–5:30 PM, Armstrong Pavilion A - 3056A

Wednesday, Nov. 19, Keynote

“What Shakespeare Can Teach Us About Leadership”

Keynote Address: Eliot Cohen

5:00–6:30 PM, Shriver Center (JDOL-B)

Thursday, Nov. 20

Franklin and Twain as Teachers of Leadership

“Human Greatness Amidst Democratic Equality: Mark Twain and Pudd'nhead Wilson,” presented by B.J. Dobski
“Benjamin Franklin’s Lessons on Leadership and Citizenship: For the 18th Century and Today,” presented by Kimberly Hamlin

4:00–5:30 PM, Armstrong Joslin Senate Chambers - 1062

Speaker Bios

Rebecca Burgess

is Senior Fellow at the Yorktown Institute and acting director of the Classics in Strategy and Diplomacy project, and an SME consultant for the George W. Bush Institute’s Veterans and Military Families program. She has two-plus decades of combined public policy, administrative, and academic experience, holding the position most recently as a research fellow both in Foreign and Defense Policy and Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Her work has been solicited for congressional testimonies, and featured in the Wall Street JournalThe New York TimesThe EconomistMilitary TimesNewsweek, and The American Interest, among others.

Eliot A. Cohen

is the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and professor emeritus at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where he has taught since 1990. His books include, most recently, The Hollow Crown: Shakespeare on How Leaders Rise, Rule, and Fall (Basic Books, 2023), as well as The Big Stick: The Limits of Soft Power and the Necessity of Military Force (Basic Books, 2017). He was a director in the Defense Department’s policy planning staff and from 2007 to 2009 he was counselor of the Department of State, serving as Secretary Condoleezza Rice’s senior adviser, focusing chiefly on issues of war and peace, including Iraq and Afghanistan. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic, and his commentary has also appeared in the Washington Post, The Wall Street JournalThe New York Times, and on major television networks.

Bernard J. (BJ) Dobski 

is a Professor of Politics at Assumption University in Worcester, MA where he teaches classes on politics and literature, political philosophy, and international relations. Dobski's scholarship focuses on the political wisdom of Thucydides, Shakespeare, and Mark Twain. His first book, Mark Twain's Joan of Arc: Political Wisdom, Divine Justice, and the Origins of Modernity, was published in 2024 by Palgrave Macmillan. He is currently a Visiting Professor at Arizona State University's SCETL program where he is working on his second book on Twain's democratic fiction.

Kimberly A. Hamlin

is the Chamberlin Family Professor and Chair of the History Department at Miami University. She has published two books and several articles on the history of women and women's rights in the United States, and she teaches classes on the history of women, medical history, and other topics including voting rights and the American Dream.

Hugh Liebert

is Professor of Political Science, Director of the Dawkins Scholars Program, and the founding Co-Director of the American Foundations minor at the United States Military Academy. Dr. Liebert is the author or editor of seven books, including Plutarch’s Politics (2016), and Gibbon’s Christianity (2022). A specialist on the history of political thought, he has also written widely on American politics and foreign policy. His articles and essays have appeared in the Wall Street JournalTexas National Security ReviewThe PointClaremont Review of Books, and First Things. Dr. Liebert is currently working on a book manuscript on localism in American political thought.