USC Leadership | Board of Advisors | Internal Advisory Board | Faculty Affiliates | Staff
USC Leadership
Christopher Tollefsen is a professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina. He has published over 125 articles in journals and edited collections, and a similar number of popular essays in venues such as Public Discourse, First Things, and National Review.
He is the author of several books, including Lying and Christian Ethics and the forthcoming Killing and Christian Ethics (both with Cambridge University Press); and the co-author of The Way of Medicine: Ethics and the Healing Profession (with Dr. Farr Curlin) and Embryo: A Defense of Human Life (with Robert P. George). He is the editor of several collections, including John Paul II’s Contribution to Catholic Bioethics and Artificial Nutrition and Hydration: The New Catholic Debate.
In 2019-20, he served as a commissioner on the State Department’s Commission on Unalienable Rights. He has twice been a visiting fellow in the James Madison Program at Princeton University, and in 2024-25 was a visiting fellow at the DeNicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame.
Board of Advisors
Dr. Cornel West, also warmly regarded as Brother West, is the current holder of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Chair at Union Theological Seminary. In his capacity as professor, Dr. West offers instruction on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Philosophy of Religion, African American Critical Thought, and a wide range of subjects encompassing philosophy, politics, literature, cultural theory, music, and the classics. He is dedicated to engaging diverse audiences and advancing the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., with a focus on truth-telling and the pursuit of love and justice.
Dr. West previously served as Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy at Harvard University and holds the title of Professor Emeritus at Princeton University. He earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard University, graduating Magna Cum Laude in three years, and subsequently received both his M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy from Princeton. Cornel West was the first Black man to receive a Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University in 1980!
Robert P. George is the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He was chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and served as a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics, the United States Commission on Civil Rights, and UNESCO’s World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology. He is a former Judicial Fellow at the Supreme Court of the United States, where he received the Justice Tom C. Clark Award.
Julia D. Mahoney is the John S. Battle Professor and Joseph C. Carter Jr. Research Professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, where she teaches courses in property, constitutional law, government finance and nonprofit organizations. Her research interests include eminent domain, the delegation of government power to private entities and freedom of thought in higher education.
Mahoney is an elected member of the American Law Institute and serves as an adviser to the Restatement of Property. She is also a founding member of the Academic Freedom Alliance.
Paul Carrese is a professor in the School of Civic & Economic Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University, where he was the founding director from 2016 to 2023. For two decades taught at the U.S. Air Force Academy, where he co-founding its honors program blending liberal arts and leadership education. He teaches and publishes on the American founding, American constitutional and political thought, civic education, and American grand strategy. His forthcoming book is Teaching America: Reflective Patriotism in Schools, College, and Culture (Cambridge, 2026).
Mary M. Keys is a professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame. Her research and teaching interests span a broad spectrum of political theory, with a special focus in Christianity, ethics, and political thought. She is the author of Pride, Politics, and Humility in Augustine's City of God (Cambridge) and Aquinas, Aristotle, and the Promise of the Common Good (Cambridge). She has held various fellowships, including a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship supporting her ongoing research project on humility, modernity and the science of politics.
Internal Advisory Board
Kendall Deas is Assistant Professor of Education Policy, Law, and Politics in the Department of African American Studies at the University of South Carolina, where his research focuses on comparative models for enhancing civic literacy and improving public education. Dr. Deas is a Fulbright Scholar; Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Educational Foundations; holds advanced degrees from Georgetown, Dartmouth, Washington University in St. Louis, Georgia Tech, and the University of Georgia; was a one-year visiting student at Mansfield College of Oxford University where he studied politics, philosophy, and economics (PPE); and was an Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM) Fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and the University of Texas at Austin’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Policy. A recipient of the university’s 2023 MLK Jr. Social Justice Award and The South Carolina Education Association’s 2025 Outstanding Public Service Award, he is widely recognized for his research and advocacy in support of public education.
Kirk Randazzo is a Professor of Political Science at the University of South Carolina, specializing in judicial politics, legal decision-making, and judicial independence in both U.S. and comparative contexts. He is the author of Defenders of Liberty or Champions of Security? (from SUNY Press) and has published widely in leading journals such as the Journal of Politics, American Politics Research, the Justice System Journal, Experimental Economics, and in various law reviews. Dr. Randazzo directs USC’s Judicial Research Initiative (JuRI), earned his Ph.D. from Michigan State University, and previously was a faculty member at the University of Kentucky.
Kathleen Searles, Ph.D., is the Olin D. Johnston Chair of Political Science at the University of South Carolina, specializing in news media, information communication technology, and political psychology. She has been awarded more than $7 million in grant funding, including from the National Science Foundation, for her research, which examines the effects of occupational intimidation on experts and has led to the creation of initiatives like Expert Voices Together and the Researcher Consortium. She has published widely in top journals; is a co-convener of the Election Coverage and Democracy Network; and is a founding member of Women Also Know Stuff, which amplifies the voice of women political scientists in public discourse and decreases the gender imbalance in media representation of experts.
Brent Simpson is Professor of Sociology at the University of South Carolina. He is a social psychologist with substantive interests in altruism and prosocial behavior; cooperation, collective action and protest; and inequality and discrimination. His research on these topics have appeared in the flagship journals in sociology (e.g., American Sociological Review and American Journal of Sociology) and social psychology (e.g., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology) as well as the top general science journals (e.g., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nature Sustainability, and Nature Human Behaviour). He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Cornell University.
Ned Snow is the Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Scholarship and the Ray Taylor Fair Professor of Law at the University of South Carolina’s Joseph F. Rice School of Law. His scholarship focuses on constitutional issues in intellectual property law, and he is the author of several books, including Intellectual Property and Immorality (Oxford, 2022) and Patent Law: Fundamentals of Doctrine and Policy (2024). He earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School, clerked for Judge Edith Brown Clement on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and previously taught at the University of Arkansas and Brigham Young University Law after practicing at Baker Botts LLP.
Colin Wilder is an Associate Professor of History at the University of South Carolina, specializing in early modern European history, with a focus on classical liberalism, constitutionalism, digital history, public finance, and the history of canons. He holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Yale and a Ph.D. in History from the University of Chicago, and previously held postdoctoral fellowships at Brown and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research combines traditional historical methods with digital tools, and he teaches courses on European history, capitalism, and constitutionalism while contributing to USC’s REACH Act curriculum.
Faculty Affiliates
Agnes Bolinska joined the University of South Carolina Philosophy Department in 2020 and was named a McCausland Fellow in 2024. She previously taught at the University of Cambridge, the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, and the University of Pittsburgh. She serves as chair of the Joint Commission of the International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology and as a member of the Division of Logic, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science Council. Her research focuses on how information from theoretical frameworks, experimental techniques, and disciplinary perspectives is integrated.
Agnes Mueller is a Professor of German and Comparative Literature at the University of South Carolina. She is core faculty in Jewish Studies and Comparative Literature and is affiliated with Women’s and Gender Studies. Her research focuses on contemporary German literature, German Jewish studies, Holocaust memory, and German American relations. Her publications include the anthology German Pop Culture: How “American” Is It? and the monograph The Inability to Love. Her forthcoming book examines migration and Holocaust memory in recent German Jewish literature.
Christine Caldwell Ames is a historian of medieval Europe whose work focuses on Christianity, heresy, inquisition, and interreligious relations. She is the author of Righteous Persecution and Medieval Heresies. Her scholarship has appeared in journals including the American Historical Review and History Compass. A recipient of the USC Mortar Board Excellence in Teaching Award, she teaches courses on medieval history and the history of Christianity.
Jessica Brown is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business. She is a labor and public economist whose research focuses on the child care market, including its response to macroeconomic conditions and policy changes. Her work has been published in leading journals and supported by major research grants. Her expertise has been featured in outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and NPR.
Michael Dickson is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of South Carolina. His research has focused on philosophy of physics, particularly quantum theory, and now includes philosophy of music and philosophy of psychiatry. He has a background in classical music performance and is interested in the conceptual foundations of neurodiversity and psychosis. His teaching also includes medieval philosophy and game theory.
Samuel Bagg is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of South Carolina. His research examines democratic theory through the lens of social inequality and political power. His work has appeared in leading political science and philosophy journals, and his book The Dispersion of Power was published in 2024.
Scott Decker is a Professor of Psychology at the University of South Carolina. His work focuses on neuropsychological assessment, brain activity, and cognitive development. He has contributed to major psychological testing systems and has held academic and clinical positions at multiple institutions, including the University of Illinois at Chicago and Georgia State University.
William R. Hauk Jr. is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business. His research focuses on international trade, political economy, and economic growth. He has served in multiple leadership roles at the Moore School and is currently Academic Director for both the One-Year MBA and Professional MBA programs.
Staff
Donovan Fifield is an Instructor in the Department of History at the University of South Carolina where he teaches courses on the American Founding Documents and early American history. His research explores the economic and social history of colonial North America, the Atlantic world, and the American Revolution, with broader interests in constitutional history, political economy, and global legal history. He earned his Ph.D. in History from the University of Virginia, was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Tübingen, and has held fellowships at the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Jefferson Scholars Foundation, and the American Philosophical Society.
Mary Nickel is an Instructor of Philosophy at the University of South Carolina whose research integrates religious ethics, political theory, feminist thought, and metaethics. She earned her Ph.D. in Religion, Ethics, and Politics from Princeton University, and her current book-length project, Bearings, explores how pregnancy and motherhood inform our understanding of collective agency and human sociality. Dr. Nickel has published in journals such as the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics and the Journal of Religious Ethics, and previously taught at the University of Virginia.
Abby Natividad is a Program Manager at the University of South Carolina, first serving at the Rule of Law Collaborative (ROLC) where she contributed to major programs, including as the lead for asynchronous learning development for the $8 million Justice Sector Training, Research, and Coordination (JUSTRAC) program and the lead program manager for a $900,000 labor rights project in Malawi, and has developed extensive asynchronous and hybrid training materials for legal and justice reform professionals worldwide. Before joining USC, she worked as a contractor on justice and post-conflict initiatives for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the World Bank, the U.S. Institute of Peace, and Justice + Security in Transitions. A former attorney with experience in civil litigation and immigration law, she holds a J.D. from William & Mary Law School and dual degrees from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.