Valor Institute Programs
Formation takes place through presence, friendship, and attentiveness. All of our events and programs are intentionally designed to cultivate virtue, encourage contemplation, and promote a capacious intellectual life. Each year, we host academic retreats, college student retreats, and symposia to foster deep encounters with great texts in our contemporary world.
Academic Retreats
Our multi-day academic retreats are small gatherings focused on great texts, thoughtful conversations, and intellectual friendship. Each retreat is led by a professor and focuses on a specific thinker, theme, topic, or text. The heart of the retreat is a robust academic program consisting of twelve one-hour sessions — typically nine seminars and three lectures.
Seminars emphasize close reading, intellectual humility, and the shared pursuit of truth, while the professor’s lectures offer an opportunity to synthesize themes and situate the readings within a broader whole. The atmosphere of the retreat is intentionally contemplative and relational—free from digital distraction and grounded in attentiveness, presence, and receptivity.
Who: All retreats are led by professors and scholars who love truth, beauty, and goodness. Recent visiting professors include Dr. Glenn Arbery (Wyoming Catholic College), Dr. Matthew Walz (University of Dallas), and Dr. Farrell O’Gorman (Belmont Abbey College).
What: Retreats focus on a particular thinker, theme, topic, or text. Recent retreats have included: “Thomas Aquinas & the Contemporary Age,” “Embodying Charity in Flannery O’Connor,” King Lear, and Absalom, Absalom!
When: Throughout the academic year, typically from August through May. You can see our current calendar of events for a list of upcoming retreats.
Our retreats are open to anyone who is interested in cultivating an intellectual life, including professors, graduate students, teachers, and professionals.
Symposia
Our symposia are large gatherings that celebrate the intellectual life among friends. Rooted in a spirit of gratitude and renewal, these occasions are marked by true leisure — time intentionally set aside for reflection on the highest things. With opportunities for seminar and lecture alongside moments of fellowship, participants are invited into formation, contemplation, and authentic community. These days seek to deepen our understanding of a full human life by integrating timely reflections with timeless truths.
These days bring together a community of more than five hundred participants, including Valor faculty as well as friends who share our interesting in promoting an adequate philosophical anthropology, a fitting community for the human person, and a deep gratitude for the gift of creation.
Who: Recent addresses featured Dr. D. C. Schindler (John Paul II Institute), Dr. Wilfred McClay (Hillsdale College), and Dr. Jonathan Sanford (University of Dallas).
What: Recent symposia focused on tradition, the dangers of misology, and the nature of the philosophical life, drawing on works such as Jaroslav Pelikan’s The Vindication of Tradition, Josef Pieper’s Abuse of Language, Abuse of Power, and Plato’s Apology.
When: We hold a Fall Symposium at the end of October and a Winter Symposium in early February each year.
Valor’s symposia are invitation-only. To request an invitation, please contact us.
College Student Retreats
Our week-long college student retreats bring together thoughtful undergraduates from across the country to develop authentic community and intellectual friendship. Led by a professor and focused on a specific thinker, theme, topic, or text, these retreats have time for seminar, lecture, fellowship, and encounters with the beauty of the natural world.
Throughout the week, participants engage in deep and meaningful conversations, share meals together, and spend time hiking, kayaking, and climbing. In addition to fostering the virtue of intellectual humility and a love of truth, these retreats seek to foster intentional and thoughtful community.
For interested students, the week concludes with the opportunity to interview for a teaching position at one of Valor’s classical charter schools, which put the contemplative life at the heart of faculty culture.
Who: Recent visiting professors include Dr. Raul Rodriguez (Michigan State University), Dr. Jason Baxter (Benedictine College), and Dr. Benedict Whalen (Hillsdale College).
What: Retreats focus on a particular thinker, theme, topic, or text. Recent retreats have included: Democracy in America, Purgatorio, and Canterbury Tales.
When: Twice a year in early January and late May. You can see our current calendar of events for a list of upcoming college student retreats.
Our college student retreats are open to undergraduate juniors and seniors as well as recent college graduates. Accepted students will have all retreat costs covered, including food, lodging, and program fees.
