Embodying Charity in Flannery O’Connor: Academic Retreat Led by Dr. Farrell O'Gorman
Join us for an Academic Retreat titled “Embodying Charity in Flannery O’Connor” led by Dr Farrell O’Gorman of Belmont Abbey College.
About the Leader
Dr. Farrell O’Gorman is Professor of English at Belmont Abbey College and taught previously at Mississippi State University and DePaul University. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. O’Gorman is the author of two monographs: Peculiar Crossroads: Flannery O’Connor, Walker Percy, and Catholic Vision in Postwar Southern Fiction (2004) and Catholicism and American Borders in the Gothic Literary Imagination (2017). He has spoken on O’Connor at a variety of regional and national events, at conferences in France and Italy, and at the 2014 O’Connor conference in Ireland, for which he served on the organizing committee.
O’Gorman’s teachings focus on O’Connor, Catholicism, and gender in the American Gothic, in part by exploring O’Connor’s relationship to Nathaniel Hawthorne and Katherine Anne Porter. His work places O’Connor in a tradition of “American women writing Catholicism” that includes Kate Chopin, Willa Cather, and Toni Morrison as well as Dorothy Day and Rose Hawthorne Lathrop.
Important Details
Travel: Participants are expected to pay for their own travel to and from the retreat. We recommend flying into Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and arriving at the Kingfisher Center at least an hour before the event begins.
Scholarships: Full scholarships are available for undergraduate and graduate students, teachers, and professors. Please indicate your desire for a scholarship on the application. We do not want cost to be a barrier for anyone desiring to participate in one of our retreats.
Academic Retreats are offered free of charge to Valor faculty and staff.
Sponsorship: The Valor Institute is looking for partners to join us in expanding our retreat offerings. Please contact Joel VanDerworp if you are interested in sponsoring our programs.
Absalom, Absalom! Academic Retreat Led by Dr. Glenn Arbery
Join us for an Academic Retreat on William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom by Dr. Glenn Arbery of Wyoming Catholic College.
About the Leader
Dr. Glenn Arbery currently serves as Professor of Humanities at Wyoming Catholic College. From 2016 to 2023, he served as the third President of WCC. He has served as Director of the Teachers Academy at the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture and as an editor at People Newspapers in Dallas, where he won regional and national awards for his writing. In addition to numerous essays and reviews, he has published two volumes with ISI Books, Why Literature Matters (2001) and The Southern Critics (2010), editor. He is also the editor of The Tragic Abyss (2003) for the Dallas Institute Press and Augustine’s Confessions and Its Influence, St. Augustine Press (2019). His novel Bearings and Distances was published by Wiseblood Books in 2015, and his second, Boundaries of Eden, was published in 2020.
Important Details
Travel: Participants are expected to pay for their own travel to and from the retreat. We recommend flying into Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and arriving at the Kingfisher Center at least an hour before the event begins.
Scholarships: Full scholarships are available for undergraduate and graduate students, teachers, and professors. Please indicate your desire for a scholarship on the application. We do not want cost to be a barrier for anyone desiring to participate in one of our retreats.
Academic Retreats are offered free of charge to Valor faculty and staff.
Sponsorship: The Valor Institute is looking for partners to join us in expanding our retreat offerings. Please contact Joel VanDerworp if you are interested in sponsoring our programs.
Thomas Aquinas and the Contemporary Age: Academic Retreat Led by Dr. John Finley
Join us for an Academic Retreat led by Dr. John Finley on “Thomas Aquinas and the Contemporary Age.”
About the Leader
Dr. John Finley currently serves as a Tutor at Thomas Aquinas College. Dr. Finley has also served as Professor of Philosophy at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis and was the Academic Director of the Valor Institute from 2022-2023.
He has authored several publications on philosophical anthropology, metaphysics, phenomenology, and Ancient and Medieval philosophy and is a member of the Aquinas Institute of Blackfriars Hall at the University of Oxford. Dr. Finley received his masters and doctorate in philosophy from the University of Dallas and his Bachelor of Arts from Thomas Aquinas College. In 2016 he was awarded a grant from the John Templeton Foundation to pursue collaborative research on the human person from the standpoints of science, medicine, philosophy, and theology, which culminated in Sexual Identity, published by Emmaus Road.
Important Details
Travel: Participants are expected to pay for their own travel to and from the retreat. We recommend flying into Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and arriving at the Kingfisher Center at least an hour before the event begins.
Scholarships: Full scholarships are available for undergraduate and graduate students, teachers, and professors. Please indicate your desire for a scholarship on the application. We do not want cost to be a barrier for anyone desiring to participate in one of our retreats.
Academic Retreats are offered free of charge to Valor faculty and staff.
Sponsorship: The Valor Institute is looking for partners to join us in expanding our retreat offerings. Please contact Joel VanDerworp if you are interested in sponsoring our programs.
William Butler Yeats: Academic Retreat Led by Valor’s Dean of Humanities, Michael Cowan
Join us for an Academic Retreat on the poetry of William Butler Yeats led by Michael Cowan, Dean of Humanities at Valor Education.
About the Leader
Michael Cowan holds an undergraduate degree in English from the University of Dallas and graduate degrees from Boston College and the University of Notre Dame. He has over a decade of experience teaching English and humanities at both the secondary and undergraduate level. In 2021 Michael joined Valor as a school leader, and was Headmaster at Valor South Austin for three years. In his current role as Valor Dean of Humanities, he enjoys working on Valor's humanities curriculum, leading faculty seminars across all campuses, and coaching IHP teachers, as well as teaching the Integrated Humanities Program and Senior Capstone to high school students at Valor South Austin.
Important Details
Travel: Participants are expected to pay for their own travel to and from the retreat. We recommend flying into Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and arriving at the Kingfisher Center at least an hour before the event begins.
Cost: $1200
Academic Retreats are offered free of charge to Valor Education faculty and staff.
Scholarship: We ask all applicants to pursue funding sources through their home institution. The Valor Institute also has scholarship money available. To apply, please email Joel VanDerworp with a letter of recommendation along with your retreat application.
Sponsorship: The Valor Institute is looking for partners to join us in expanding our retreat offerings. Click here to learn more about how you can support the Valor Institute.
Contemplative Pedagogy in a Technocratic Age: Academic Retreat Led by Dr. Tim O’Malley
Join us for an Academic Retreat on “Contemplative Pedagogy in a Technocratic Age” led by Dr. Tim O’Malley, Director of the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.
About the Leader
Dr. Tim O’Malley is the Associate Director of Research for the McGrath Institute, Academic Director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy, and holds a concurrent appointment in the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.
Dr. O’Malley completed a doctorate at Boston College in theology and education, focusing on an Augustinian approach to liturgical formation. He researches and teaches at Notre Dame in the areas of liturgical-sacramental theology, marriage and family, Catholic higher education, catechesis, preaching, and spirituality. His teaching and research adapts Romano Guardini’s approach to liturgical-sacramental formation in late modernity. He is the author of nine books on topics related to the liturgy, RCIA, the Eucharist, sacramental theology, marriage and family, and liturgical formation.
Timothy is presently working on two academic books, one related to Augustine and liturgical formation and the second on liturgy and the transformation of the social order.
Important Details
Travel: Participants are expected to pay for their own travel to and from the retreat. We recommend flying into Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and arriving at the Kingfisher Center at least an hour before the event begins.
Cost: $1200
Academic Retreats are offered free of charge to Valor Education faculty and staff.
Scholarship: We ask all applicants to pursue funding sources through their home institution. The Valor Institute also has scholarship money available. To apply, please email Joel VanDerworp with a letter of recommendation along with your retreat application.
Sponsorship: The Valor Institute is looking for partners to join us in expanding our retreat offerings. Click here to learn more about how you can support the Valor Institute.
King Lear: Academic Retreat Led by Dr. Michael West
Join us for an Academic Retreat on Shakespeare’s King Lear led by Dr. Michael West of the University of Dallas.
About the Leader
Michael West holds a Ph.D. in English from Columbia University, an M.A. from the University of Houston, and a B.A. from the University of Dallas. His first book - Theater of the Obscure: Staging Enigma in Shakespeare’s England – is currently under review, and he is beginning work on a second project, tentatively entitled How to Learne Experience: Literature and Experience in Early Modern England.
Dr. West has published articles in Studies in English Literature, Shakespeare Studies, and Spenser Studies. Before coming to UD, he taught courses in literature, writing, and Catholic Studies at the University of Houston, Columbia University, and Sacred Heart University.
Important Details
Travel: Participants are expected to pay for their own travel to and from the retreat. We recommend flying into Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and arriving at the Kingfisher Center at least an hour before the event begins.
Cost: $1200
Academic Retreats are offered free of charge to Valor Education faculty and staff.
Scholarship: We ask all applicants to pursue funding sources through their home institution. The Valor Institute also has scholarship money available. To apply, please email Joel VanDerworp with a letter of recommendation along with your retreat application.
Sponsorship: The Valor Institute is looking for partners to join us in expanding our retreat offerings. Click here to learn more about how you can support the Valor Institute.
The American Republic: Academic Retreat Led by Dr. Adam Seagrave
Join us for an Academic Retreat on Orestes Brownson’s The American Republic led by Dr. Adam Seagrave, Associate Professor in the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University.
About the Leader
Dr. Adam Seagrave is Professor of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University. He was the inaugural Associate Director of ASU's School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership and Center for Political Thought and Leadership. He writes and teaches on political philosophy and American political thought, with a particular focus on issues of race in American history.
Dr. Seagrave has published several influential works, including Race and the American Story, The Accessible Federalist, and Liberty and Equality: The American Conversation. In addition to his academic scholarship, Professor Seagrave has worked extensively with K-12 educators and led the development of K-12 instructional materials on American history and government. He was awarded the American Legion National Education Award in 2021 for his achievements in K-12 civics education.
Important Details
Travel: Participants are expected to pay for their own travel to and from the retreat. We recommend flying into Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and arriving at the Kingfisher Center at least an hour before the event begins.
Cost: $1200
Academic Retreats are offered free of charge to Valor Education faculty and staff.
Scholarship: We ask all applicants to pursue funding sources through their home institution. The Valor Institute also has scholarship money available. To apply, please email Joel VanDerworp with a letter of recommendation along with your retreat application.
Sponsorship: The Valor Institute is looking for partners to join us in expanding our retreat offerings. Click here to learn more about how you can support the Valor Institute.
Wordsworth and Keats: College Student Retreat Led by Dr. Jason Baxter
The Valor Institute’s College Program offers collegiate Juniors and Seniors the opportunity to spend a week in Austin, TX immersed in study, friendship, and the natural world. Students will explore the poetry of William Wordsworth and John Keats with our retreat leader, Dr. Jason Baxter.
About the Leader
Dr. Jason Baxter is the Director of the Center for Beauty and Culture at Benedictine College. He holds a Doctorate in Literature from the University of Notre Dame. Prior to joining Benedictine, he spent time as a visiting associate professor at Notre Dame preceded by twelve years at Wyoming Catholic College. His written works include The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis and A Beginner’s Guide to Dante’s Divine Comedy, among others, and he is currently working on an original translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Baxter has written many academic and popular articles, and he frequently makes media appearances ranging from podcasts to EWTN. He is currently translating Dante’s Divine Comedy for Angelico Press.
About the Retreat
Upon acceptance, you will enjoy an academic retreat that includes:
Seminar discussions and lectures led by Dr. Jason Baxter
Intentional meals and social time to build friendship and community
Time with teachers and leaders from the Valor schools in Austin
Room and board provided ($200 retreat fee and transportation expenses to be covered by the participant)
Application Deadline: March 31, 2026
Sponsorship: the Valor Institute is looking for partners to join us in expanding our retreat offerings. Click here to learn more about how you can support the Valor Institute.
Valor Winter Symposium (Keynote Speaker: D.C. Schindler)
The Valor Symposium is a celebration of Valor Education’s work in the world. We know life is best enjoyed in the company of friends who together share in contemplation of the highest things. True celebrations and festivals are not to be understood simply as days without work but instead as days set aside for participating in the ars liberalis – “in the realm of activity that is meaningful in itself."
Dr. D.C. Schindler will be our Keynote Speaker. Dr. Schindler is Professor of Metaphysics and Anthropology at the John Paul II Pontifical Institute. He has published more than a dozen books—including two volumes of a planned trilogy on the nature of freedom with the University of Notre Dame Press and a Robert Spaemann Reader with Oxford University Press—and more than 70 articles and book chapters, and his work has been translated into six languages. He is an editor of the English-language edition of Communio: International Catholic Review, and a board member of The Review of Metaphysics and New Polity: A Journal of Post-Liberal Thought; he is a translator of books and articles from French and German; he is a Fellow of the Institute for Human Ecology at CUA and served on the Executive Council of the American Catholic Philosophical Association; and he has been invited to deliver named annual lectures in a variety of venues, including the Thomas Aquinas Lecture at four universities and colleges, the Bitar Memorial Lecture series at Geneva College, the John Paul II Lecture at the University of Dallas, the Lorenzo Albacete Lecture in New York City, and the Areopagus Lecture at Mars Hill Audio Journal in Charlottesville, VA.
Democracy in America: College Student Retreat Led by Dr. Raul Rodriguez
Join us for our undergraduate retreat this January in Austin, Texas. Led by Dr. Raul Rodriguez of The LeFrak Forum at Michigan State University, this retreat will explore how a democracy can come to know itself through an examination of de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America.
About the Leader
Raul Rodriguez is the Director of The LeFrak Forum at Michigan State University. He previously served senior fellow at the Civitas Institute and an associate professor in the School of Civic Leadership at the University of Texas at Austin. He has a B.A. from Furman University and a Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame.
Dr. Rodriguez’s writings have appeared in policy journals such as American Journal of Political Science, American Political Thought, The Political Science Reviewer, and The Review of Politics. One of his more popular works is entitled, “Liberal Democracy Reexamined: Leo Strauss on Alexis de Tocqueville.” His forthcoming book is titled Redeeming Democracy: Tocqueville’s New Liberalism.
About the Retreat
Upon acceptance, you will enjoy an academic retreat that includes:
Seminar discussions and lectures led by Dr. Raul Rodriguez
Intentional meals and social time to build friendship and community
Time with teachers and leaders from the Valor schools in Austin
Room and board provided
Application Deadline: November 17, 2025
Sponsorship: The Valor Institute is looking for partners to join us in expanding our retreat offerings. Click here to learn more about how you can support the Valor Institute.
Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics: Academic Retreat Led by Dr. John Finley
Join us for an Academic Retreat led by Dr. John Finley of Thomas Aquinas College on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics.
About the Leader
Dr. John Finley currently serves as Tutor at Thomas Aquinas College. Dr. Finley has also served as Professor of Philosophy at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis and was the Academic Director of the Valor Institute from 2022-2023.
He has authored several publications on philosophical anthropology, metaphysics, phenomenology, and Ancient and Medieval philosophy and is a member of the Aquinas Institute of Blackfriars Hall at the University of Oxford. Dr. Finley received his masters and doctorate in philosophy from the University of Dallas and his Bachelor of Arts from Thomas Aquinas College. In 2016 he was awarded a grant from the John Templeton Foundation to pursue collaborative research on the human person from the standpoints of science, medicine, philosophy, and theology, which culminated in Sexual Identity, published by Emmaus Road.
Texts
Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle
The Decameron: Academic Retreat Led by Dr. Anthony Nussmeier
Join us for an Academic Retreat on Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron led by Dr. Anthony Nussmeier of the University of Dallas.
About the Leader
Dr. Anthony Nussmeier is a scholar of Medieval and Renaissance Italian Literature, and serves as Chair of Modern Languages, Director of Italian, and Associate Professor of Italian at the University of Dallas. Prior, he taught at Kansas State University, The Pennsylvania State University, and Indiana University.
Dr. Nussmeier's research centers on medieval, Renaissance, and early modern literature, specifically anthologies of poetry and early-book culture. He has written articles on Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, and his work has appeared in journals such as The Medieval Review, Medioevo letterario d’Italia, Bibliotheca Dantesca, Catholic Southwest, and Textual Cultures.
Since arriving at the University of Dallas, he has overseen the creation of a B.A. in Italian and the first senior theses in Italian. He is also Dr. Nussmeier is an Advisory Board Member for 100 Days of Dante, Contributing Editor for the journal The Year's Work in Modern Language Studies, and Editor for the journal Annali d’Italianistica. He is also a member of the National Screening Committee for Fulbright English Teaching Assistantships in Italy.
Important Details
Travel: participants are expected to pay for their own travel to and from the retreat. We recommend flying into Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and arriving at the Kingfisher Center at least an hour before the event begins.
Cost: $1200
Academic Retreats are offered free of charge to Valor Education faculty and staff.
Scholarship: We ask all applicants to pursue funding sources through their home institution. The Valor Institute also has scholarship money available. To apply, please email Joel VanDerworp with a letter of recommendation along with your retreat application.
Sponsorship: The Valor Institute is looking for partners to join us in expanding our retreat offerings. Click here to learn more about how you can support the Valor Institute.
Friendship in Athens, Rome, and the New Jerusalem: Academic Retreat Led by Dr. Matthew Walz
Join us for an Academic Retreat on “Friendship in Athens, Rome, and the New Jerusalem” led by Dr. Matthew Walz of the University of Dallas.
About the Leader
Dr. Matthew Walz completed undergraduate studies at Christendom College, double-majoring in philosophy and theology and graduating as the valedictorian of the class of 1995. He earned a doctorate in philosophy at The Catholic University of America by completing a dissertation on Thomas Aquinas's understanding of free will.
Dr. Walz is Chair of the Philosophy Department, Associate Dean of Constantin College, Director of Pre-Theology Programs at the University of Dallas, as well as the Director of Intellectual Formation at Holy Trinity Seminary.
Dr. Walz’s research and writing focus primarily on medieval philosophy, ancient philosophy, and philosophical anthropology. Besides Aquinas, his favorite philosophical authors include Aristotle, Augustine, Boethius, Anselm, and Wojtyla.
Important Details
Travel: participants are expected to pay for their own travel to and from the retreat. We recommend flying into Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and arriving at the Kingfisher Center at least an hour before the event begins.
Cost: $1200
Academic Retreats are offered free of charge to Valor Education faculty and staff.
Scholarship: We ask all applicants to pursue funding sources through their home institution. The Valor Institute also has scholarship money available. To apply, please email Joel VanDerworp with a letter of recommendation along with your retreat application.
Sponsorship: The Valor Institute is looking for partners to join us in expanding our retreat offerings. Click here to learn more about how you can support the Valor Institute.
Summer Program: The Quadrivium
Led by Dr. Shannon Valenzuela, Assistant Professor at the University of Dallas
Valor Institute College Student Retreat: Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
Led by Dr. Benedict Whalen of Hillsdale College, the Valor Institute’s College Program offers collegiate Juniors and Seniors the opportunity to spend a week in Austin, TX immersed in study, friendship, and the natural world.
Academic Retreat: Aristotle’s De Anima
Led by Dr. John Finley, Tutor at Thomas Aquinas College and Kingfisher Fellow of the Valor Institute.
Academic Retreat: Dietrich von Hildebrand’s Aesthetics
Led by Maria Fedoryka, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Philosophy, Ave Maria University
Academic Retreat: Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure
Led by Andrew Moran, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Chair of English at the University of Dallas.
The Valor Institute Hosts Dana Gioia: Poetry & Education
The Valor Institute Hosts Dana Gioia
Valor Winter Symposium
Valor’s Annual Winter Symposium, with Keynote Speaker Jonathan J. Sanford, PhD., President of the University of Dallas. Dr. Sanford will speak on Plato's Apology.
Valor Institute College Student Retreat
Led by Dr. Jason Baxter, the Valor Institute’s College Program will offer collegiate Juniors and Seniors the opportunity to spend a week in Austin, TX immersed in study of Dante’s Purgatorio.
Valor Fall Symposium
Valor’s Annual Fall Symposium, with Keynote Speaker Daniel Coupland, Dean of Hillsdale’s Graduate School of Education. Readings for the event include “Beauty and the Beast” and selections from Vigen Guroian’s Tending the Heart of Virtue.
Valor Winter Symposium
The 2024 Valor Winter Symposium, featuring Keynote Speaker Peter Crawford. Readings for the event include Viktor Frankl’s classic Man’s Search for Meaning and Robert Spaemann’s essay “Education as an Introduction to Reality.”
Valor Fall Symposium
The annual Valor Fall Symposium, with Keynote Speaker Dr. James Matthew Wilson. Seminar readings include T.S. Eliot’s “Tradition and the Individual Talent” and Josef Pieper’s Tradition.
Academic Retreat: Ferdinand Ulrich on Childhood
Led by Andrew Shivone, Ph.D. candidate at John Paul II Pontifical Institute in Washington D.C.
Valor Institute College Student Retreat
Led by Dr. John Finley, the Valor Institute’s College Program offers collegiate Juniors and Seniors the opportunity to spend a week in La Jolla, CA immersed in study, friendship, and the natural world.
Academic Retreat: Eric Voegelin's The New Science of Politics
Led by Michael Hickman, Ph.D., Visiting Assistant Professor of Politics at the University of Mary.
Academic Retreat: The Complexities of Patriotism
Led by Susan Hanssen, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History at the University of Dallas.
Academic Retreat: Politics and the Person
An Academic Retreat led by David Walsh, Ph.D., Professor of Politics at Catholic University of America.
Valor Institute College Student Retreat
College Student Retreat on C S Lewis’ Space Trilogy led by Dr. John Finley.
Open to collegiate juniors and seniors, the Valor College Student Retreat offers students an immersive week of study, discussion, and adventures in some of Southern California’s most beautiful places.
Academic Retreat: Augustine’s Confessions
An Academic Retreat led by Jeffrey Lehman, Ph.D., Professor of Humanities at the University of Dallas, and John Finley, Ph.D., Academic Director of the Valor Institute
Academic Retreat: William Faulkner’s Flags in the Dust
An Academic Retreat led by Dr. Elizabeth Reyes of Thomas Aquinas College (CA)
Academic Retreat: Art as an Intellectual Virtue
An Academic Retreat led by Dr. Randy Colton, Director of Ethics at Mercy Health System and Dr. John Finley, Academic Director of the Valor Institute