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.
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.
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.
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 ($200 retreat fee and transportation expenses to be covered by the participant)
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Gawain Poet: Academic Retreat Led by Dr. Greg Roper
Join us for an Academic Retreat on The Gawain Poet led by Dr. Greg Roper of the University of Dallas.
About the Leader
Dr. Greg Roper received his PhD from the University of Virginia. In addition to his role as associate professor, he is also the current Dean of Students. Dr. Roper has interests in Middle English literature, rhetoric and composition, literary theory, and pedagogy.
He has published essays on Medieval penitential manuals and their influence on late Medieval literature, on The Canterbury Tales, and on teaching survey courses and literary theory. He has published a book entitled The Writer's Workshop, which uses ancient and medieval notions of imitation to help students improve their writing. He also enjoys advising students about career plans and graduate school.
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
Academic Retreat: The Crisis of Western Education
Topic: The Crisis of Western Education
Texts: The Crisis of Western Education, Christopher Dawson
Leader: Dr. Andrew Seeley is Director of Advanced Formation for Educators and Concurrent Professor of Philosophy at the Augustine Institute. He received a Licentiate from the Pontifical Institute in Medieval Studies in Toronto and a Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from the University of Toronto. In three decades as a Tutor at Thomas Aquinas College, Dr. Seeley taught every subject in its integrated Great Books curriculum. He is co-author of Declaration Statesmanship: A Course in American Government. Desiring to share his love of learning, Dr. Seeley co-founded the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education in 2005, where he served as Executive Director for 12 years, and continues as a Faculty Consultant. He became Executive Director of the Arts of Liberty Project in 2021, and recently co-founded the Boethius Institute for the Advancement of Liberal Education with Dr. Jeffrey Lehman. For his work in the renewal of liberal education, he was named as the 2023 recipient of the Circe Institute’s Paideia Prize. He is an avid devotee of the works of JRR Tolkien, and an amateur director of the plays of William Shakespeare.
Academic Retreat: Yves Simon’s A General Theory of Authority
Topic: Philosophy of Authority
Texts: A General Theory of Authority
Leader: Daniel Connelly serves as Assistant Professor and Course Director of the Department of Leadership at the US Air Force's Air Command and Staff College and serves on the Board of Valor Education. Prior to his current post, he served there as Assistant Professor of International Security and the college's Director of Faculty Development. He holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from Auburn University, an M.S. from the Joint Military Intelligence College, an M.A. from American University, and a B.A. from Trinity College in Russian Studies. During his doctoral matriculation, he specialized in Organizational and Social Psychology. He offers elective courses in Russian strategic culture and the contemporary applications of the Just War Tradition. Dr. Connelly was assigned to the Air Force's Squadron Officer College in 2004, returned there as Dean of Academic Affairs and Faculty Development in 2010, and was assigned to the Air Command and Staff College (ACSC) in 2015 for his last military assignment before retirement from the US Air Force.
Academic Retreat: Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park
An Academic Retreat led by Dr. Dutton Kearney of Hillsdale College and Dr. John Finley, Academic Director of the Valor Institute