The ISI Honors Program introduces students to Russell Kirk’s masterpiece, The Roots of American Order, a masterful account of the cities and traditions that gave life to Western Civilization.Honors Scholars embark on a journey from Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, London, and to Philadelphia—the five cities Kirk identifies that shape the American order—to explore the principles that hold America together and the forces that can tear it apart.
Graduates of the ISI Honors Program will join an exclusive fellowship of conservative leaders who are equipped and empowered to remedy what ails American institutions today. We aim to cultivate more than influential policymakers; ISI shapes prudent, principled statesmen and women who bring a clear-eyed historical sensibility to their decision-making. Our Honors Fellows go on to shape culture through virtuous leadership in the wide variety of careers they pursue.
The ISI Honors Program is not merely an informational presentation; it is an introduction into a lifelong community of like-minded people. Our top-tier faculty members and speakers join students for the entire week, passing on knowledge and guidance through lectures and discussion groups, and serving as mentors to help to further students’ academic and professional careers.
But the Honors experience does not end after the week. Honors scholars will also be invited to attend additional lectures by leading conservative intellectuals throughout the 2023-2024 academic year. Each Honors scholar also has the opportunity to attend ISI’s annual Homecoming weekend as a capstone to the year-long experience and embarks on a lifetime of access to ISI’s many connections and resources.
If you are a hardworking, dedicated, undergraduate conservative leader as of Spring 2024, you are encouraged to apply to the 2024 ISI Honors Program. Applications are due by February 4, 2024. We look forward to reviewing your application!
Andrew Willard Jones
Andrew Willard Jones holds a PhD in Medieval History from Saint Louis University with a focus on the Church of the High Middle Ages. Jones’s work is primarily concerned with historical political theology and with the reconciliation of the post-modern...
Auron MacIntyre
Andrew Willard Jones holds a PhD in Medieval History from Saint Louis University with a focus on the Church of the High Middle Ages. Jones’s work is primarily concerned with historical political theology and with the reconciliation of the post-modern...
Ben Whalen
Andrew Willard Jones holds a PhD in Medieval History from Saint Louis University with a focus on the Church of the High Middle Ages. Jones’s work is primarily concerned with historical political theology and with the reconciliation of the post-modern...
Don Westblade
Don Westblade was born and raised in Colorado and reached Michigan by way of an educational path through Massachusetts, California, and Connecticut, plus a two-year sojourn in Germany and France for language study. He met his South Dakota wife, Joni,...
Dr. Enrique Pallares
Don Westblade was born and raised in Colorado and reached Michigan by way of an educational path through Massachusetts, California, and Connecticut, plus a two-year sojourn in Germany and France for language study. He met his South Dakota wife, Joni,...
Dr. Joseph Prud'homme
Don Westblade was born and raised in Colorado and reached Michigan by way of an educational path through Massachusetts, California, and Connecticut, plus a two-year sojourn in Germany and France for language study. He met his South Dakota wife, Joni,...
Fr. John Strickland
Don Westblade was born and raised in Colorado and reached Michigan by way of an educational path through Massachusetts, California, and Connecticut, plus a two-year sojourn in Germany and France for language study. He met his South Dakota wife, Joni,...
Khalil M. Habib
Khalil Habib is Associate Professor of Politics at Hillsdale College, where he teaches political philosophy and American political thought. Dr. Habib has co-edited two books, The Soul of Statesmanship: Shakespeare on Nature, Virtue, and Political Wisdom, and Cosmopolitanism in the Age...
Meir Soloveichik
Khalil Habib is Associate Professor of Politics at Hillsdale College, where he teaches political philosophy and American political thought. Dr. Habib has co-edited two books, The Soul of Statesmanship: Shakespeare on Nature, Virtue, and Political Wisdom, and Cosmopolitanism in the Age...
Michael Knowles
Michael Knowles is the celebrated host of “The Michael Knowles Show” at the Daily Wire and “The Book Club” at PragerU. He is also the author of the best-selling book “Speechless.”
Miles Smith
Miles Smith is a trained historian who attended the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina for his undergraduate degree and later received his Ph.D. from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. His research primarily focuses on the U.S....
Patrick J. Deneen
Patrick J. Deneen holds a B.A. in English literature and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Rutgers University. From 1995-1997 he was Speechwriter and Special Advisor to the Director of the United States Information Agency. From 1997-2005 he was Assistant...
Susan Hanssen
Susan Hanssen is associate professor of history at the University of Dallas where she teaches American history on the Texas campus during the school year and the history of Western Civilization on the Rome campus in Italy during the summer....