The University of Florida’s Hamilton Center for Classical and Civic Education is proud to welcome 21 new faculty members for the coming academic year.
“Scholars around the nation are paying attention to UF, and last year we have had more than 1,100 applications to the Hamilton Center,” said University of Florida President Ben Sasse. “As a non-partisan academic unit, Hamilton is devoted to research and teaching excellence. We’re thrilled to have these scholars join our UF team and eager for them to hit the ground running.”
With expertise across multiple disciplines, fields, geographies, and historical eras, this group of remarkable scholars will substantially enhance the research and teaching mission of the University of Florida.
“We want to build the top Western civilization program in the nation here at UF, and we're making great progress,” said University of Florida Provost Scott Angle. “These new hires will help form the Hamilton Center’s academic foundation as we work to achieve that goal. We look forward to the research and teaching contributions of our newest colleagues.”
With the new hires, the Hamilton Center now comprises a total of 32 professors.
“We’re building something special at UF,” said Hamilton Center Director Dr. Will Inboden. “We’re eager to welcome these colleagues to Gainesville and look forward to their scholarly contributions to this diverse and dynamic university.”
The Hamilton Center’s new faculty members are:
Amy Chandran, Assistant Professor (PhD, Harvard). A political theorist currently teaching at Harvard, Dr. Chandran is an expert on the thought of Thomas Hobbes and eighteenth-century political philosophy. She previously served as a policy advisor to multiple Australian prime ministers.
Barnaby Crowcroft, Assistant Professor (PhD, Harvard). Most recently a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Texas-Austin with the America in the World Consortium, Dr. Crowcroft is a scholar of the British empire who studied under the eminent historian Niall Ferguson. He previously served as a diplomat in the Middle East.
Lillian Datchev, Assistant Professor (PhD, Princeton). A historian of Renaissance Europe who previously studied in the Great Books program at St. Johns College, she has been awarded a two-year Klarman Postdoctoral Fellowship at Cornell University and then will start at the Hamilton Center in 2026.
Eloise Davies, Assistant Professor (PhD, Cambridge). A faculty member at Oxford University, Dr. Davies studies the relationship between religious and secular authority in medieval and early modern Europe, with a particular focus on republican thought and maritime rivalry in seventeenth century England and Venice.
David Dusenbury, Associate Professor (PhD, Leuven). Most recently with the Danube Institute, Dr. Dusenbury works at the intersection of philosophy, theology, and intellectual history. He has authored five books including The Innocence of Pontius Pilate: How the Roman Trial of Jesus Shaped History (Oxford University Press).
Gianna Englert, Associate Professor (PhD, Georgetown). A political theorist who has previously taught at Brown University and Southern Methodist University, Dr. Englert studies democracy, citizenship, French and American political thought, and the ideas and influence of Alexis de Tocqueville.
Mattias Gassman, Assistant Professor (PhD, Cambridge). A scholar of early Christianity and the Roman Empire, Dr. Gassman has held fellowships at Oxford University and the University of St. Andrews. His research focuses on the life and thought of St. Augustine of Hippo and the development of Christian theology.
Alexander Green, Assistant Professor (PhD, University of Toronto). A scholar of Jewish thought and virtue ethics, Dr. Green studied under the eminent philosopher David Novak. He is completing a book on the medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides.
Dimitrios Halikias, Assistant Professor (PhD, Harvard). A political theorist who studies the interplay of technology, economics, and democracy, he has been awarded a Postdoctoral fellowship with the Princeton University Society of Fellows and will start at the Hamilton Center in 2026.
James Hankins, Visiting Professor (PhD, Columbia). Currently a professor at Harvard, Dr. Hankins is one of the world’s most eminent historians of the Renaissance, and has authored or edited 16 books. His newest book is the forthcoming textbook on Western Civilization, The Golden Thread: A History of the Western Tradition, co-authored with Allen Guelzo of Princeton.
Meghan Herwig, Assistant Professor (PhD, University of Virginia). A scholar of international economic policy and geopolitical rivalry, Dr. Herwig also focuses on US-China relations. She previously served in the Office of International Affairs at the US Treasury Department.
Adam Lebovitz, Assistant Professor (PhD, Harvard). A political theorist, Dr. Lebovitz also has a JD from Harvard, has held fellowships at Cambridge University and Stanford University. His research focuses on the ideas of the American Revolution and the French Revolution. He has won numerous awards including the Leo Strauss Prize from the American Political Science Association.
Michael Leggiere, Professor (PhD, Florida State). One of the world’s premier scholars of the Napoleonic Wars, Dr. Leggiere has authored five books including the two-volume Napoleon and the Struggle for Germany (Cambridge University Press). He previously served as Professor and Deputy Director of the Military History Center at the University of North Texas, and is the founding editor of the journal War Studies.
Paul Lim, Professor (PhD, Cambridge). Coming from the faculty of Vanderbilt University, Dr. Lim is a renowned scholar of the English Reformation and history of Christianity. He previously taught at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and has written three books including the award-winning Mystery Unveiled: The Crisis of the Trinity in Early Modern England (Oxford University Press).
Neil Rogachevsky, Assistant Professor (PhD, Cambridge). Dr. Rogachevsky’s publications include the co-authored book Israel’s Declaration of Independence: The History and Political Theory of the Nation’s Founding Moment (Cambridge University Press). He has taught for the last several years at Yeshiva University, and his specializations include constitutionalism, Israeli and American political thought, and Jewish history.
Darren Staloff, Professor (PhD, Columbia). One of the most dynamic American history instructors in the nation, Staloff taught for many years at City University of New York as well as recording hundreds of hours of lectures for the Teaching Company distributed nationwide. He has been a fellow with Princeton’s James Madison Program, and his publications include the highly-regarded book Hamilton, Adams, Jefferson: The Politics of Enlightenment and the American Founding (Hill and Wang).
Robert Stone, Assistant Professor (PhD, University of Chicago). Currently teaching at the Naval War College in the Strategy and Policy Department, Dr. Stone’s research focuses on Thucydides and the Peloponnesian War, and how insights from that classic text shape strategic culture and decision-making in wartime.
Karen Taliaferro, Associate Professor (PhD, Georgetown University). A political theorist with expertise in Christian, Jewish, and Islamic theology, Dr. Taliaferro’s experience includes several years on the faculty of Arizona State University’s School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership. She also helped launch the American Academy of Sciences and Letters. Her publications include the book The Possibility of Religious Freedom: Early Natural Law and the Abrahamic Faiths (Cambridge University Press).
Thomas Vozar, Assistant Professor (PhD, University of Exeter). A scholar of classics and English literature with particular expertise on the poet John Milton, Dr. Vozar’s publications include the book Milton, Longinus, and the Sublime in the Seventeenth Century (Oxford University Press).
Brandon Warmke, Associate Professor (PhD, University of Arizona). A philosopher currently serving as Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought and Policy with the Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization at the University of Colorado Boulder, Dr. Warmke will be starting with the Hamilton Center in 2025. His expertise includes virtue ethics and social philosophy, and his many publications include co-authored books on forgiveness and moral grandstanding.
William Whitham, Assistant Professor (PhD, Princeton University). A historian currently serving on the faculty at Harvard, Whitham has won numerous teaching awards including the Stanley Hoffman Prize for Excellence in Teaching in the venerable Social Studies program at Harvard. Dr. Whitham’s research interests include the totalitarian ideologies of communism and fascism, and the history of terrorism.
