Center for Catholic Citizenship
Our Purpose
Mission
The Center for Catholic Citizenship advances the study, renewal, and advancement of citizenship enlivened by fidelity to the Catholic Church and the principles of the American founding. Its overall aim is to promote the virtues of citizenship through the study of Catholic social teaching and the best of the classical liberal tradition within the moderate Enlightenment.
The Center prepares undergraduates for constructive and practical engagement in political life by promoting a civic education that explores the historical and moral underpinnings of republican and constitutional government as well as the rights of persons, especially as these relate to religion, speech, and property. In this vein, the Center also explores the Catholic Church's engagement in domestic politics and international relations, where it advocates for peace and justice, promotes religious freedom, and supports democratization and development.
The Center facilitates serious discussion and reflection about Catholic citizenship at Ave Maria University and beyond by sponsoring lectures, colloquia, and symposia. The Center also cultivates and supports students, nourished within the living traditions of their faith and their country, for placement in competitive internships and entry level positions with elected officials, think tanks, businesses, and nonprofit organizations.
Center for Excellence
Dr. John Colman
Professor of Politics
Professor Colman earned his doctorate from Boston College in 2005. Prior to coming to Ave Maria University in 2008, he taught at Ashland University and Goucher College. He is the author of Lucretius as Theorist of Political Life (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) and Everyone Orthodox to Himself: John Locke and His American Students on Religion and Liberal Society (University Press of Kansas, 2023). He has also published articles in Perspectives on Political Science and the Journal of American Political Thought. His current research focuses on the origins of classical liberalism in the thought of Michel de Montaigne.
Dr. Seana McGuire
Vice President for Academic Affairs & Ambassador Michael Novak Chair of Politics
She directs the Center for Catholic Citizenship. Before arriving at Ave Maria University in 2004, she served as Associate Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. She has taught constitutional law and civil liberties for more than 20 years. Her writings are in the fields of separation of powers, religious liberty, civil society and marriage, as well as civil disobedience. She has mentored a generation of Ave students in discerning their careers in law and public service and serves as the University's pre-law advisor. She acquired her LL.B. from the University of Ottawa and her LL.M. and D.C.L. from McGill University.
Dr. Lidiya Zubytska
Chair of the Politics Department & Assistant Professor of Politics
She specializes in foreign policy analysis, including domestic factors shaping foreign policy choices in states undergoing political transition. Her current research projects examine the new Ukrainian approaches to diplomacy during wartime and the presidentialization of politics in Eastern Europe. Dr. Zubytska has held fellowships at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington, D.C., and the Institute on Russian and Eurasian Studies at Uppsala University (Sweden). She holds a Doctoral Degree in Political Science from the University of Kansas, and an M.A. in International Peace Studies from the University of Notre Dame.