Gleaves Whitney

Gleaves Whitney is the director of Grand Valley State University's Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies. He has authored or edited thirteen books. Whitney is also a senior scholar at the Center for the American Idea in Houston, Texas, and he is the first senior fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal. His work has appeared in numerous newspapers, magazines, and journals. [ Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies, "About Us"]

Education

Whitney graduated with honors from Colorado State University (1980), was elected into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society (1980), and was a Fulbright scholar in Germany (1984-85). He did his graduate work at the University of Michigan, where he was a Richard M. Weaver fellow (1987-88) and an H. B. Earhart Fellow (1988-91). Whitney has taught at the University of Michigan, Droste-Hulshof Gymnasium, Colorado State University, and Grand Valley State University. In 2006, he received the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the Graduate Theological Union (Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology), Berkeley, California. ["Hauenstein Center gets new leader."GVNow, July 2003]

Public Service

Prior to his arrival at Grand Valley State University, Whitney worked 11 years in Michigan Governor John Engler's administration, serving as senior writer, chief speechwriter, and historian. In 1993, the governor assigned him to a task force that helped bring sweeping education and school finance reforms to Michigan that The New York Times called "the most dramatic in the nation." [Official Website: Bio"]

Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies

Whitney became the director of the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2003. The Center has experienced tremendous growth during his tenure. Whitney has been the architect of more than 80 programs, including two national conferences covered by C-SPAN and one webcast live to more than 3,500 viewers in 18 countries. He has overseen tremendous growth of the Hauenstein Center's website, premiered a popular web column called Ask Gleaves, and created a leadership academy for students and young professionals committed to public service.

Partnerships Created

In his current position as director of the Hauenstein Center, he has cultivated many institutional partnerships -- e.g., the National Park Service, Houston Museum of Natural Science, and the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum -- and numerous ongoing professional partnerships -- e.g., H. W. Brands, Richard Norton Smith, William Barker, and George Nash.

Writing/Editing/Speaking

In addition to his public work, Whitney is a scholar who writes and lectures nationally on a variety of historical topics. He is author or editor of thirteen books including most recently (with Mark Rozell) "Religion and the American Presidency" and "Religion and the Bush Presidency." Other books include "John Engler: The Man, the Leader & the Legacy;" and 6 volumes of Messages of the Governors of Michigan. Another book, a collection of the wartime speeches of American presidents, is forthcoming.

Selected Works

*John Engler: The Man, the Leader & the Legacy Written by Gleaves WhitneySleeping Bear Press (December 2002)

*Religion and the Bush PresidencyEdited by Mark Rozell and Gleaves Whitney(Palgrave Macmillan, August 2007)

*Religion and the American PresidencyEdited by Mark Rozell and Gleaves Whitney(Palgrave Macmillan, May 2007)

*American Presidents:Farewell Messages to the Nation, 1796-2001Edited by Gleaves Whitney(Lexington, December 2002)

peeches about American Presidents

*George Washington: Less than Perfect, Greater than Us
*Indispensable Aide: Alexander Hamilton
*Abraham Lincoln's Unions
*Franklin Delano Roosevelt: The Paradox of Power
*Shakespearean Drama in the American Republic: The Tragedy of Richard Nixon
*Gerald R. Ford: Republican
*Ronald Reagan
*Growth of Presidential Power in the Twentieth Century
*Presidents and the Moral Imagination

References

External links

* [http://www.allpresidents.org/ The Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies]
* [http://www.gvsu.edu/ Grand Valley State University]
* [http://www.gleaveswhitney.com/ Gleaves Whitney's Official Website]
* [http://www.kirkcenter.org/ The Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal]
* [http://www.americanidea.org Center for the American Idea]
* [http://www.hmns.org/ Houston Museum of Natural Science]
* [http://www.nps.gov/ National Park Service]
* [http://www.ford.utexas.edu/ Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum]
* [http://picboost.com/images/2008/June/9/GleavescloseupinDeathValley2.jpgGleaves Whitney on vacation]