John Hittinger, Ph. D. Chair
Dr. John Hittinger serves as a full professor in the department of philosophy at the University of St. Thomas, Houston, and he is a member of the Center for Thomistic Studies. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame (1974). He enrolled in the School of Philosophy at the Catholic University of America where he completed a master's thesis on "Reason and Intellect in Two Texts of Thomas Aquinas," and a doctoral dissertation on “Natural Law in Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding.” He has held faculty positions at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, the College of St Francis in Joliet, Illinois; the United States Air Force Academy, St. Mary’s College of Ave Maria University in Orchard Lake, Michigan, and Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit Michigan. From 2006 to 2008 Dr. Hittinger served as the Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of St Thomas, Houston. John has published four books, as the editor of the recently published The Vocation of the Catholic Philosopher: from Maritain to Wojtyla, Washington, Catholic University of America Press, 2010, and as co-editor of Liberalism at the Crossroads: An Introduction to Contemporary Liberal Theory and its Critics (Rowman and Littlefield, 1994) and Reassessing the Liberal State: Reading Maritain’s Man and the State, (Catholic University of America Press, 2001). His collection of essays is entitled Liberty, Wisdom and Grace: Thomism and Modern Democratic Theory. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Press, 2002. John has published articles and presented papers on a variety of topics including John Locke, Jacques Maritain, military ethics, liberal education, political philosophy, and the thought of John Paul II. In 2008, Dr. Hittinger founded the Pope John Paul II Forum for the Church in the Modern World (www.JP2Forum.org).
Thomas Cavanaugh, Ph. D. Vice Chair
A member of the University of San Francisco’s Philosophy Department and former Chair of the Department, Professor Cavanaugh's research and teaching interests concern the conjunction of philosophical and theological ethics as found in everyday life as well as in the medical and military arenas. An allied area of research and teaching concerns his interest in the Western religious tradition of thought, with a focus on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. At USF, he regularly teaches medical ethics, ethics, and general philosophy, introducing his students to, amongst others, Socrates, Aristotle, Boethius, Augustine, Aquinas, Pascal, Kant, Newman, Mill, and Simone Weil. In 2006, the Clarendon Press of Oxford University published Professor Cavanaugh's book entitled Double-Effect Reasoning: Doing Good and Avoiding Evil (Clarendon Press: Oxford) in Oxford Studies in Theological Ethics. He received the Ph.D in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame writing under the renowned Thomist and ICU’s founder, Ralph McInerny. Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, CA. awarded him the A.B.
Randall Smith, Ph. D. President
Prof. Randall B. Smith is a full professor in the Department of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, where he also holds the Scanlan Foundation Endowed Chair in Theology. He did his Ph.D. at the University of Notre Dame under the direction of Ralph McInerny. He is finishing work on two books: Themis and Dike: Divine Order and Human Excellence in the Iliad and the Odyssey; and How to Read a Sermon by Thomas Aquinas: A Study in Medieval Rhetoric and the Bible. He publishes regularly at “The Catholic Thing” and “Crisis.” Most of his publications can be found on his web site: http://t4.stthom.edu/users/smith/portfolio.
Christopher Kaczor, Ph. D. Secretary
Dr. Christopher Kaczor is Professor of Philosophy at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He graduated from the Honors Program of Boston College (1992) and holds a Ph.D. (1996) from the University of Notre Dame where he studied under Ralph McInerny. He did post-doctoral work in Germany at the Universität zu Köln as an Alexander von Humbolt Foundation, Federal Chancellor Fellow in 1996-1997 and returned as a Fulbright Scholar in 2002-2003. His eight books include The Ethics of Abortion: Women's Rights, Human Life, and the Question of Justice , O Rare Ralph McInerny: Stories and Reflections on a Legendary Notre Dame Professor, Thomas Aquinas on the Cardinal Virtues; Life Issues-Medical Choices; Thomas Aquinas on Faith, Hope, and Love; The Edge of Life: Human Dignity and Contemporary Bioethics, How to Stay Catholic in College, and Proportionalism and the Natural Law Tradition. Dr. Kaczor's research on issues of ethics, philosophy, and religion has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, the Huffington Post, National Review, NPR, BBC, EWTN, ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, MSNBC, and The Today Show.
David McInerny Treasurer
David McInerny was born to Ralph and Constance McInerny in South Bend, Indiana in 1961. He achieved a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Notre Dame in 1983, and has worked in the food industry for nearly three decades. He is currently the Assistant Vice President of Strategic Sourcing for Russell Stover Candies. David and his wife Nancy have been married for twenty five years, and they have three children.
Robert Fastiggi, Ph. D.
Robert Fastiggi, Ph.D. is Professor of Systematic Theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, MI, where he’s been since 1999. From 1985-1999, he taught at St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX. He holds an A.B. from Dartmouth College, and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Theology from Fordham University. His publications include The Natural Theology of Yves de Paris (Scholars Press, 1991); The Mystical Theology of the Catholic Reformation [co-author] (University Press of America [UPA], 2006); What the Church Teaches about Sex (Our Sunday Visitor, 2009); Called to Holiness and Communion: Vatican II on the Church [co-editor] (University of Scranton Press, 2009); and De Maria Numquam Satis: The Significance of the Catholic Doctrines on the Blessed Virgin Mary for All People [co-editor] (UPA, 2009). He is the Executive Editor of the 2009, 2010 and 2011 supplements of the New Catholic Encyclopedia (Gale Cengage Learning and Catholic University of America Press) and the co-editor of the English edition of Denzinger-Hünermann (43th edition) to be published by Ignatius Press. Dr. Fastiggi and his wife, Kathy, are parents of three children.
Fr. Joseph Koterski, S.J.
Rev. Joseph W. Koterski, S.J., teaches Philosophy at Fordham University and is the Editor-in-Chief of International Philosophical Quarterly. He was re-elected in 2011 to a second term as the President of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars and has produced videotaped lecture-courses on “Aristotle’s Ethics,” on “Natural Law and Human Nature,” and most recently on “Biblical Wisdom Literature” for The Teaching Company. Among his recent publications: An Introduction to Medieval Philosophy: Basic Concepts (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009).
Erin Dowdy Administrative Consultant
Erin Dowdy serves as the Administrative Consultant for Sales, Marketing and Administration. She received her B.A. from Thomas Aquinas College in 2005, and first began working with International Catholic University in 2007. Mrs. Dowdy and her husband have three children.
