Victor Davis Hanson Named Inaugural Giles O'Malley Distinguished Visiting Professor at the School of Public Policy
Victor Davis Hanson, the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and former William E. Simon Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Pepperdine School of Public Policy, will return to Pepperdine in fall 2023 to serve as the inaugural Terry Giles and Kalli O’Malley Distinguished Visiting Professor at the School of Public Policy.
“I'm delighted to serve as the first Giles O'Malley Distinguished Visiting Professor at Pepperdine's School of Public Policy,” says Hanson, who will teach a course each fall related to his scholarly expertise in applied history, military history, and American political culture. “The school has long been committed to teaching applied history to future policymakers and political leaders, placing great value on viewpoint diversity in classroom discussions and research. At this stage in my teaching career and in our nation's history, I'm focusing my efforts on preparing the next generation of public leaders, and I regard Pepperdine's graduate policy program as an important 'tip of the spear' educational institution.”
Hanson will teach a course each fall in perpetuity through the endowment related to his scholarly expertise in applied history, military history, and American political culture. Through this visiting position, the School of Public Policy endeavors to attract America’s most respected scholars to teach the relevance of Western Civilization and America’s founding principles to today’s policy and political challenges.
"This announcement brings together great friends of our unique graduate program in Dr. Hanson and Terry Giles (JD ’74) and his wife, Kalli O'Malley,” says Pete Peterson (MPP ’07), dean and Braun Family Dean’s Chair at the School of Public Policy. “We are honored to welcome Dr. Hanson back to Malibu to serve as our first Giles Distinguished Visiting Professor. Victor is one of the country's leading public intellectuals and scholars teaching how history should inform today's policymakers. After several visiting stints here at the policy school over the years, I'm delighted to have Victor back in this long-term, endowed professorship.”
At Stanford University, Hanson was a National Endowment for the Humanities fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences from 1992 to 1993 and a visiting professor of classics from 1991 to 1992. He served as the annual Wayne and Marcia Buske Distinguished Visiting Fellow in History at Hillsdale College from 2004 to 2022 and the Visiting Shifron Professor of Military History at the US Naval Academy from 2002 to 2003. In 1991 he was awarded an American Philological Association Excellence in Teaching Award. He received the Eric Breindel Award for Excellence in Opinion Journalism in 2002, presented the Manhattan Institute’s Wriston Lecture in 2004, and was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2007 and the Bradley Prize in 2008.
“Kalli and I are committed to Pepperdine and its mission,” says Giles, an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, and a Life Regent on the Pepperdine University Board of Regents who has endowed a number of awards and scholarships at the Caruso School of Law, including the Terry M. Giles Honor Scholarship, for which he travels to Malibu each year to interview candidates. “This includes support for the School of Public Policy and its fight for an ethical and unbiased free press dedicated to America’s founding principles. Funding in perpetuity the Giles O’Malley Distinguished Visiting Professorship and having an intellectual superstar like Victor Davis Hanson as the first to serve in this professorship is the perfect manifestation of our goals. With the guidance of dean Pete Peterson, the selection of Victor Davis Hanson was a goal from the beginning, as he provides current wisdom badly needed in today’s society and sets the ideal model for all professors who hold this chair into the future.”
Hanson is the author of hundreds of articles, book reviews, and newspaper editorials on Greek, agrarian, and military history and essays on contemporary culture. He has written or edited 24 books, the latest of which is The Case for Trump (Basic Books, 2019). His other books include The Second World Wars (Basic Books, 2017); The Savior Generals: How Five Great Commanders Saved Wars That Were Lost - from Ancient Greece to Iraq (Bloomsbury 2013); The End of Sparta (Bloomsbury, 2011); The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern (Bloomsbury, 2010); Makers of Ancient Strategy: From the Persian Wars to the Fall of Rome (ed.) (Princeton, 2010); The Other Greeks (California, 1998); The Soul of Battle (Free Press, 1999); Carnage and Culture (Doubleday, 2001); Ripples of Battle (Doubleday, 2003); A War Like No Other (Random House, 2005); The Western Way of War (Alfred Knopf, 1989; 2nd paperback ed., University of California Press, 2000); The Wars of the Ancient Greeks (Cassell, 1999; paperback ed., 2001); and Mexifornia: A State of Becoming (Encounter, 2003). Drawn from his lifelong experience as part of a family of farmers, Hanson has also authored two books on family farming, Fields without Dreams (Free Press, 1995) and The Land Was Everything (Free Press, 1998). Currently, he is a syndicated columnist for Tribune Media Services and a weekly columnist for the National Review.