Kevin Walker, PhD

Associate Professor of Politics

School of Arts & Sciences

SWAG��Ƶ Me

I received my PhD in politics from Claremont Graduate University after completing my dissertation on the Supreme Court in the Progressive Era. I joined the Mary faculty in 2023, where I teach courses on political philosophy and American politics.

I view the study of politics as a much bigger part of a classic liberal education. This education makes a person is well-equipped to engage in civil discourse in pursuit of the common good, but, more importantly, it does this because they are formed in virtue and intellect, having the heart and mind shaped into what God means them to be.

Why I’m At Mary

I deeply appreciate the unifying sense of purpose that motivates everyone across campus. My colleagues and I share the same goals when it comes to serving our students -- to guide them all to the true, the good, and the beautiful as they are illuminated by Christian faith.

Expertise

My primary research agenda is focused on the place of education in political philosophy, as well as the interaction between universities and American politics. I also write on the Supreme Court and various aspects of American political development.

Forthcoming Political Philosophy

"Love and Politics: What is the Place of Charity in the Common Good?" submitted to Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture.

“Herodotus and the Philosophy of Travel,” Proceedings from the Annual Conference of the Association for Core Texts and Courses, 2019-2020.

"The Place of Education in Cicero's Political Philosophy."

"The Republicanism of the Yale Report of 1828."

Forthcoming American Politics

"Justice Joseph McKenna: Seeking the Rule of Reason in the Gilded Age," in The Catholic Supreme Court Justices. Edited by Thomas Varacalli. Submitted to Catholic University of America Press.

“Philosophy Meets the Bureaucrats: Liberal Arts versus Specialization in Progressive Era Universities."

"The Constitutional Word Incarnate: The Problem of the Fourteenth Amendment."

"A Republican Theory of Grain Elevators: the Case of Munn v. Illinois."

Contributions to Prime Matters

Education

PhD (Political Science): Claremont Graduate University, 2010

SWAG��Ƶ