Douglas A. Jeffrey

Douglas A. Jeffrey was appointed Vice President for External Affairs at Hillsdale College in September 2000. For 15 years prior to his appointment, he worked at the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy, first as the Director of Scholarship, then as Executive Vice President, and most recently as Senior Fellow. He also directed the Institute’s Bicentennial Project, Novus Ordo Seclorum, from 1986-88. The Institute is a California-based educational and research organization that studies and promotes the principles of the American founding and applies them to current public policy.

A four-year veteran of the U.S. Navy, Jeffrey received his B.A. in 1981 from the University of Dallas, graduating magna cum laude and receiving the Willmoore Kendall Award in Political Philosophy. He continued his studies in politics and literature at Dallas and earned his M.A. in 1985. He was a Publius Fellow in political journalism in 1982, and a Hillman Fellow from 1982-84. From 1984-86, he directed the speaker’s bureau of “In the Spirit of the Constitution,” and the Bicentennial Project of the University of Dallas, and in spring 1986 he was an instructor in American politics.

From 1994-97, Jeffrey was editor of NR West, an eight-page supplement to National Review magazine that reached subscribers in nine western states. Prior to that he edited Principles: A Quarterly Review for Teachers of History and Social Science (1992-95), as well as two other Claremont publications, the monthly Proposition (1987-90) and the quarterly Claremont Review of Books (1986-87). He has been published widely in books, periodicals, and major newspapers such as the Washington Times, Investor’s Business Daily, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer, on political theory and institutions, public policy, books, and films. He has organized numerous conferences and seminars and served twice as an external grant reviewer for the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is a member of the American Political Science Association.