Jeffrey O. Nelson

Jeffrey O. Nelson is a Co-Founder of the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal with Annette Y. Kirk.

Prior to his executive director role with the Kirk Center, Jeff held senior leadership or board of trustee roles for the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) for three decades, most recently overseeing ISI’s national educational program as its Chief Academic Officer.

A Michigan native, Jeff grew up west of Detroit and spent much of his youth in Russell Kirk’s native town of Plymouth. He holds a B.A. from the University of Detroit, a M.A.R. from Yale University Divinity School, and he earned his Ph.D. in American history from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. His dissertation was on Edmund Burke and America.

During his undergraduate years in Detroit, Jeff discovered ISI, founded a chapter, brought in speakers, and attended Piety Hill seminars in Mecosta. He became one of Russell Kirk’s literary assistants after graduating. He also met and eventually married Cecilia Kirk, Dr. Kirk’s second daughter. They have three children: Isabel, Thomas, and Julia.

Jeff is the founding editor and publisher of ISI Books, a book imprint that has published some of the most consequential conservative titles over the past twenty-five years. He was also editor of The Intercollegiate Review: A Journal of Scholarship and Opinion and was privileged to work with the distinguished Georgetown University political theorist, George W. Carey, as executive editor of The Political Science Reviewer. From 1995-2005, he was editor of the Center’s flagship publication, The University Bookman, and currently serves as its publisher and editor at large.