Muirhead to join College faculty
By Hank Nelson, The Dartmouth Staff
Published on Thursday, May 14, 2009
Political theorist Russell Muirhead has been named the inaugural Robert Clements Professor of Democracy and Politics at Dartmouth, the College announced on Wednesday. Muirhead, currently a government professor at the University of Texas at Austin, will begin teaching at the College during Fall term.
Muirhead's expertise is in political theory and current political questions, government department chair William Wohlforth said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
"[Muirhead] is a political theorist who takes these theories and applies them to burning political problems," Wohlforth said.
Muirhead said in an interview that he enjoys interacting with students in and out of the classroom, and hopes to help students explore what interests them about the world.
"I am interested in helping [students] open their minds and helping them develop an understanding that seems to them so illuminating that they could not imagine living without it," he said.
Fully engaging students is superior to "merely ensuring that they can competently recite the understanding of an academic sub-discipline," Muirhead said.
Wohlforth called Muirhead a "highly regarded" professor.
"You can just tell that he is going to have a winning way with students," Wohlforth said.
Muirhead will teach four classes at the College, Wohlforth said, including "Ethics in Politics," "American Political Thought" and "Constitution Making in the United States."
Muirhead's fourth course, "Left and Right -- Partisanship and Ideology," will be based on his latest book, "Left and Right: A Defense of Party Spirit," he said. Muirhead explained that the book analyzes the importance of partisan ideology in creating a well-informed populace.
"We tend to think that the ideal citizen thinks independently like a scientist or judge," Muirhead said. "He or she weighs evidence in the spirit of impartiality. In fact, the most active and informed citizens tend to be highly partisan. Partisan commitments are actually a virtue in democratic citizens."
Muirhead said he will be working on another book, "Going Deaf -- Why Political Speech is so Difficult to Listen to," while teaching at the College next year.
Muirhead said in the interview that he is pleased to work at a college that focuses on undergraduate education.
"Graduate education is often professional, and professionalism dampens the spirit that is essential to learn," he said.
Muirhead received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Harvard University and a second bachelor's degree from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, according to a College press release. He is currently a fellow at the Hoover Institute, a conservative think tank on Stanford University's campus. Muirhead is a member of the Institute's Task Force on Virtues of a Free Society.
Muirhead professorship was created through a donation by Robert Clements '54, Dean of the Faculty Carol Folt said in the College's press release.
"It is our hope that the establishment of this chair will enable Professor Muirhead, as well as those who follow him, to create new knowledge about the relationship between democracy and freedom and, most importantly, share that knowledge with tomorrow's leaders," Clements said in the press release.
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