Apr 13, 2021
Dmitriy Ivanov

How Can We Rebuild the Institutions of American Life?

What are the roles of institutions in American life? Yuval Levin, Ph.D., director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), will discuss this question and more during “A Conversation with Yuval Levin,” a virtual lecture presented by Assumption University on Thursday, April 15, at 7:00p.m. via Zoom. 

Levin, a widely published and esteemed public intellectual, will discuss the role of institutions in American life, what imperils them, and what can be done to fortify and rebuild them, in a conversation with Assumption Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Greg Weiner, Ph.D.  Levin will also explore the legacy of the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and his decades of contributions to the journal The Public Interest. 

The legacy of Sen. Moynihan is the inspiration for the work and scholarship of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Center for Scholarship and Statesmanship at Assumption University. The Center, which was established in 2018 and is funded by generous grants from the Thomas W. Smith Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, endeavors to cultivate thoughtful citizens who are inspired by Sen. Moynihan, a true scholar-statesman who appreciated the convergence of and link between ideas and action.

Levin is the Beth and Ravenel Curry Chair in Public Policy at AEI as well as the founding and current editor of National Affairs. He is also a senior editor of The New Atlantis and a contributing editor to National Review. He served as a member of the White House domestic policy staff under President George W. Bush and held the positions of executive director of the President’s Council on Bioethics and a congressional staffer at the member, committee, and leadership levels. Levin, who is frequently interviewed on radio and television, has published numerous essays and articles in national publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Commentary. He is the author of several books on political theory and public policy, most recently A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream (Basic Books).

He holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago.

The virtual lecture is free and open to the public.  For more information or to obtain a Zoom link, please contact Jillienne Church js.church@assumption.edu.