What is justice? What is freedom? Are they conventional, derived from human laws? Does either have a basis in nature? What is the best form of government, and can it be implemented? Do human affairs progress, and to what end? These questions and many more are investigated discussing books such as Aristotle’s Politics, Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, and Smith’s Wealth of Nations. Johnnies have the opportunity to engage in political debates on the Peloponnesian War or modern global economies in two historic capital cities: Annapolis, Maryland and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Herodotus Histories
Homer Iliad, Odyssey
Plato Meno, Gorgias, Republic, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Symposium, Parmenides, Theaetetus, Sophist, Timaeus, Phaedrus
Plutarch “Lycurgus,” “Solon”
Thucydides The History of the Peloponnesian War
Livy Early History of Rome
Plutarch “Caesar,” “Cato the Younger,” “Antony,” “Brutus”
Niccolo Machiavelli The Prince, Discourses
Tacitus Annals
Articles of Confederation
Constitution of the United States of America
Declaration of Independence
Richard Dedekind Essay on the Theory of Numbers
Hamilton, Madison, Jay The Federalist Papers
Thomas Hobbes Leviathan
David Hume Treatise on Human Nature
Immanuel Kant Critique of Pure Reason, Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals
John Locke Second Treatise on Government
Jean-Jacques Rousseau Social Contract, The Origin of Inequality
Adam Smith Wealth of Nations
Simone de Beauvoir The Second Sex
James Baldwin Stranger in the Village, The Fire Next Time
Frederick Douglass Speeches
W. E. B. DuBois The Souls of Black Folk
William Faulkner Go Down, Moses
Hamilton, Madison, Jay The Federalist Papers
Edmund Husserl The Crisis of the European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology
Abraham Lincoln Speeches
Karl Marx Capital, The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, The German Ideology
Alexis de Tocqueville Democracy in America
Booker T. Washington “Atlanta Exposition Address,” “Our New Citizen,” “Democracy and Education”
United States Supreme Court Decisions
Hannah Arendt The Human Condition, The Origins of Totalitarianism
Thomas Piketty Capital
Edward Gibbon History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Oswald Spengler The Decline of the West
The Rise and Decline of the Roman Republic
The Literature of War
The information presented is for illustration purposes only and may not reflect the current reading list and preceptorial and study group offerings. Works listed are studied at one or both campuses, although not always in their entirety.
Recent graduate, Aviral Chawla (SF22), has had part of his senior essay on Smith published by Liberty Fund’s Adam Smith Works. Chawla, who is currently a teaching assistant at the University of Vermont, says that he is “a huge admirer of the Liberty Fund” and is honored beyond words to have his work be represented in their repertoire.
When Rebecca Brown (A78) took a high school aptitude test designed to help students choose colleges that would suit them, “the algorithm came back with only one suggestion for me—St. John’s!”
The American Bar Association Margaret Brent Award honors “outstanding women lawyers who have achieved professional excellence and paved the way for other women in the legal profession.” This year, one of those lawyers is Joan Haratani (SF79).
In early March, Simran Thapa (SF22) and Bryn Frye-Mason (SF23) were awarded a Projects for Peace fellowship. Founded in 2007 by the late philanthropist Kathryn W. Davis, the initiative invites students at Davis United World College Scholars Program partner schools—a group that includes St. John’s—to formulate a project that promotes peace anywhere in the world.
We recently caught up with Class of 2020 graduate Tyler Mazur (A20), who’s currently working as a paralegal specialist at the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division.
Ece Nur Tuglu (A21) used her Pathways Fellowship to take a six-week summer class at University of California, Berkeley, titled “The Supreme Court and Public Policy.”
Johnnie alum Virginia Early (A13) is putting her education (and student government experience) to good use as an administrator in the Early Learning and Care Division of the California Department of Education.
For Jide Nzelibe (A93), a professor at Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law, the study of law cannot and should not be segmented rigidly: his teaching and scholarship have touched on everything from war and the World Trade Organization to the legal ramifications of political partisanship.
Over the summer, St. John's hosted 20 Black and African American students for a weeklong program exploring some of the greatest texts in the African American tradition.
Jay Tram (A20) used a Hodson internship to apply the St. John's Program to his passion for storytelling.
The summer edition of the Historical Journal features an article about the revelations of an original John Locke manuscript tucked away in St. John’s Greenfield Library.
Andrew Humphries (SF07) is entering his fourth year of a PhD program in economics. St. John’s, he says, has helped him immeasurably along the way.
Avinash Kumar (A21) is a rising junior and a recipient of a 2019 Ariel Internship.
Shilo Brooks (A06) was recently awarded a fellowship at the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. There, he will dedicate 10 months to researching the relationship between technology and American democracy.
Jack Langworthy (SF07) is the founder and CEO of Ninayo.
David Vermette (A85) publishes his debut nonfiction title September 15.
Claudia Stack (A88) got hooked on storytelling. Now, she has produced three award-winning documentaries.
Patrick Schaefer (A00), a recent recipient of the Marshall Memorial Fellowship, recently ran into Andrew Kolb (A01) at the offices of the German Marshall Fund.
Hyun Jai Oh (A19) was recently accepted into law school. Here’s how St. John’s helped him get there.
John Chapa Gorczynski (SF05) went to St. John’s to get away from politics. Now, he’s traveling frequently between his home in Houston and The Hill.
Before starting his senior year, Sean Miller (A20) completed an internship with the Anne Arundel County Office of the Public Defender.
On November 7, members of the St. John’s community on the Santa Fe campus gathered for a panel entitled “To What Extent Should the Members of Our College Community Be Politically Active?”
The College magazine features an essay by tutor George Russell about Abraham Lincoln and leadership.
Levan Kiladze (A22) obtained an internship at the Ministry of Justice of Georgia last summer through the Hodson Internship Program. While there, he gained all sorts of new skills—as well as a possible career path.
Rod Cofield (AGI08), executive director of Historic London Town, explains how the St. John’s College Graduate Institute better helped him understand the people who first settled in the historic village.
Dozens of St. John’s College students will spread out across the country and around the world this summer as part of the Hodson Internship program.
Students from St. John’s College in Annapolis were recognized this month as Most Outstanding Delegation at the Maryland Student Legislature’s annual session.
St. John’s alumni in the financial sector offer a unique perspective.
Ken Resnick had a lengthy career as an attorney, from arguing a case in front of the Supreme Court to representing General Electric, before enrolling in the Graduate Institute in Santa Fe.
Journalists Andrea Mitchell and Judy Woodruff held a wide-ranging discussion during the Great Conversations event at St. John’s College in Annapolis.
An Ariel Internship helped Jay Woodward (SF17) land a job.
Direct descendants of the Maryland Liberty Tree at St. John’s College are thriving throughout the state, including 200 seedlings now for sale to the general public.
A panel including three St. John’s College alumni recently shared information on opportunities for Santa Fe Johnnies in the fields of law and government.
Olivia Frawley (A18) participated in the St. John’s job shadowing program last summer at a consulting firm in Baltimore. The firm was founded by an alumnus.
David Diggs (AGI91) will receive an Alumni Association Award of Merit at Homecoming for his work toward ending child slavery in Haiti.
Mary-Charlotte Domandi (SFGI91) is an award-winning broadcast journalist known for interviews that dive deep.
Paul Martin (SF80) is the managing partner and chief investment officer of Martin Capital Advisors in San Antonio, Texas.
Tyler Mazur (A20) completed a Hodson Internship over the summer in the office of U.S. Rep. Anthony Brown in Washington, DC.
The C-SPAN Bus is traveling to the campus of St. John’s College in Annapolis as part of the television network’s “50 Capitals Tour.”
Gene Jerskey (A18) spent his summer studying Arabic in Lebanon as part of a Pathways Fellowship.
Jinxue Chen (SF18) completed an Ariel Internship this summer at the Institute for China-America Studies in Washington, DC.
Patrick Schaefer (A00) is the executive director of the Hunt Institute for Global Competitiveness at the University of Texas-El Paso.
Terrance (T.J.) Schaub (SF18) had a lot of support in landing his summer 2017 Ariel Internship with Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Mike Wu (SF07) founded his own consulting firm that works with government agencies, utility companies and others to secure their power grids.
Marianne Lanuti, whose son Joey Lanuti (SF14), now attends Georgetown Law School, discusses what it’s like to be a Johnnie parent.
Hayley Dunn (A17) plans to help victims of domestic violence before heading off to law school.
Student-run coffee shop, run by student volunteers, is a place to get coffee and food.
The Hodson and Ariel Internship Programs support Johnnies who want to pursue internships that would otherwise be unpaid.
Veteran journalist Tom Brokaw and Adm. Mike Mullen visited St. John’s College in Annapolis to discuss current events, from world and domestic issues to the role of the media.
The undergraduate student government run by elected student officers.
St. John’s College alumnus Danny Hakim (A93) is a Pulitzer Prize winner who works for the New York Times.
Two St. John’s College students spent part of their summer trying to bring about change in Zimbabwe.
When St. John’s College junior Catherine Baldwin interned at the NASA History Program Office last summer, it provided her with a connection to the hit movie “Hidden Figures.”
The Hodson and Ariel Internship Programs support Johnnies who want to pursue internships that would otherwise be unpaid.
Tutor George Russell writes an essay about Abraham Lincoln and leadership.
Nearly a dozen St. John’s College students visited Washington, DC to have a wide-ranging discussion with alumnus Brian McGuire (A96).
Rohini Pandit (A15) is working as a paralegal in India and applying to law schools in the United States.
The Gadfly is a student-run newspaper that provides campus news, short stories, art, and poetry.
Alumna Lydia Polgreen (A97), editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, brought a message of solidarity to the Steiner Lecture at St. John’s College.
Sophy Ma (A17) won the senior essay prize at St. John’s College in Annapolis for her work.
Virginia Early (A13) is a budget and policy analyst for the California Legislative Analyst’s Office.
St. John’s College graduate Joe Lanuti (SF14) is attending Georgetown University Law Center, and was recently involved in a quest to get cameras installed in special-education classrooms in Nevada.
The Hodson and Ariel Internship Programs support Johnnies who want to pursue internships that would otherwise be unpaid.
Shawn Watts (SF00) is an accomplished attorney who now serves as associate director of the Edson Queiroz Foundation Mediation Program at Columbia Law School.
The Moon is the official student-run monthly newspaper.
Ian Tuttle (A14) says the lessons he learned at St. John’s have helped him as he writes for The National Review in New York.
St. John’s College student Sawyer Neale (A18) stood in the national spotlight Monday and asked Sen. Bernie Sanders if he would run for president again in 2020.
This student-run organization arranges group volunteer opportunities.
The Hodson and Ariel Internship Programs support Johnnies who want to pursue internships that would otherwise be unpaid.
Pink Triangle is an LGBTQIA alliance group.
Student government plays a prominent role in campus life in Annapolis and Santa Fe.
The Student Committee on Instruction (SCI) is designed to serve as a forum for the student body concerning academic issues.
The Hodson and Ariel Internship Programs support Johnnies who want to pursue internships that would otherwise be unpaid.
Polity is the undergraduate student government that is run by elected student officers.
Kate Glassman Bennett (A97) is a White House reporter for CNN.
The Hodson and Ariel Internship Programs support Johnnies who want to pursue internships that would otherwise be unpaid.
The Hodson and Ariel Internship Programs support Johnnies who want to pursue internships that would otherwise be unpaid.
Hodson Trust Fellow Gabrielle Feliciani (A17) interned in the office of Senator Barbara Mikulski on Capitol Hill.
More than a dozen St. John’s College students gathered to pick the brains of two prominent alumni who went on to successful law careers.
