Alexander S. Rosenthal-Pubul, MA, PhD
The Director of the Petrarch Institute, he received his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Princeton University in 1994 and his PhD in Philosophy from the Katholieke Universisteit Leuven in 2005. He has taught at a number of colleges and universities including Loyola College (Maryland), and Catholic University of America (CUA) and Johns Hopkins University where he served as Assistant Director of the Center for Governmental Studies, and currently remains an online Lecturer from his home in Spain. He has taught at many levels from high school and undergraduate students, to adult learners from government and the private sector. His research interests include medieval and renaissance thought, European intellectual history, and political philosophy. Among his publications is his book Crown Under Law which deals with the intellectual origins of modern constitutionalism focusing on John Locke and Richard Hooker and their interaction with the medieval scholastic tradition. He founded the Petrarch Institute to bring to a wider audience his long experience helping students to apply the timeless wisdom of the classic texts to enrich their lives, their work, and all their endeavors.
Note: The Petrarch Institute has no affiliation with Johns Hopkins University, and its activities do not imply endorsement by such.
Miles Smit, MA, PhD
Miles has over 5 years’ experience as a strategy consultant and director of corporate strategy, working in the Finance, Extraction, Manufacturing, Health and Utilities sectors.
He is the co-author of a revised edition of Nicholas Capaldi’s Art of Deception, a classic guide to rhetoric and critical thinking, which is currently slated for translation into Korean. His top philosophical passion is man’s integral place in the world, relative to Nature and to God, and the role of symbols in nourishing art, religion and community.
Miles earned an Honours BA degree in Philosophy with a second major in Art History, from McGill University, and MA and PhD degrees from the Catholic University of Leuven, in Belgium.