ABOUT VERITAS INSTITUTE:
Veritas Institute is a week-long formation experience for students interested in being public Christian voices after college. It trains students to communicate the plausibility of religious faith in the modern world and familiarizes them with relevant professional pathways. Accepted students attend for free.
The topic we will be exploring this year isThe Human Person in a (Post-) Secular Age. We hope you will join us.
Veritas Institute is a selective week-long program of intellectual development, professional training, and spiritual formation for undergraduate students interested in developing a Christian public voice. It trains students from top colleges and universities to communicate the plausibility of religious faith in the modern world and familiarizes them with relevant professional pathways. Accepted students attend for free.
New this year to the program is the Veritas Institute Fellowship, a stipended year-long follow-up program of personal reading, cohort reflection, and public engagement. Fellowship participants will individualize and extend their experience at Veritas Institute and bring their learnings back to campus. We anticipate Fellows will have a deeper and more enduring engagement with the Institute experience by first reading and thinking alone and then bringing their reflections into community conversation.
What To Expect
Veritas Institute 2026 will take place at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. from Tuesday, May 26, to Sunday, May 31, 2026.
This year’s theme is “Old Words for a New World: Toward a Christian Intellect for our Moment.” Scholars, journalists, and other Christian leaders will explore with you the craft of writing and contextualizing historical Christian sources for a modern audience, as well as cultivating your own intellectual life.
Why You Should Attend
The Veritas Institute includes opportunities to:
Meet, think, discuss, write, edit, pray, and explore Washington, D.C. with fellow students from across the country
Learn from top scholars about the plausibility of religious faith in the modern world
Receive direct coaching from top notch writers and editors on public thinking and writing
Hear from successful professionals about career pathways for being a Christian public voice after college
Our goal is to provide you with training in and models for a “more excellent way” of Christian public leadership. If you are eager to learn and build community together in small group and seminar environments, and you have a vision for engaging with and articulating the riches of the Christian faith in public, Institute is the place for you.
“I can almost guarantee, coming to Institute, you will have some kind of a change in how you look at the world, just by nature of being exposed to such intelligent and different people.” — A UT-Austin ’28 participant
“Veritas Institute helped me take time out of a busy summer to think about the big questions of life. Learning from top scholars and journalists was truly a privilege. I feel better equipped to communicate effectively from a Christian perspective.” — A Duke ’23 participant
“On a personal level, the Institute acted as a sort of launchpad thrusting me into a world of depth and seriousness surrounding the mission of establishing the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. Through the Institute, I have gained an urgency to become a Christian public voice in the sense that I now see a world that is yearning for answers. I believe I will be able to communicate through the effective methods and tools offered to me by this program.” — A UNC ’26 participant
Skills Training
In advance of Veritas Institute, all participants will read A. G. Sertillanges’s classic volume The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods. On site at Institute, all participants will receive practical instruction from Veritas staff and guest scholars on key intellectual habits of mind and practices, including but not limited to: keeping a commonplace book, developing a good reading list, responsible use of AI, intellectual habits, networking, and more.
Veritas Institute Fellowship
Institute 2026 participants will have the option to extend their intellectual inquiry into the subsequent academic year through the Veritas Institute Fellowship. In conversation with Veritas staff and scholars, accepted students will identify a particular question, theme, or topic for further exploration in advance of the workshop. In the course of the Institute, each participant will develop a reading list of 4–6 books around their chosen topic, which they will commence reading during the summer.
During the subsequent academic year, each Fellow will work on a project of translating their reading and reflection into some form of public engagement: writing a piece for an Augustine Collective campus publication, developing a content plan for a Veritas Forum, or pitching and (if accepted) writing a piece for a national publication. Fellows will also participate in periodic cohort calls and submit occasional progress reports to Veritas staff. Fellows who are making progress will have an opportunity to present their work at Veritas Weekend 2027. Each Fellow will receive a $1,000 stipend, disbursed in installments over the course of the year as they make progress.
Countdown to the Institute
Speakers + Coaches
Speakers
Over the course of six days, our session speakers will explore and discuss how Christianity interacts with questions about human nature. Past speakers include Ross Andersen, Lydia Dugdale, Jennifer Herdt, L.M. Sacasas, Praveen Sethupathy, Roz Picard, Zena Hitz, Karin Öberg, Christine Emba, Miroslav Volf, Christian Miller, Tyler VanderWeele, and more!
Kyle Dugdale
Yale School of Architecture
Kyle Dugdale
Yale School of Architecture
Kyle Dugdale is an architect, historian, and Senior Critic at Yale School of Architecture. He holds an undergraduate degree from Corpus Christi College, Oxford, a professional degree from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, and a doctoral degree from Yale. His most recent book is entitled Architecture After God.
Lydia Dugdale
Columbia University
Lydia Dugdale
Columbia University
Lydia Dugdale MD, MAR, is the Dorothy L. and Daniel H. Silberberg Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of the Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at Columbia University. Prior to her 2019 move to Columbia, she was Associate Director of the Program for Biomedical Ethics and founding Co-Director of the Program for Medicine, Spirituality, and Religion at Yale School of Medicine. She is an internal medicine primary care doctor and medical ethicist. She is the editor of Dying in the Twenty-First Century (MIT Press, 2015) and the author of The Lost Art of Dying (HarperOne, 2020). She lives with her husband and daughters in New York City.
Justin Hawkins
Columbia University
Justin Hawkins
Columbia University
Justin recently completed his dissertation from Yale University’s Department of Religious Studies, where he studies virtue ethics and political theory. He is currently a researcher in bioethics at Columbia University Medical School.
Angel Adams Parham
University of Virginia
Angel Adams Parham
University of Virginia
Angel Adams Parham is Associate Professor of Sociology and senior fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia. She is also the Associate Director for UVA’s major in Political and Social Thought where she equips students to examine transformations in political and social thought from antiquity through the present. Her research is in the area of historical sociology, engaging in inquiry that examines the past in order to better understand how to live well in the present and envision wisely for the future. She is the author of American Routes: Racial Palimpsests and the Transformation of Race (Oxford, 2017) which examines changes in race and racialization in New Orleans under the French, Spanish and Anglo-American administrations. The book was co-winner of the Social Science History Association’s Allan Sharlin Memorial book award (2018) and co-winner of the American Sociological Association’s Barrington Moore book award in comparative-historical sociology (2018). Her most recent book, co-authored with Anika Prather, was published in 2022 and is entitled The Black Intellectual Tradition: Reading Freedom in Classical Literature. Parham has published articles on the intersection of Black writers and the classics in popular outlets including the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Public Discourse, and Common Good Magazine. She is the co-founder and executive director of Nyansa Classical Community which provides curricula and programming designed to connect with K-12 students from diverse backgrounds, inviting them to take part in the Great Conversation, cultivate the moral imagination, and pursue truth, goodness, and beauty. Parham has been a member of the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, as well as the recipient of a Fulbright grant. She received her bachelor’s degree from Yale University and completed her doctoral work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Molly Worthen
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Molly Worthen
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Molly Worthen is a professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a freelance journalist. She received her BA and PhD from Yale University. Her research focuses on North American religious and intellectual history. Her most recent book, Spellbound (2025), is a history of charisma as both a religious and a political concept from the Puritans to the Trump era. Apostles of Reason (2013) examines American evangelical intellectual life since 1945, especially the internal conflicts among different evangelical subcultures. Her first book, The Man On Whom Nothing Was Lost (2006), is a behind-the-scenes study of American diplomacy and higher education told through the lens of biography. She created an audio and video course for The Great Courses, “History of Christianity II: From the Reformation to the Modern Megachurch,” as well as a course for Audible, “Charismatic Leaders Who Remade America.”
Worthen lectures widely on religion and politics and teaches courses on North American religious and intellectual culture, global Christianity, and the history of ideas. She writes about religion, politics, and higher education for the New York Times and has also contributed to the New Yorker, Slate, the Atlantic, the New Yorker, and other publications.
More To Be Announced
Coming Soon
More To Be Announced
Coming Soon
Writing Coaches
Writers and editors from well-known publications will lead our writing cohorts, share their expertise, and provide direct feedback to attendees. Past writing coaches include Caitrin Keiper, Samuel Matlack, B.D. McClay, Leah Libresco Sargeant, and Mene Ukueberuwa.
To Be Announced
Coming Soon
To Be Announced
Coming Soon
Veritas Institute Schedule
We look forward to a meaningful week together as we explore this year’s theme:
“Old Words for a New World: Toward a Christian Intellect for our Moment.”
Please note that this is ONLY A REPRESENTATIVE SCHEDULE.
Details will change before the week begins.
Frequently Asked Questions
More information to come.
Veritas Institute FAQs
Basic Information
To meet, think, discuss, write, edit, and pray with fellow students from across the country? To hear from and interact with fantastic speakers? To receive direct coaching from top notch writers and editors on the crafts of public thinking and writing? To learn about professional pathways for being a public voice? To explore Washington, D.C.? Pick your reason! Whatever brings you to the Institute, we’re thrilled to have you apply.
The Catholic University of America (CUA) will host this year’s Institute (as a location; the University is not otherwise engaged in sponsoring the program). The University is just a short metro ride from many of D.C.’s main attractions.
CUA is located at 620 Michigan Ave NE, Washington, D.C. 20064.
There is no fee to attend, and all meals provided on site are free. Lodging at CUA (in a dorm building) is also covered. The cost to you of your travel will depend upon the following:
• If accepted students submit a reimbursement form before the travel receipts deadline (Friday, April 10, 2026), they will receive 100% reimbursement for the cost of their primary method of travel. Travel reimbursements can be submitted at a link to be provided.
• If you do not submit your reimbursements by the travel receipt deadline, then you will be responsible for the full cost of your own travel.
Meals en route or any meals, snacks, coffee, etc not provided as part of the official schedule will not be covered.
Any souvenirs or other incidental costs you incur in D.C. will not be covered.
Please note the following transportation costs will also not be covered:
- • Ground transportation from your summer location to an airport, train station, or bus station
- • Ground transportation from a D.C. airport, train station, or bus station to CUA
- • Ground transportation from CUA to a D.C. airport, train station, or bus station
- • Ground transportation from an airport, train station, or bus station to your summer location
If you are flying or taking a train or bus into D.C., please plan accordingly. The metro (subway) in D.C. will be much cheaper than a taxi/Uber/Lyft. CUA is very close to the Brookland-CUA metro stop on D.C.’s red line.
- • Monday, January 12, 2026: Applications open
- • Monday, February 16, 2026: Applications close (Changed deadline!)
- • Friday, February 27, 2026: Recommender interview deadline
- • Thursday, March 12, 2026: Applicant interview deadline
- • Friday, March 13, 2026: Admission decisions released
- • Friday, March 27, 2026: Participant confirmation deadline
You can apply for the Institute by clicking on this link.
While filling out the application, you will be asked to respond to the following questions:
• What is your current involvement with the Veritas Forum and its campus programs (if any)?
• What is your primary Christian church, campus ministry, or spiritual home?
• Tell us about why you would like to participate in Veritas Institute 2026.
• Tell us about a passage of Scripture that has been formative for your life, or a spiritual practice that serves as a touchstone for you.
• Tell us about a book you've read in the last calendar year that has been formative for your intellectual journey and development.
• Tell us about your career and/or vocational goals and aspirations.
• Over the 2026–27 academic year, Veritas Institute participants may participate in a follow-up program of personal reading, group reflection, and public engagement. Please name 2–3 topic areas or themes which you might like to explore in this program.
You will also be asked to provide:
• A current headshot
• A sample of your writing for us to review
• Names, roles and affiliations, and email addresses of two persons to serve as recommenders to the program. (We strongly encourage you to ask their permission in advance!)
The application does not auto-save your responses, so we recommend writing your responses in a separate document and pasting them in when you are ready to submit.
The application deadline is Monday, February 16, at 11:59 pm EST. To inquire about submitting a late application, please email students@veritas.org.
Our general expectation is that student attendees stay for the entire duration of the week. If you have any concerns about staying for the whole week, please do let us know at students@veritas.org and we can discuss it with you further.
If you have been accepted to the program, you will receive an email asking you to confirm your spot. At that point, you can withdraw your application if you are not able to confirm your attendance. However, if you do confirm your spot, we consider it a firm commitment that you will attend and we would strongly ask that you not cancel after that time unless for a genuine emergency.
Please note that if you do cancel for any non-emergency reasons after purchasing your travel, we will not reimburse you for any travel you purchased and we will ask you to return any money received for your travel reimbursement. Of course, if a true emergency arises, such as a medical or family situation, you should cancel and we will still reimburse your travel. Please email us at students@veritas.org if this situation applies to you.
Travel Logistics and Cost
Because Institute participants come from all around the country and have widely varying travel needs, we ask participants to make their own primary travel (i.e., plane, train, bus) arrangements and submit their receipts for reimbursement (see below). Please book the most affordable option available to you, but this is on “the honor system”—we do not need to confirm the cost before you purchase any tickets.
Should you need to come to the Institute from a location outside the U.S., or there is some other reason you expect your travel to be unusually complicated or expensive, please contact us at students@veritas.org in order to discuss your plans with us.
The cost to you of your travel will depend upon the following:
• Accepted students who submit their receipts (via a reimbursement form to be provided) before the travel receipts deadline (Friday, April 10, 2026) will receive 100% reimbursement for the cost of their primary method of travel.
• If you do not submit your reimbursements by the travel receipt deadline, you will be responsible for the full cost of your own travel.
Meals en route or any meals, snacks, coffee, etc., which are not provided as part of the official schedule will not be covered. Any souvenirs or other incidental costs you incur in D.C. will not be covered.
Please note the following transportation costs will also not be covered:
- • Ground transportation from your summer location to an airport, train station, or bus station
- • Ground transportation from a D.C. airport, train station, or bus station to CUA
- • Ground transportation from CUA to a D.C. airport, train station, or bus station
- • Ground transportation from an airport, train station, or bus station to your summer location
If you are flying or taking a train or bus into D.C., please plan accordingly. The Metro (subway) in D.C. will be much cheaper than a taxi/Uber/Lyft. CUA is very close to the Brookland-CUA metro stop on D.C.’s Red Line.
We ask each student to purchase their own travel, and then submit a reimbursement before the travel receipts deadline (Friday, April 10, 2026). If you are unable to front the cost of your travel, please let us know and we can purchase it for you.
Location, Lodging, and Meals
The Catholic University of America (CUA) will host this year’s Institute (as a location; the University is not otherwise engaged in sponsoring the program). The University is just a short metro ride from many of D.C.’s main attractions.
Campus location: 620 Michigan Ave NE, Washington, DC 20064
At CUA, you will have access to the classroom spaces we will be using and your dorm room. In addition, you will have guest access to the dining hall, the library, and a modest gym space.
Lodging will be in Opus Hall at CUA. Students will be placed in a four-bedroom suite, with each student getting his or her own bedroom. Each suite has a bathroom and a living room. A linen set (two sheets, two towels, pillow, and pillowcase) will be provided but if you would like additional bedding you can bring your own. The rooms will have WiFi access and an air conditioner unit. Free laundry machines are available on the lobby level (first floor).
If you have any questions about the lodging, feel free to contact us at students@veritas.org.
For most of the week the dress code is dressy casual. You should also bring your own toiletries (toothpaste, shower soap or body wash, hand soap, shampoo, etc). You may also wish to bring a water bottle, a notebook, and other items you’d want for a week-long program of this kind. We will make at least one more casual trip off site, so make sure to bring some clothes for walking around as well. You will want to bring one business outfit as well.
Yes. The application for the Institute asked for this information, but if you did not provide it at that time please let us know at students@veritas.org.
Other Questions
With any questions, please email the Veritas Institute team at students@veritas.org.
Apply for Veritas Institute
Space is limited for this week-long training, so we encourage you to apply early.
If you have any questions, please email us at students@veritas.org.
Application Deadline: February 16, 2026
