Gather with fellow student writers for a week of training, coaching, and learning.
The 2023 Veritas Institute will take place at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., from Monday, June 5th to Saturday, June 10th.
This year's theme is “Is There Such a Thing as the Good Life?" Scholars, journalists, and other Christian leaders will explore with you the craft of writing and discuss how Christianity interacts with questions about human nature.
The Veritas Institute includes opportunities to:
Students are put into writing cohorts with other student attendees to receive coaching throughout the week and form friendships with their peers. These cohorts meet with a top editor or writer to learn about the craft of writing and journey through the week together.
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!
The Washington Post
The Washington Post
Christine Emba is an Opinion columnist and editor at the Washington Post, where she focuses on ideas and society. Her book Rethinking Sex: A Provocation, on the failures and potential of sexual ethics in a post- #MeToo world, was released by Penguin Random House in 2022. She is also a contributing editor at Comment Magazine and an Editor-at-Large of Wisdom of Crowds, which includes a newsletter and a podcast. Before coming to the Post in 2015, Christine was the Hilton Kramer Fellow in Criticism at the New Criterion and a deputy editor at the Economist Intelligence Unit, focusing on technology and innovation. She graduated from Princeton University and lives in Washington DC.
Columbia University
Columbia University
Dhananjay Jagannathan specializes in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, the history of ethics and political philosophy, and value theory. His recent research has focused on two strands of Aristotle's thought: the intertwining of ethics and politics; and ethical knowledge and practical wisdom. He is currently finishing a book manuscript on the latter entitled Aristotle's Practical Epistemology. Other research interests include neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics, political liberalism and its limits, and tragedy as a literary and a moral concept.
The Bulwark
The Bulwark
Adam Keiper is executive editor at The Bulwark. He is also contributing editor to National Affairs, American Purpose, and Current. For more than a decade, he was the editor of The New Atlantis, a quarterly journal about science, technology, and society that he co-founded in 2003; he remains a senior editor at The New Atlantis. He was the editor of the Weekly Standard’s Books & Arts section from mid-2017 until the magazine’s closure in December 2018. He has worked closely with hundreds of writers, including bestselling authors and winners of the Nobel, Pulitzer, and Templeton Prizes and the Newbery Medal, on projects ranging from short articles to books. His own research, writing, and public speaking is usually at the intersection of science and politics—touching on such subjects as space exploration, nanotechnology, and brain implants. He has a B.A. in political science from American University.
The New Atlantis
The New Atlantis
Ari Schulman is editor of The New Atlantis, as well as editor of TheNewAtlantis.com and of the New Atlantis Books series. His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The Hedgehog Review, Commentary, First Things, and Slate. He has previously been a research assistant in the Opinion department at the New York Times, an ontological engineer at Cycorp, and has degrees in computer science and English from the University of Texas at Austin. He tweets at @AriSchulman, and can be reached at aschulman@thenewatlantis.com.
The University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame
Meghan Sullivan is the Wilsey Family Collegiate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. She serves as Director of the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study (NDIAS), a university-wide research institute based in Notre Dame Research. The NDIAS promotes issue-engaged, inclusive, and interdisciplinary study of questions that affect our ability to lead valuable, meaningful lives. Sullivan is currently the Principal Investigator for the Mellon Foundation’s Philosophy as a Way of Life grant (2018-2021). Sullivan teaches courses at all levels and founded Notre Dame’s God and the Good Life Program. GGL introduces undergraduates to big philosophical questions concerning happiness, morality and meaning… and key methods for wrestling with them. Sullivan occasionally teaches gateway seminars like The Examined Life, and specialized graduate seminars on time, modality, philosophical logic, rationality and value. In 2021, Sullivan was honored with one of Notre Dame’s Joyce Awards for Teaching. Sullivan has degrees from the University of Virginia (BA: Philosophy and Politics, Highest Distinction), Oxford (B.Phil: Philosophy), and Rutgers (PhD: Philosophy).
The Center for Christianity and Public Life
The Center for Christianity and Public Life
Michael Wear is the Founder, President and CEO of The Center for Christianity and Public Life, a nonpartisan, nonprofit institution based in the nation's capitol with the mission to contend for the credibility of Christian resources in public life, for the public good. For well over a decade, he has served as a trusted resource and advisor for a range of civic leaders on matters of faith and public life, including as a White House and presidential campaign staffer. Michael is a leading voice on building a healthy civic pluralism in twenty-first century America. He has argued that the kind of people we are has much to do with the kind of politics we will have. Michael previously led Public Square Strategies, a consulting firm he founded that helps religious organizations, political organizations, businesses and others effectively navigate the rapidly changing American religious and political landscape. Michael's next book, The Spirit of Our Politics: Spiritual Formation and the Renovation of Public Life, will be released in January 2024. Michael’s first book, Reclaiming Hope: Lessons Learned in the Obama White House About the Future of Faith in America, offers reflections, analysis and ideas about the role of faith in the Obama years and what it means for today. He has co-authored, or contributed to, several other books, including Compassion and Conviction: The AND Campaign's Guide to Faithful Civic Engagement, with Justin Giboney and Chris Butler. He also writes for The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Catapult Magazine, Christianity Today and other publications on faith, politics and culture. Michael holds an honorary position at the University of Birmingham’s Cadbury Center for the Public Understanding of Religion. Michael and his wife, Melissa, are both proud natives of Buffalo, New York. They now reside in Maryland, where they are raising their beloved daughters, Saoirse and Ilaria.
The Trinity Forum
The Trinity Forum
Peter Wehner is an in-residence Senior Fellow, a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, and a contributing editor for The Atlantic. He has written for numerous other publications—including Time, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Financial Times, The Weekly Standard, National Review, Commentary, National Affairs, and Christianity Today. He has also appeared frequently as a commentator on MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, CBS, PBS, and C-SPAN television.
Wehner served in the Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush administrations, including as Deputy Director of Speechwriting and later Director of the Office of Strategic Initiatives for President George W. Bush.
Wehner is author of City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era (co-authored with Michael J. Gerson) and Wealth and Justice: The Morality of Democratic Capitalism (co-authored with Arthur C. Brooks). His most recent book is The Death of Politics: How to Heal Our Frayed Republic After Trump.
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.
Freelance Writer
Freelance Writer
Tara Isabella Burton is the author of Self-Made: Creating Our Identities from Da Vinci to the Kardashians and Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World, as well as of the novels Social Creature and The World Cannot Give. Her third novel, Here in Avalon, will be published in January 2024. She has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and more, and has a doctorate in theology from Oxford.
Plough Quarterly
Plough Quarterly
Caitrin Keiper is editor-at-large of Plough and a senior editor of The New Atlantis. She was previously editor of Philanthropy and a Novak Journalism Fellow. Her articles have been published in the Weekly Standard, the American Interest, Commentary, First Things, books by Harper Collins and Templeton Press, and elsewhere. Her award-winning essay "Do Elephants Have Souls ?" is now available on Audm.
The New Atlantis
The New Atlantis
Samuel Matlack is managing editor of The New Atlantis, where he writes about our technological condition and our place in the natural world.
Freelance Writer
Freelance Writer
Leah Libresco Sargeant is a contributing editor for Plough. She is also a freelance writer, covering religion, statistics, and as much theater as she can get tickets for. Her writing has appeared in First Things, America, The American Conservative, Commonweal, The American Interest and others. She is the author of Arriving at Amen: Seven Catholic Prayers that Even I Can Offer, which tells the story of how she learned to pray. She has spoken on CNN, at Theology on Taps in multiple countries, and at Chicago Ideas Week. In her day jobs, she has been a public policy researcher, a news writer for FiveThirtyEight, the HR lead for a remittance company, and a curriculum developer for the Center for Applied Rationality. She also worked in lay ministry for students at Princeton. She lives in Virginia with her husband, Alexi Sargeant.
We look forward to a meaningful week together as we explore the question, "Is there such a thing as the good life?" Please note that this is only the current draft schedule and some of the details may change before the week begins.
More information to come.
The 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. The Veritas Institute is run by the Augustine Collective, a department at The Veritas Forum. During the Institute, students interact with Christian scholars and writers, share experiences with peers from other campuses, and experience a time of learning, training, and encouragement.
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 crafting a piece of 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 final schedule is still to come, but you can see the current draft schedule above. It will conclude the morning of Saturday, June 10th. The week will consist of a mix of content sessions, writing workshops and seminars, office hours, free write time, and field trips.
Speakers and coaches include Meghan Sullivan, Dhananjay Jagannathan, Leah Libresco Sargeant, and Caitrin Keiper, with more to be announced. The theme is “Is there such a thing as the good life?"
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.
This 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 (to be announced), 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:
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.
You can apply for the Institute by clicking on this link
The application deadline is Monday, February 27th at 11:59 pm ET (email augustine@veritas.org to inquire about submitting a late application).
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 augustine@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 augustine@veritas.org if this situation applies to you.
In general, we would like attending students to prioritize travel options in the following order:
We are asking students to book the most affordable option available to them, but this will be on “the honor system”—we do not need to confirm the option before you purchase any tickets.
If you need to come to the conference from a location outside the U.S. or there is some other reason you expect your travel to be especially expensive, please contact us at augustine@veritas.org in order to confirm that this is possible.
- If accepted students submit a reimbursement form before the travel receipts deadline (Thursday, April 6th, 2023) then you will receive 100% reimbursement for the cost of your primary method of travel. Travel reimbursements can be submitted here.
- 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
Please note the following transportation costs will not be covered:
If you are flying or taking a train or bus into the D.C. airport, 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 (Thursday, April 10th, 2023vided to admitted students. If you are unable to front the cost of your travel, please let us know and we can purchase it for you.
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 be in touch.
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 augustine@veritas.org.
We do not currently expect any such regulations.
The final schedule is still to come, but you can see the current draft schedule above. It will conclude on the morning of Saturday, June 10th. The week will consist of a mix of content sessions, writing workshops and seminars, office hours, free write time, and field trips.
Speakers and coaches include Meghan Sullivan, Dhananjay Jagannathan, Leah Libresco Sargeant, and Caitrin Keiper, with more to be announced. The theme is “Is there such a thing as the good life?"
Students will be placed in a genre cohort (essay, review, narrative piece, and interview) based on their preferences expressed in the application, as far as we are able to accommodate them. No advance work will be required for the writing portion. During the week, students will receive coaching on how to come up with ideas for their writing and refine ideas/pitches. A formal pitch will be due ~one week after the conclusion of the Institute (Monday, June 19th, 2023 by 11:59 pm EST) to augustine@veritas.org.
Students may choose to then develop their pitch into an article for submission to a campus or national outlet. This step is optional. If students do choose to draft an article, we will arrange for a writing coach to provide feedback on the draft (one time only). To take advantage of this step, students must submit the draft by Thursday, August 31st, 2023 at 11:59 pm EST to augustine@veritas.org. Promising drafts may receive support from Veritas Institute staff in submission to national outlets.
Any necessary preparation, pre-work, and pre-reads will be announced to attending students.
With any questions, please email the Augustine Collective team at augustine@veritas.org.
Space is limited for this week-long training, so we encourage you to apply early.
If you have any questions, please email us at augustine@veritas.org.
Application Deadline: February 27 (email augustine@veritas.org to inquire about submitting a late application)