Wilfred McClay
Victor Davis Hanson Chair in Classical History and Western Civilization, Professor of History
Hillsdale College
Wilfred M. McClay is Professor of History at Hillsdale College, where he holds the Victor Davis Hanson Chair of Classical History and Western Civilization. His book The Masterless: Self and Society in Modern America received the 1995 Merle Curti Award of the Organization of American Historians for the best book in American intellectual history. Among his other books are The Student’s Guide to U.S. History; Religion Returns to the Public Square: Faith and Policy in America; Figures in the Carpet: Finding the Human Person in the American Past; Why Place Matters: Geography, Identity, and Public Life in Modern America; the award-winning bestseller, Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story; and most recently Jewish Roots of American Liberty: The Impact of Hebraic Ideas on the American Story.
He has taught at the University of Oklahoma, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Tulane University, Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Public Policy, Georgetown University, and the University of Dallas, and has served as a Senior Fulbright Lecturer at the University of Rome. He has been a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and serves on the boards of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, the Jack Miller Center, and as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Scholars. He served for eleven years on the National Council on the Humanities, the advisory board for the National Endowment for the Humanities, and is currently a member of the U.S. Commission on the Semiquincentennial, which has been charged with planning the celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday in 2026. He has been the recipient of fellowships from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Academy of Education, and received the Bradley Prize in 2022. He is a graduate of St. John’s College (Annapolis) and received his Ph.D. in History from the Johns Hopkins University.
He has taught at the University of Oklahoma, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Tulane University, Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Public Policy, Georgetown University, and the University of Dallas, and has served as a Senior Fulbright Lecturer at the University of Rome. He has been a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and serves on the boards of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, the Jack Miller Center, and as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Scholars. He served for eleven years on the National Council on the Humanities, the advisory board for the National Endowment for the Humanities, and is currently a member of the U.S. Commission on the Semiquincentennial, which has been charged with planning the celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday in 2026. He has been the recipient of fellowships from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Academy of Education, and received the Bradley Prize in 2022. He is a graduate of St. John’s College (Annapolis) and received his Ph.D. in History from the Johns Hopkins University.
