Join us for a conversation that will celebrate America's 250 years and consider the role of education in preserving American institutions and ideas with Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and Hillsdale College's President Dr. Larry Arnn.


 

Doors Open at 12:30

Event Begins at 1:00

Linda E. McMahon serves as the 13th United States Secretary of Education, appointed by President Donald J. Trump. A businesswoman, education policy leader, and public servant, Secretary McMahon has decades of experience as a job creator and advocate for expanding educational opportunities.

She graduated from East Carolina University in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree in French. She served on the Connecticut State Board of Education, and on the Board of Trustees at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut.

She also served as Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) from 2017 to 2019 during President Trump’s first term. Following her time at SBA, she chaired the America First Policy Institute, a think tank focused on advancing policy solutions, including education reforms centered on parental empowerment, school choice, and accountability in higher education, and she served as co-chair of President Trump’s 2024 transition team, playing a key role in staffing and policy for his second-term administration. 

Larry P. Arnn is the 12th president of Hillsdale College, where he is also a professor of politics and history. He received his B.A. from Arkansas State University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Government from the Claremont Graduate School. He also studied at Worcester College, Oxford University, where he served as director of research for Sir Martin Gilbert, the official biographer of Winston Churchill. From 1985 to 2000, he served as president of the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy. In 1996, he was the founding chairman of the California Civil Rights Initiative, which prohibited racial preferences in state hiring, contracting, and admissions.

Dr. Arnn is on the board of directors of The Heritage Foundation, the Henry Salvatori Center of Claremont McKenna College, the Philadelphia Society, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, and the Claremont Institute. He served on the U.S. Army War College Board of Visitors for two years, for which he earned the Department of the Army’s “Outstanding Civilian Service Medal.” In 2015, he received the Bradley Prize from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.