Committed to Liberty and Lifelong Teaching
Doctoral Candidates Awarded Prestigious Weaver Fellowship
Date published: June 2, 2017
Two University of Dallas doctoral candidates in the Braniff Graduate School of Liberal
Arts Institute of Philosophic Studies (IPS), Leta Sundet, MA ’16, and Pavlos Papadopoulos,
MA ’14, were recently awarded the prestigious Richard M. Weaver Fellowship from the
Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI).
One of four fellowships available through the ISI’s Graduate Fellowship Program, the
Weaver Fellowship awards up to $15,000 annually to students intending to use their
advanced degrees to teach. Each year, newly awarded graduate fellows are required
to attend one weekend colloquium in partnership with the Liberty Fund Inc. of Indianapolis,
Indiana. Sundet and Papadopoulos join more than 500 distinguished ISI alumni fellows,
including Associate Professor and History Department Chairwoman Susan Hanssen.
“My professors and fellow graduate students at the University of Dallas are who I
model myself after — careful scholars, full of humility, curiosity and affection for
their disciplines and their students,” said Sundet. “This award gives me the opportunity
to focus the next year on teaching and writing, for which I’m particularly grateful.”
An IPS literature candidate, Sundet instructs and mentors students in the University
of Dallas English Department and hopes to continue teaching college-level literature.
She received her Master of Arts in Theology and Letters and her bachelor's in liberal
arts from New Saint Andrews College. Her current research interests include Jane Austen
and Isak Dinesen.
Papadopoulos, an IPS political philosophy candidate, is eager to engage with fellows
who share his same devotion to liberal teaching and education.
“I am looking forward to participating in the graduate colloquium for Weaver fellows,
which will be an excellent opportunity to deepen my knowledge of the Western tradition
in a stimulating community of liberal learning," said Papadopoulos. “I am honored
and grateful for the opportunity the Weaver Fellowship will afford me in the coming
year.”
Papadopoulos serves as an adjunct instructor of philosophy at the University of Dallas
and has taught courses in the departments of history, politics and philosophy. He
received his Master of Arts in politics from the University of Dallas and his bachelor's
from St. John’s College and intends to complete his doctoral dissertation, “The Philosopher
as Author: Plato, Cicero, and Hobbes on Writing and Political Philosophy,” by 2018.
In January, he was awarded the Braniff Graduate Student Association Service Award.
ISI’s Graduate Fellowship Program is characterized by Richard M. Weaver’s observation
that “a liberal education specifically prepares for the achievement of freedom.” The
Weaver Fellowship seeks to uphold the idea of academic excellence and the role of
education in producing persons capable of making reasoned choices in favor of liberty.
Discover more about the University of Dallas Institute of Philosophic Studies.
