The Jacques Maritain Center is excited to welcome three new staff members starting this academic year: Jordan Rodgers (Assistant Director for Operations and Initiatives), Beth Muench (Program Manager), and Margaret Freddoso (Assistant Director for Engagement, part-time).
All three will help to plan and administer the ever-expanding slate of programs and initiatives put on yearly by the Jacques Maritain Center and its History of Philosophy Forum, including the popular Maritain Fellows program for undergraduate and graduate students, grants programs for research visitors, weekly lectures/works-in-progress series in theology and the history of philosophy, signature events like the Maritain Lecture and the History of Philosophy Colloquium, and more.
“Jordan, Beth, and Margaret bring to the Center not only many practical talents and expertise, but also extensive familiarity with and deep appreciation for the philosophical and theological traditions to which the Center is dedicated,” said Therese Cory, Maritain Center Director. “I could not be more excited to work with them as we continue to grow the Center’s initiatives.”
As Assistant Director of Operations and Initiatives, Jordan Rodgers will take up primary responsibility for the programming and the collaborative intellectual network relating to the History of Philosophy Forum, in addition to supporting the Maritain Center’s broader programming. Before joining the Maritain Center, Jordan worked in the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs at Notre Dame, where he assisted with appointment processes and social community programming for ND’s postdocs. Prior to that, he received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Notre Dame in 2017, with a dissertation on Friedrich Nietzsche, under the direction of the late Karl Ameriks. He and Ryan Kemp (Wheaton College) are the authors of Marilynne Robinson’s Worldly Gospel (Bloomsbury, 2023), a book-length analysis of Marilynne Robinson’s fictional corpus from a philosophical perspective.
As Program Manager, Beth Muench will manage the Maritain Fellows program, communications, events, and visiting scholars, in addition to supporting the History of Philosophy Forum. She holds a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame’s Program of Liberal Studies, with a supplemental major in peace studies, and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Mount Saint Mary’s University in Los Angeles. Prior to her work at the Maritain Center, Beth taught high school English in Los Angeles, served as a Fulbright teaching fellow in Mexico, and worked as a nonprofit program manager.
As Assistant Director of Engagement, Margaret Freddoso will bring focus to the Maritain Center’s efforts in advancement and external outreach. Margaret received her Ph.D in Theology from Notre Dame with a focus on patristic and medieval theology, especially the thought of Thomas Aquinas, and is currently working on a book entitled "Thomas Aquinas's Theology of Hope." She also holds a B.A. from Yale University, where she studied philosophy and literature. She is a Faculty Affiliate of Notre Dame's Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government, and developed the course "Catholicism, Sex, Law, and Politics" with Dr. Gabrielle Girgis. Margaret has taught as an adjunct professor for Notre Dame's Program of Liberal Studies and the Augustine Institute, and has worked for Notre Dame's McGrath Institute for Church Life and the USCCB. She is a co-founder and board member of St. Thomas More Academy, and served as its first Head of School.
As part of this staff transition, the Maritain Center bids a fond farewell to Chris Enabnit and Grayden McCashen, whose ingenuity and hard work carried us through the last three years of unprecedented growth, and who are moving into new chapters of their academic lives. Chris begins a Theology PhD here at Notre Dame this fall, specializing in systematic theology. He’ll still be helping out as a student assistant on special projects, so we can look forward to continuing to see him around Geddes. Grayden is entering the academic tenure-track this fall as an Assistant Professor at the Hamilton School of Classical and Civic Education at the University of Florida, where he will teach and research on the history and religious and intellectual life of the ancient and late antique Mediterranean world. Congratulations, Chris and Grayden, on your new pursuits!
Please join us in welcoming Jordan, Beth, and Margaret to the Maritain team! For more information about the work they are doing, and to join our mailing list, please visit maritain.nd.edu and historyofphilosophy.nd.edu.