STEUBENVILLE, OHIO—The Veritas Center for Ethics in Public Life at Franciscan University of Steubenville announces Dr. Ryan T. Anderson as its first visiting fellow.

Anderson, the William E. Simon senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, will advance the mission of the Veritas Center by utilizing the teachings of the Catholic Church to address the political, social, and economic issues of the day.

As the visiting fellow, Anderson will contribute to the intellectual life of Franciscan University through his interaction with students and faculty through campus lectures and by engaging students in classrooms and colloquia.

“We are honored that Dr. Anderson will be joining us at the Veritas Center,” said Dr. Anne Hendershott, director of the Veritas Center at Franciscan. She added, “As a young—and very courageous—Catholic scholar who is willing to defend Catholic teachings on life and the sacred meaning of marriage, Ryan Anderson provides an inspiring role model for our students, and a tremendous resource for our faculty.”

Anderson researches and writes about some of the most important topics in our culture today, including marriage, bioethics, religious liberty, and political philosophy.

“Franciscan University is forming some of the best and brightest students working to bring both faith and reason to American public life. I’m greatly honored to be able to do what I can to help in this effort,” said Anderson. As the visiting fellow, he will continue to pursue his own research and writing at the Heritage Foundation, but will also publish articles and essays on Catholic moral issues in the popular press under the Veritas byline.

Anderson, who joined Heritage in 2012, is also the founder and editor of Public Discourse, the online journal of the Witherspoon Institute of Princeton, New Jersey. He is the author of Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom, and co-author with Robert George and Sherif Girgis of What Is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense. His research was cited by two U.S. Supreme Court justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, in two separate cases.

An alumnus of Princeton University, he also holds a doctoral degree in political philosophy from the University of Notre Dame. His dissertation was titled: “Neither Liberal nor Libertarian: A Natural Law Approach to Social Justice and Economic Rights.”

He has made appearances on ABC, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, and Fox News. His work has appeared in major newspapers such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal as well as the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, the Harvard Health Policy Review, the Weekly Standard, and National Review.

Anderson’s newest book, Debating Religious Liberty and Discrimination, is published by Oxford University Press and co-authored with Sherif Girgis and John Corvino. Anderson also is co-editor with Dan Philpott of A Liberalism Safe for Catholicism? Perspectives from The Review of Politics, a collection of essays published by University of Notre Dame Press.

Anderson, who currently resides with his wife, Anna, in Washington D.C., is at work on a book titled When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment. Anderson will be coordinating a Veritas Center conference in spring 2019 at Franciscan University on the politics surrounding the transgender movement.