From Our Faculty Archives

Adam Carrington: Politics and Friendship are Not Incompatible

Every Hillsdale student takes a Constitution 101 course in which they explore the historic document and its role within the United States—both at the time of the Founding and today. When Assistant Professor of Politics Adam Carrington teaches that class each semester, he begins the first day with a discussion about man as a political animal. “I want to show students that they will be exploring politics no matter what they study, simply because we are political citizens,” he says.

Professors Share: Poetry Appreciation Month

April is Poetry Appreciation Month, and around Hillsdale’s campus, we take our poetry pretty seriously. We asked a few professors to share their favorite poems and what inspires them to read more poetry. Here’s what they had to say.

Justice Antonin Scalia: What We Lost

With the death of Antonin Scalia, America lost. We lost a great writer, a brilliant mind, and a great champion for the rule of law.

What is Time?

People have pondered the nature of time since we became aware of time. And with good reason! One of the most common ways to measure our lives is how much time we have lived and how much time we may have left to live. Birth and death dates are listed on tombstones, and most of us quickly calculate from those dates the duration of the deceased’s life.

The Carus Coin Collection

The history of money is complicated due to the fact that anything two people consider valuable might be considered money. When a community deems something of value, it will be traded for goods and services needed or wanted by the members of that community.

Original Ideas That Have Value

Many people think imagination is the tough part of this equation. I’ve generally found it quite easy to generate all sorts of ideas, but some people find this intimidating. Like any other skill, however, it can be developed. Spend a few minutes every day considering the essential imagination question: “What if?”

Hillsdale Reflections

Yesterday, I finished my last class at Hillsdale College: French 201. After the students left, I stood there for a moment trying to take in this really important event, and what should pop into my head but the Carol Burnett song: “I’m so glad we’ve had this time together / just to have a laugh or sing a song / seems we just get started and before you know it / comes the time we have to say so long.”

The History of π

Each year on March 14, people around the world celebrate a number. That’s strange! But March 14, when written as 3/14, gives the first few digits of the famous mathematical constant π, which is approximately equal to 3.14159265358979…. What is π and why is it so special that we honor it every March 14? To understand some reasons, let’s start at the beginning, or as close to the beginning as we can find, for the history of π spans nearly 4000 years and it “has been known for so long that [its origin] is quite untraceable” (MacTutor, A history of Pi).