Ten Years of Excellence: Hillsdale Alumni Reflect on the Van Andel Graduate School of Statesmanship
Written by Madelaine Christensen
They come from five foreign countries and more than 30 U.S. states. Some come from tiny elite colleges, while others hail from sprawling public universities. In small towns and large cities, they plan flights, pack books, and say prayers. Some of them are fledgling college graduates, while others have seasoned careers in the military, academia, or the business world. Some are single, some are married, and some are parents. What each of these men and women has in common is that they have felt, and are answering, the call of statesmanship.
“Attending the Van Andel School of Statesmanship is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, hands down,” Krystina Skurk, ’18, M.A., said. Though she didn’t consider herself a “natural-born academic,” she rose to the challenge of the program’s rigor and sharpened both her writing skills and her understanding of American constitutionalism. She credits her graduate education with opening doors to numerous career opportunities, including her former position as a speechwriter and her current position as a communications director, both in the United States House of Representatives.
The School of Statesmanship had a similarly life-changing impact for Bruce Wykes, ’14, who was part of the program’s first cohort. Wykes had served 23 years in the active military before entering the program, and he felt his studies in the School of Statesmanship were an extension of the oath he’d taken to defend the Constitution. After completing his master’s degree, Wykes was hired to serve as the School of Statesmanship’s director of operations, and currently serves as its director of programs.
“I can’t imagine what my life would be like, what Hillsdale College would be like, and what parts of America would be like, even—without the School of Statesmanship,” Wykes said.
The Van Andel Graduate School of Statesmanship was created to fill an important need—a need for a graduate program that would combine the pursuit of the good, the true, and the beautiful with practical politics. It is a product of the vision of Hillsdale College’s president, Dr. Larry Arnn, and the commitment of dedicated faculty members, some of whom left tenured positions at other universities to train the next generation of statesmen and women at Hillsdale.
From the very beginning, the program’s focus has been on the students. Dr. Ronald J. (RJ) Pestritto, the graduate dean, assembled some of the program’s first students by traveling to universities and talking with undergraduates one-on-one.
Dr. Veronica Brooks, ’15, M.A., ’19, Ph.D., was one of those early students. The School of Statesmanship’s mission to “educate students in the language of American constitutionalism” resonated with her desire to study politics from a thoughtful, principles-driven approach.
“I wanted to pursue a greater understanding of the American political order, but in a particular way,” she explained. “I was looking for a broader consideration of man as a political animal: What is the human being like in political community, what is political community, and what is its purpose?”
Dr. Brooks began her studies in the program’s second year, and said that while some programs experience rough beginnings, she was impressed by the school’s efficiency and caliber from its very inception. “There was a real excellence in the program, and I think that’s because the program had a strong sense of its own mission from the very beginning,” she said.
Still, in her ten years of involvement with the School of Statesmanship (as a master’s and doctoral student and now as an adjunct professor) Brooks said she has seen the program make significant improvements. Today, Hillsdale graduate students have increased opportunities for scholarships and funding, which means they can focus on their studies rather than try and juggle a job on the side. And overall, graduate students are more integrated with Hillsdale College as a whole.
“When we first got here, there was a little bit of a feeling of being fish out of water, or at least fish in a foreign pond,” Brooks remembered with a smile. Ten years later, Brooks said she is happy to see friendships developing between graduate students and undergraduate students and faculty.
Another enhancement to the strength of the School of Statesmanship is the vibrant graduate student culture, which Wykes, as one of the program’s first students, watched being built from the ground up. “(Before our cohort), there had been no graduate students—there was no graduate culture,” he said. “One of the things that was exciting for me when I came back in 2016 was to find out there was a solid, thriving student culture—and it was organic, not something that had been created and imposed from ‘on high.’”
That graduate student culture came to include everything from weekly volleyball games, summer cocktail nights, pancake breakfasts, and fall bonfires at nearby Hayden Park. Students enjoyed annual events hosted by the School of Statesmanship’s official student organization, the Graduate Statesmanship Society, including the annual President’s Day Dinner, as well as attending local traditions like Hillsdale’s County Fair and Demolition Derby.
“My days in graduate school were some of the happiest times of my adult life because of the friendships that were formed,” Dr. Brooks said. “When you’re in the pursuit of the kinds of things that we study in this program, you’re going to form some of the deepest bonds.”
These friendships were evident in the camaraderie of faculty, alumni, and current students gathered to celebrate the program’s ten-year anniversary earlier this year. The event included an alumni panel, a faculty panel, and remarks by Dr. Pestritto, Dr. Arnn, and alumnus Dr. Clifford Humphrey, ‘16, M.A., ‘20, Ph.D.
To date, the Van Andel Graduate School has awarded 140 degrees: 127 master’s and 13 doctoral degrees. Graduates have gone on to teach in higher education, at such institutions as Thomas Aquinas College, Colorado Christian University, and the University of Texas at Austin. School of Statesmanship graduates have also gone on to found and teach in classical schools, work in public policy institutions and think tanks, write for the press, and serve in various government positions. Dr. Pestritto looks forward to training more thoughtful, patriotic students and sending them into positions of influence. “We’ve had a remarkable impact already, and now we need even more impact,” he said.
Wykes agreed. “It’s been a rich ten years. It was wonderful to see so many alumni at the anniversary event—to hear their stories and see what they have accomplished, and who they have become, since graduating. I relish the idea of the 20th anniversary and seeing the scope and depth of the impact that will have been made by our alumni in ten more years.”
Maddie Christensen, M.A., ’24, has her undergraduate degree in journalism from Brigham Young University and is thrilled to be studying in Hillsdale’s Graduate School of Statesmanship. After graduating, she plans to pursue law school. A native of Southern Utah, Maddie enjoys running and rock climbing with her handsome husband.
Published in September 2023