Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies

Hauenstein Center Staff & Associates

Gleaves Whitney
Director

Gleaves Whitney - Hauenstein Center Director

Gleaves Whitney became director of Grand Valley State University's Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies in 2003. During his tenure he has been the architect of more than 300 public programs, including four national conferences covered by C-SPAN, and four internationally webcast debates -- one to more than 3,500 viewers in 18 countries, and another watched on YouTube by nearly one million people in some 30 nations on all six inhabited continents. He has overseen tremendous growth of the Hauenstein Center's website, premiered a popular web column called Ask Gleaves -- the first presidential Q & A column in the nation -- and created a leadership academy for students and young professionals committed to public service.

"Gleaves Whitney is a real treasure for those of us who do presidential studies and work in the field of presidential history," said award-winning biographer H. W. Brands. "He’s also one of the most effective entrepreneurs in the business of higher education," he continued. "You can tell this by the growth in the Hauenstein Center over the five years that he’s been the director."

"Gleaves Whitney and his energetic team at the Hauenstein Center have become, in a remarkably short time, a force to reckon with -- and learn from -- in the presidential studies field," said historian Richard Norton Smith. "The Hauenstein Center is a jewel in the crown of Michigan."

Prior to his arrival at Grand Valley, Gleaves worked 11 years in Michigan Governor John Engler's administration, serving as senior writer, chief speechwriter, and historian. In 1993, the governor assigned him to a task force that helped bring sweeping education and school finance reforms to Michigan that the New York Times called "the most dramatic in the nation."

In addition to his public work, Gleaves is a scholar who writes and lectures nationally on a variety of historical topics. He is author or editor of 15 books including most recently To Heal a Nation: The Story of Gerald R. Ford, and (with Mark Rozell) Testing the Limits: George W. Bush and the Imperial Presidency. Other books include Religion and the Bush Presidency (also with Mark Rozell), American Presidents: Farewell Addresses to the Nation, 1796-2001; John Engler: The Man, the Leader & the Legacy; and 6 volumes of Messages of the Governors of Michigan. He even has a children's book to his credit, B is for Buckaroo: A Cowboy Alphabet (with Louise Whitney). Moreover, Gleaves has contributed chapters to a half-dozen books, and written six entries in two encyclopedias.

In 2012, Gleaves was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to explore the historical roots of bipartisan leadership. In 2008, Gleaves and a Hauenstein Center team were awarded a Russell Mawby fellowship to examine the connection between philanthropy and the American presidency. In 2009, he was appointed to Michigan's Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Committee, a two-year effort charged with helping the state celebrate our 16th president's contributions to the nation. He served on the Arthur Vandenberg Memorial Committee and recently partnered with M. W. Grass Strategic Communications and Meijer Inc. President Hendrik Meijer to produce a documentary film on Michigan's famous senator, broadcast on PBS in 2011. Also, Gleaves is a senior scholar at the Center for the American Idea in Houston, Texas, and he is the first senior fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal. Several of his talks have appeared on C-SPAN; his commentary has appeared in numerous newspapers, magazines, and journals; and he has been interviewed by, among others, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, FOX News, Newsweek, US News & World Report, and NPR affiliates.

As director of the Hauenstein Center, he was recently recognized by the Michigan Council for the Social Studies as an "outstanding mentor," and was awarded its prestigious Mel Miller Mentoring Award for 2009. He has also cultivated many institutional partnerships -- e.g., the National Park Service, Houston Museum of Natural Science, and the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum -- and numerous ongoing professional partnerships -- e.g., H. W. Brands, Richard Norton Smith, William Barker, and George Nash.

Gleaves graduated with honors from Colorado State University (1980), was elected into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society (1980), and was a Fulbright scholar in Germany (1984-85). His master's degree and doctoral candidacy were at the University of Michigan, where he was a Richard M. Weaver fellow (1987-88) and an H. B. Earhart Fellow (1988-91). He has taught at the University of Michigan, Droste-Hülshof Gymnasium, Colorado State University, Aquinas College, and Grand Valley State University. In 2006, he received the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California.

Gleaves was born and raised in Houston, Texas, and now makes his home in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Learn more about Gleaves Whitney:

Q & A with Gleaves Whitney

Follow the Leaders

Presidents’ Answer Man

Center Gets New Leader

Writings

Ask Gleaves

More Photos

Brian Flanagan
Associate Director

Brian Flanagan is associate director of the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies at Grand Valley State University, where he has worked since 2003.  He serves as program director of the Peter Cook Leadership Academy and adjunct professor of public, nonprofit, and health administration.

Flanagan is co-author of "American Presidency and Philanthropy since the Civil War" (with Gleaves Whitney) in Leadership in Nonprofit Organizations (Sage, 2010).  He has been an expert source for the New York Times, Washington Times, and The Week, and his writing has appeared on Michigan State University's "Humanities and Social Sciences Online" and the Hauenstein Center's web site.  Flanagan gives talks on American presidents and leadership.  He has presented papers at academic conferences in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Washington, D.C., and he has led research teams and conducted archival research at six presidential libraries.

In 2008 and 2009, Flanagan and a Hauenstein Center team were awarded the Russell G. Mawby Fellowship for Philanthropic Studies.  He serves annually as a regional judge for the national "We the People" high school civics competition, and he has served as an appointed member of the Michigan Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Committee and as a Teaching and Learning Resources adviser to the National Endowment for the Humanities.  Flanagan is a 2007 graduate of Leadership Grand Rapids, and he is proud of his continuing association with the Grand Rapids Center for Community Leadership.

Flanagan earned his B.A. in English from the University of Notre Dame in 2003.  He earned his M.P.A. from Grand Valley State University in 2009, with a dual emphasis in public management and urban and regional policy.  Flanagan is a graduate of Canton High School and was raised in the Detroit metropolitan area.  He currently resides near Grand Rapids with his wife Lauren and daughter Ella.

Contact: flanagab@gvsu.edu

Connect: LinkedIn | Twitter | About.Me

Course: Leadership Dynamics (PA 390)

Kathy Rent
Office Coordinator

Kathy Rent joined the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies as the office coordinator on Presidents' Day 2004.  Famous for her energy, enthusiasm, and personality, Kathy is the glue that keeps everyone in the Hauenstein Center's orbit together.  She brings great expertise and sleuthing skills to her daily work.  Having lived in Michigan for over 40 years, Kathy is active in the community and volunteers for several organizations.  She currently tutors for the Grand Rapids YMCA's Youth Mentoring Program and serves as board member of the Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council.

Prior to arriving at the Hauenstein Center, Kathy worked in banking and university development.  A lifelong learner, she studies the presidents and is working towards a degree in sociology at Grand Valley State University.

Kathy and her husband, Andy, have six daughters, one son, eight grandsons, and three granddaughter.

Contact: rentk@gvsu.edu

Connect: LinkedIn

Liza Van Buren
Event Planner

Liza Van Buren joined the Hauenstein Center in September 2011 after working in meetings and conventions industry in Chicago for six years. Liza has planned domestic and international meetings and events of over 8,000 attendees. She most recently worked as the strategic planner and project manager for the Executive Department of a major financial services association, managing market segmentation research, analysis of new products and services, and organizational restructuring and leadership development.

Liza earned her bachelor's degree in Communications from Michigan State University and her master's degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management from Roosevelt University. She is a Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) and has managed meetings and events of nearly every structure and scale.

Liza is recently married and lives with her husband Matt in Holland, Michigan.

Contact: vanburel@gvsu.edu

Connect: LinkedIn

Adam Bradway
Communication Design Specialist

Adam joined the Hauenstein Center in the Fall of 2010. Adam's responsibilities include: web developement and design for allpresidents.org along with photo, video and audio editing. Adam is also an adjunct instructor at Grand Valley's Devos campus, in the Advertising and Public Relations program.

Adam earned both his Bachelor of Science in Advertising and Public Relations and his Master's of Communication from Grand Valley State University. Between his ungraduate and graduate degrees, Adam lived in Taipei, Taiwan from 2003-2006, teaching English to students of all ages.

Contact: bradwaam@gvsu.edu

Connect: LinkedIn | Twitter | About.Me

Hauenstein Center Associates

Laura Bulkely Goldsmith
Laura Bulkeley Goldsmith is a graduate of the University of Georgia with a BA in English. She has her Master's Degree from Northwestern University in radio-TV-film. From 1991 to 1996, she was an associate editor of two separate media newsletters, Between the Lines andDispatches, writing articles on popular culture. She is currently a film historian and freelance writer.

Marc Jordan
Marc Jordan is a recent graduate of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.  Prior to studying at Harvard, he earned a J.D. from Michigan State University/ DCL.  An alumnus of Michigan State University, Jordan has focused on presidential studies from both a historical and leadership perspective.  Professionally, he served the State of Michigan for more than a decade in various policy positions.  He currently works as a regional director with GSP Consulting Corp.

Jim Kratsas
James Kratsas is deputy director of the Gerald R. Ford Museum where he has worked since 1989.  He was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and earned his BA and MA in history at West Virginia University, and his MA in museum studies at Duquesne University.  Before joining the staff at the Gerald R. Ford Museum, Mr. Kratsas worked as curator of the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum, and as curator of the Kansas Museum of History.

Hank Meijer
Hendrik "Hank" Meijer is co-chairman and co-CEO of Meijer, Inc., which currently operates 176 stores in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky. A graduate of the University of Michigan with a degree in English and significant graduate work in history, Meijer is the vice chair of the Gerald R. Ford Foundation board of trustees, vice president of the Grand Rapids Area Council for the Humanities, and a board member for Fifth Third Bank, the Kettering Foundation, and the Food Marketing Institute.  He is author of Thrifty Years: The Life of Hendrik Meijer, and a forthcoming book about Arthur Vandenberg, the influential U.S. Senator from Grand Rapids who became a chief architect of U.S. foreign policy after World War II.  He has made three academic presentations at Hauenstein Center events.

George Nash
George H. Nash earned his doctorate at Harvard University and was a research fellow at Harvard's Charles Warren Center for Studies in American history.  Dr. Nash has lectured and written extensively on 20th-century American political and intellectual history, and his publications include The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America since 1945.  Dr. Nash is also an authority on the life of President Herbert Hoover.  He is the author of the first three volumes of The Life of Herbert Hoover, a definitive, scholarly biography commissioned by the Hoover Presidential Library Association.  His articles and reviews have appeared in National Review, Policy Review, Modern Age,New York Times Book Review, University Bookman, and other publications.

Michael Toth
Mike Toth is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where he received a joint J.D./M.A. (History), and Stanford University (B.A. History).  He is a former staffer for the White House Budget Director, Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr.  A former Claremont Institute Lincoln Fellow and Intercollegiate Studies Institute Honors Fellow, Mike's work has been featured by the Claremont Review and the Acton Institute.  He is currently working on a biography of the Connecticut Founding Father, Oliver Ellsworth, to be published by ISI Books.