Get involved with the Forum
Participating in the Menard Family George Washington Forum comes with many benefits. We offer fellowships and awards to students. Fellows participate in a rigorous reading group, engage with our guest speakers, and are eligible for research support.
Student Testimonials
“As someone with a rigorous course load, I rarely got the opportunity to branch out and explore other disciplines. But it is not just advantageous, but essential to understand how the rest of the world works to solve the complex problems that lie ahead of us. Through GWF, I have become more proficient at articulating my thoughts, critically evaluating literature, and navigating discourse. But most importantly, I have become a more engaged and informed citizen: one who recognizes that a functional society requires one to effectively communicate, listen, and most importantly, compromise.
I am honored to have spent three years with GWF, meeting a multitude of talented students and listening to numerous distinguished scholars along the way. Some of my fondest memories have been made during our capstone trips to London, Boston, and Toronto. The chance to experience new cultures, study illuminating texts alongside some of the world’s most renowned experts, and forge deeper friendships with my fellow peers is one that I hardly take for granted. My undergraduate tenure would not have been nearly as enriching had I refrained from applying to GWF during my freshman year.” – Benjamin Stiadle, Molecular Biology and Applied Math major, 2025 graduate
Read along with us!
We will be studying the American Revolution during the lead up to its 250th anniversary. This will allow us to further explore political systems, moral philosophy, and more. We will read a wide range of texts including:
The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution by Bernard Bailyn
The Age of Atlantic Revolution: The Fall and Rise of a Connected World by Patrick Griffin
Two Treatises on Government by John Locke
Spirit of the Laws by Montesquieu
Cato’s Letters by John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon
A collection of Federalist and Anti-Federalist papers
Common Sense by Thomas Paine
The Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, and the Bill of Rights
Anarchy, State, and Utopia by Robert Nozick
Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? by Michael Sandel
Last year we discussed the philosophical, historical, and economic causes and consequences of the Industrial Revolution and what we can learn and apply to today’s issues. We read a wide variety of works including:
The Enlightened Economy: An Economic History of Britain 1700-1850 by Prof. Joel Mokyr (visiting us in October!)
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Liberty’s Dawn: A People’s History of the Industrial Revolution by Prof. Emma Griffin (visiting us in February!)
William Blake: “Jerusalem (And did those feet in ancient time)”; “The Chimney Sweeper: When my mother died I was very young”; “The Chimney Sweeper: A little black thing among the snow”;
William Wordsworth: “The World is Too Much With Us”
Ellen Johnston: Autobiography; “Kennedy’s Dear Mill”; “The Factory Exile”; “Kennedy’s Factory For Ever”; “Address to the Factory of Messrs. J. & W. I. Scott & Co.”
The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen
Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley
Homo Deus by Yuval Harari
English Culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit, 1850-1980 by Martin J. Wiener
Awards
George Washington Forum Undergraduate Fellowship
This award is open to Ohio University undergraduates in all colleges and majors for the 2025-2026 academic year.
Award amount: $2,500Application Deadline is 28 February 2025.Apply
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