Gleaves Whitney

Education

Whitney 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). He did his graduate work at the University of Michigan, where he was a Richard M. Weaver fellow (1987–88) and an H. B. Earhart Fellow (1988–91). Whitney has taught at the University of Michigan, Aquinas College, Droste-Hulshof Gymnasium, Colorado State University, and Grand Valley State University. In 2006, he received the Doctorate of Humane Letters honoris causa from the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Berkeley, California.

Public service

Prior to his arrival at Grand Valley State University, Whitney 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."

Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies

Whitney became the director of the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2003. The Center has experienced tremendous growth during his tenure. "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 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."

Whitney has been the architect of more than 300 programs, including four national conferences covered by C-SPAN and one webcast live to more than 3,500 viewers in 18 countries. He has overseen tremendous growth of the Hauenstein Center's website, which has had more than 25 million visitors, and premiered a popular web column called Ask Gleaves -- the first presidential Q & A in the nation -- and created a leadership academy for students and young professionals committed to public service.

Partnerships

In his current position as director of the Hauenstein Center, he has 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.

Other fields

In addition to his public work, Whitney is a scholar who writes and lectures nationally on a variety of historical topics. He is author or editor of thirteen books including most recently (with Mark Rozell) "Religion and the American Presidency" and "Religion and the Bush Presidency." Other books include "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. Another book, a collection of the wartime speeches of American presidents, is forthcoming.

Selected works

Edited by Mark Rozell and Gleaves Whitney (Rowman & Littlefield, 2009)

Edited by Mark Rozell and Gleaves Whitney (Palgrave Macmillan, August 2007)

Edited by Mark Rozell and Gleaves Whitney (Palgrave Macmillan, May 2007)

Farewell Messages to the Nation, 1796–2001 Edited by Gleaves Whitney (Lexington, December 2002)

Written by Gleaves Whitney Sleeping Bear Press (December 2002)

Selected speeches