The Dietrich von Hildebrand Scholarships at Franciscan University of Steubenville
Awarded to up to two MA Philosophy students at FUS in the 2023-24 Academic Year
For the 2023-24 academic year, the Hildebrand Project (HP) will fund up to two one-year scholarships for FUS MA philosophy students interested in working on Dietrich von Hildebrand. Applications for work on personalist thinkers (e.g., Wojtyla, Scheler, Stein) or Hildebrand’s immediate traditions (e.g., personalism, phenomenology) will be considered, though work on Hildebrand will be given preference. Up to $5,000 will be provided, if both scholarships are awarded. These scholarships, an expression of the fruitful relationship between the HP and FUS, will deepen and maintain the historical connection between FUS and personalist philosophy, while advancing new scholarship on Hildebrand and carrying forth the personalist tradition.
Scholarship Amounts in 2023-24:
- $2,000 for a first-year MA philosophy student
- $3,000 for a first or second-year MA philosophy student writing a MA thesis or one of two conference papers on Hildebrand (or related thinkers/traditions).
- Funds can be used at the scholarship recipient’s discretion for expenses related to their MA studies, including for tuition, living expenses, books, laptops, and so forth.
Application:
- Statement of purpose (1-3 pages) explaining the applicant’s interest in Hildebrand (or in related thinkers/traditions), how they will pursue this interest as a student in the FUS MA program, and how the work funded by the scholarship supports their longer-term aspirations, whether in academia, teaching, ministry, or any other field.
- Personal, intellectual, and professional (if relevant) biography (1-3 pages): How did you get here? Where are you going?
- Academic letter of recommendation explaining the applicant’s suitability for the scholarship.
- One academic paper of any length.
- Resume or curriculum vitae.
- Complete application submitted to info@hildebrandproject.org. Letters of recommendation may be sent directly to this email.
- Submission deadline for 2023-24 academic year: April 22, 2023
Review:
- Scholarships are awarded by the HP’s grants committee to admitted MA philosophy students.
- Award decisions will be communicated by May 15, 2023.
Opportunities During and After the Scholarship Period:
- Recipients will have the chance to work with senior Hildebrand scholars, including FUS Professor Emeritus John F. Crosby.
- Recipients are expected to participate in the HP’s annual summer seminar at FUS.
- Recipients will be invited to apply for the HP’s advanced programs, including weekend colloquia (travel stipend, room and board), advanced readings groups, and so forth.
Transformation in Christ
Reading Group beginning April 5
The Soul of a Lion
Reading Group beginning April 12
Aesthetics Vol. I
Reading Group beginning April 13
Dr. Robert E. Wood Tribute

By Christopher T. Haley
Student of Dr. Wood and Vice President of the Hildbrand Project.
The Hildebrand Project mourns the passing of Dr. Robert E. Wood (October 20, 1934 – February 10, 2023). Dr. Wood was a longtime friend and colleague of Hildebrand Project co-founder Dr. John F. Crosby and he was my teacher at the University of Dallas. Indeed, it was Dr. Wood who suggested I seek out the Hildebrand Project nearly a dozen years ago—little did I know (though I believe he knew) that he was setting me on my life’s course.
Dr. Wood was a Renaissance man, a scholar, an athlete, a sculptor, and a philosopher in the Platonic sense: a musical man of ordered harmony. He wrote on all the great philosophers, but he had a special love for Plato. I still recall coming into his office one day to find him reading Plato’s Meno, a text he must have read dozens of times and certainly didn’t need to re-read. He wasn’t teaching the book anytime soon or writing on it; he was just enjoying it. Dr. Wood always said: “There is no reading; only re-reading.” Despite his prolific output and many accolades (you may read his obituary here), he was always a student; and to be his student was to be a student with him, to join him on a journey through great ideas and the untold beauty of the world. He was a Virgil to his students.
We called him “the maestro” on account of the way he would conduct his classes. He held whole philosophical systems in his repertoire, and could bring them to vision before your eyes and mind. Whatever he taught, he wanted to convey its beauty. He was like St. Thomas in always giving every position its most charitable and compelling account. That intellectual charity is one of the most important lessons I learned from him. Try as I might to dismiss a thinker (usually Hume), he would urge me to understand why we read this and to find what is best and important (even in Hume!).
He showed this same charity to his students too, finding what was best in their work and in them as persons. I once wrote a paper on Kant; I received it back with a “B” and a comment that it was a good paper on Plato! He was as interested in my love for poetry and my family as he was in my pursuit of philosophical studies. At the heart of Dr. Wood’s interest was the core of the person, the “inner heart,” as he used to say. The influence of Dietrich von Hildebrand is evident; and, while I never studied Hildebrand with Dr. Wood, he would often refer to The Heart and Liturgy and Personality as being two of the most important books in his philosophical formation.
It was thus a personal and professional joy for me to invite him to author an introduction to Hildebrand’s Aesthetics, and to host him as a speaker for our 2017 summer seminar on Retrieving Beauty (the videos are available here). His last publication, just a month before he died, was Being Human: Philosophical Anthropology through Phenomenology and he was still at work on his last book, fittingly, a book on the heart.
A friend, a mentor, a student, and a scholar; a family man, a faithful man, and a gentleman; we have lost a truly great person and a refulgent personality in Dr. Wood. His legacy lives on in his beautiful family, his myriad students, his enduring impact on Catholic philosophy, the University of Dallas community, and, in some small way, in the Hildebrand Project.
Dr. Wood thought we should all sing more, particularly at the end of events and gatherings. I thus invite you to join us in your hearts in singing:
Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiæ,
vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Hevæ,
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
in hac lacrimarum valle.
Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos
misericordes oculos ad nos converte;
Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,
nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.
O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.
Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genitrix,
Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.
Alice von Hildebrand Centennial
Special event in honor of Alice von Hildebrand, March 11