Academic Convocation – August 28, 2026

The Academic Convocation will be held on Friday, August 28, 2026, at 10 a.m. in the Peterson Recreation Center.

Academic Convocation, which marks the official opening of the academic year, welcomes new members of our community – students in the Class of 2030, transfer students, and new faculty members.

Jennifer A. Frey is Director of Programs in Classical Liberal Arts at the University of Virginia, where she is also a Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture and Visiting Professor in the College of Arts and Sciences.  She previously served as the inaugural Dean of the Honors College, whose curriculum focused on the great books of Western Civilization.  Prior to Tulsa, she was an associate Professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina, where she also held the title of Peter and Bonnie McCausland Faculty Fellow in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Jennifer earned her Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh and her B.A. in philosophy and medieval studies (with a classics minor) at Indiana University-Bloomington. She has published widely on virtue and moral psychology, and she has edited three academic volumes on virtue and human action: Self Transcendence and Virtue: Perspectives from Philosophy, Psychology, and Theology ; Practical Truth; and a forthcoming volume on Practical Wisdom. She is currently writing a book on the liberal arts and freedom. Her non-academic writing has been featured in First Things, Image, Law and Liberty, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The New York Times, The Point, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal among other venues.  She hosts a philosophy, theology, and literature podcast titled, Sacred and Profane Love.