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Office of Academic Affairs

Patrick Henry College focuses on both academic excellence and spiritual growth,

emphasizing both the life of the mind and the life of the Christian faith.

Office of Academic Affairs

Mark_Mitchell

Mark T. Mitchell, Ph.D.

Dean of Academic Affairs; Professor of Government

Mark T. Mitchell served as Chairman for the Department of Government for many years prior to accepting his current role as the Dean of Academic Affairs at Patrick Henry College. He teaches courses in political theory. He is the author of The Limits of Liberalism: Tradition, Individualism, and the Crisis of Freedom, The Politics of Gratitude: Scale, Place, and Community in a Global Age, and Michael Polanyi: The Art of Knowing. He is co-editor of Localism in the Mass Age: A Front Porch Republic Manifesto, The Humane Vision of Wendell Berry, and The Culture of Immodesty in American Life and Politics. He is the co-founder of the web-zine Front Porch Republic, and author of many articles on topics relating to localism, liberalism, and political philosophy including, "Illiberal Liberalism and the Future of the American Experiment." In 2008-2009, he was a fellow at the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University..

Dr. Les Sillars

Les Sillars, Ph.D.

Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Chairman, Department of Applied Liberal Arts; Professor of Journalism

Dr. Sillars (University of Texas at Austin), professor of Journalism since 2002, accepted his role as Associate Academic Dean and Chair of Applied Liberal Arts in March, 2019. He directs internships, serves as a student adviser, and oversees The Herald, PHC's student newspaper. He writes and edits for worldmag.com and is Mailbag Editor at WORLD Magazine. His work has also appeared in The Weekly Standard, Touchstone, The American Conservative, The Gospel Coalition, and others. His first book, Intended for Evil: A Survivor's Story of Love, Faith, and Courage in the Cambodian Killing Fields, came out in October, 2016.

Michael Haynes

Mike Haynes, Ph.D.

Chairman, Department of Government and Professor of Government

Dr. Haynes joined the Patrick Henry College faculty in fall 2008. He has been involved in research at the Howard Baker Center for Public Policy. Before going to graduate school, Dr. Haynes acquired extensive experience in grassroots politics and in state and local government. Dr. Haynes’ concentration is in the American Government/Politics and Public Administration/Public Policy fields. His research specialty deals with the organizational and managerial structure and operation of the modern White House.

Since a number of our graduates find themselves working as staff members for government offices, or when they become government leaders themselves will have staffs of their own, Dr. Haynes' work on what makes staff members effective or ineffective can prove invaluable. The combination of academic expertise and practical experience that Dr. Haynes brings will help ensure that our government students have the best preparation possible for wherever God leads them.

He teaches courses covering The Congress, The Presidency, Campaigns and Elections, State and Local Government, Practicum in American Politics and Policy, and Political Science Research Methods. He accepted the role as Chair of the Government Department in March, 2019.

Douglas Favelo

Doug Favelo, Ph.D.

Chairman, Classical Liberal Arts and Associate Professor of History

Dr. Favelo teaches courses in the history of western civilization, Roman history, Greek history, and historical research methods at Patrick Henry College. Prior to coming to Patrick Henry College, he served for ten years as a lecturer at California State University Fresno, teaching history, literature, and Latin.

Dr. Favelo is heavily involved in the classical education and homeschool communities. He has taught hundreds of students Latin, Greek, history, and literature, and has spoken at homeschooling conferences on the topic of classical Christian education. In summer 2010 he helped lead a UCLA study-abroad program in Rome, and he continues to take PHC students to Rome and Greece during spring break. Dr. Favelo’s research interests include Italian resistance to the expansion of Rome, and the lives of the Christian desert monks of late Roman Egypt.

Dr. Favelo's passion is to facilitate students in their intellectual and spiritual development, primarily through the medium of a rigorous, Biblically-centered classical education, to the greater glory of God. He, his wife, and his five children live on a mountain farm in Loudoun County, VA, where they raise pigs, cows, and chickens.

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