Leadership & staff

Previously, Streeter was the State Farm James Q. Wilson Scholar and director of domestic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he facilitated research in education, technology, housing, urban policy, poverty studies, workforce development, and public opinion. Before joining AEI, he was executive director of the Center for Politics and Governance at UT Austin.

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Streeter’s distinguished career in government service includes being special assistant for domestic policy to President George W. Bush at the White House, deputy chief of staff for policy for Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, and policy advisor to Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith. Streeter is the author, coauthor, and editor of many books, including Doing Right by Kids: Leveraging Social Capital and Innovation to Increase Opportunity (AEI Press, 2024) which he co-edited with Scott Winship and Yuval Levin, and The Future of Cities, (AEI Press, 2022) which he co-edited with Joel Kotkin.

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In addition, his writings have appeared in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Politico, USA Today, The Hill, City Journal, National Affairs, and National Review, among others. He has a Ph.D. in political philosophy from Emory University.

Dyer writes and teaches in the fields of American political thought, jurisprudence, and constitutionalism, with an emphasis on the philosophical tradition of natural law. He is the author or editor of eight books and numerous articles, essays, and book reviews. His most recent book, with Kody Cooper, is The Classical and Christian Origins of American Politics: Political Theology, Natural Law, and the American Founding (Cambridge University Press, 2022). His previous books include C.S. Lewis on Politics and the Natural Law (Cambridge University Press, 2017), and Slavery, Abortion, and the Politics of Constitutional Meaning (Cambridge University Press, 2013). He also is coeditor of the constitutional law casebook American Constitutional Law. He was previously a professor of political science at the University of Missouri, where he served as the founding director of the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy. After attending the University of Oklahoma, he completed his M.A. and Ph.D. in government at The University of Texas at Austin.

Richard M. Reinsch II is editor in chief of the Civitas Institute’s Civitas Outlook. He was the founding editor of the online magazine Law & Liberty. Immediately before joining Civitas, he was the editor in chief and director of publications of the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) where he introduced the Institute’s white paper program, helped launch two new podcasts, Qualified Opinions and Econception, and led AIER’s online journal, The Daily Economy. Previously he served as director of the B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies and AWC Family Foundation Fellow at the Heritage Foundation. He was also a senior fellow at Liberty Fund, where he founded Law & Liberty and its podcast. Reinsch’s books include The Constitution in Full: Recovering the Unwritten Foundation of American Liberty (University Press of Kansas, 2019), which he coauthored with Peter Lawler, and Whittaker Chambers: The Spirit of Counterrevolutionary (ISI Books, 2010). He has also been widely published in the popular press and in policy journals, including Perspectives on Political Science, Logos, Religion & Liberty, Modern Age, National Review, Washington Examiner, and City Journal. He holds a J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Bryce Waller is the chief development officer for the School of Civic Leadership and the Civitas Institute. Bryce brings to his role more than fifteen years of executive leadership experience across a range of nonprofit and for-profit organizations, both domestically and abroad. He is a skilled fundraiser and relationship-builder who enjoys helping individuals and families realize their visions through contributions to institutions that align with their values. He is passionate about higher education and its role in shaping a healthy society. Bryce is originally from Austin and earned a B.A. in English from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Divinity from Westminster Seminary California.

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Bo Herlin is the director of public affairs at the Civitas Institute. Previously, he was head of communications at a national not-for-profit leadership organization. Before that, he led the marketing and communications team at a venture-backed software company. He began his career at Accelus, a fast-growing medical technology startup, and later helped turn around a ninety-year-old niche publishing company. He has also worked as a research assistant on a small team led by the columnist David Brooks. Bo is originally from Hobe Sound, Florida and earned a B.A. from Davidson College.

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Sydney Leary is assistant director for research and programs at the Civitas Institute, where she manages operations for the Institute’s growing research programs. She joins Civitas from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where she oversaw policy work on education, technology, housing, agriculture, science, and poverty issues as the program manager for domestic policy studies. Sydney started her career in Washington, D.C. crafting and facilitating academic programs for undergraduate and graduate level students at AEI and the Hudson Institute. She is an alumna of the Danish Institute of Study Abroad European Politics Cohort and has completed fellowships with the Fund for American Studies, Hudson Institute Political Studies, and the Fulbright Program’s English teaching assistant program in the Czech Republic. Sydney is a graduate of Villanova University, where she received a B.A. in politics, philosophy, and humanities.

Lindsay Eberhardt is the executive editor for the Civitas Institute. Formerly, she was senior editor at Common Sense Society; managing editor for Dissident.com, The American Mind, and the Claremont Review of Books Digital; and an assistant editor at the Claremont Review of Books. She has taught politics and political philosophy at the U.S. Naval Academy, George Mason University, and CSUSB and her writings have been published in The Journal of Woman, Politics, and Policy and Political Research Quarterly. She holds a B.A. in political science from the University of Alaska, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in political philosophy and American government from Claremont Graduate University.

Allison Smythe is the senior project manager for the Civitas Institute and the School of Civic Leadership. In this capacity, she oversees academic and community events; branding, marketing, and alumni engagement. Prior to joining the Civitas Institute, Allison was senior program coordinator at the Kinder Institute at the University of Missouri where she developed strategic marketing campaigns for undergraduate and graduate student recruitment; designed an alumni engagement program; and promoted and coordinated local and international academic and community events and conferences. She graduated from Texas Tech with a B.F.A. in design communication and studied creative writing as an M.F.A. student at the University of Houston. Her essays and poetry have been published in the Southern Review, the Gettysburg Review, Relief Magazine, Verse Daily, and others.

Melissa Pardue is the events coordinator for the Civitas Institute. She has a background in policymaking in Washington, D.C., having served as deputy assistant secretary for human service policy in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as well as associate director in the White House Domestic Policy Council. Melissa also served as a Capitol Hill staffer for several years and as a policy analyst for social welfare policy at The Heritage Foundation. In that capacity, she published numerous op-eds and appeared regularly on radio and TV interviews. Originally from Dallas, she has worked as an independent policy consultant for over a decade in Austin. Melissa completed her M.S. in policy from Columbia University and holds a B.A. in social work from the University of Oklahoma.

Zachary Springer is a senior administrative associate with the Civitas Institute. Prior to joining the Civitas Institute, he worked as a Latin instructor for high school students while finishing his undergraduate studies. Zach is originally from Lubbock, Texas and earned two B.A.s from UT-Austin, one in philosophy and the other one in classical languages.