SMITH PROFESSORSHIPS
Steve Frankel
Professor Steven Frankel received his Ph.D. from the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago in 1997. Upon graduation, Professor Frankel joined the faculty at the American University of Paris, where he received the Board of Trustees Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2001. In 2003, Professor Frankel moved to Xavier where he teaches for the Department of Philosophy and Philosophy, Politics, and the Public (PPP). At Xavier, he established an international exchange program and a summer study program with the University of Paris. He also established a summer study program with the Jesuits at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Jerusalem. In 2017, the Xavier student body selected Professor Frankel as the Bishop Fenwick Teacher of the Year. In 2018, Professor Frankel helped establish an honors program in political economy, the Smith Scholars. He currently serves as the academic coordinator of that program. In addition, Dr. Frankel has mentored dozens of students’ research, including senior theses and summer research, including a project on civil religion in 2019 which resulted in the publication of a book.
​
Professor Frankel's scholarly work focuses on the relationship between philosophy and religion. His work has appeared in over a dozen journals including the Review of Metaphysics, Interpretation, Archiv fur Geshichte der Philosophie, The Review of Politics, International Philosophical Quarterly, Teaching Philosophy, and the Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy. His work has also appeared in various collections including Spinoza and Medieval Jewish Philosophy (Cambridge University Press), Reorientation: Leo Strauss in the 1930s (Palgrave Macmillan), and Liquider Mai 68? (Presses de la Renaissance, Paris). In 2014, he published a collection of essays with Prof. John Ray on intellectual and cultural life in France, entitled French Studies: Literature, Culture, and Politics (editions Honore Champion, Paris). His most recent book with Martin Yaffe, Civil Religion in Modern Political Philosophy, will appear in 2020 (Penn State University Press). He is currently writing a book on the philosophy of Spinoza.
Kathleen Hidy
Kathleen Hidy is an Assistant Professor of Legal Studies in the Department of Accounting and Business Law. Professor Hidy graduated magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame with a Bachelor of Arts in the Program of Liberal Studies, Notre Dame’s Great Books program. She received the Nutting Award at graduation. Professor Hidy earned her Juris Doctor degree from Columbia Law School. After graduating from Columbia University, Professor Hidy spent twenty years practicing law as a corporate litigator, representing both private sector and public sector entities. She has held two federal court clerkships. In 1991, Professor Hidy began teaching in the Williams College of Business as an adjunct professor. She has also taught at Northern Kentucky University Chase College of Law and at the Opus College of Business at the University of St. Thomas.
​
Professor Hidy became a full-time academic in the Williams College of Business in 2011. She teaches in both the undergraduate business and M.B.A. programs in the Williams College of Business. Her courses focus on the ethical, legal and regulatory environment in which business organizations operate in the United States Business M.B.A. Teacher of the Year Award and the Ignatian Educator of Distinction Award for the Jesuits Midwest Province. Professor Hidy’s research interests focus on technology and its impact on freedom of speech, property rights, and employment law. She has presented her research at national conferences. Professor Hidy’s research has been published in multiple law journals including Columbia Business Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Business Law, and Marquette Law Review.
