CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WVDN) — Today, Governor Patrick Morrisey announced Dr. Patrick Lee Miller as the first Director of the Washington Center for Civics, Culture, and Statesmanship at West Virginia University.
The Washington Center was established through House Bill 3297 signed into law by the Governor last spring. The center’s mission is to teach students to think critically about the principles that built our nation while promoting fact-based instruction on America’s founding.
“Dr. Miller is an exceptional scholar who shares our vision of strengthening civics education and restoring free thought in our universities,” said Governor Morrisey. “He understands that higher education should be about teaching students not what to think, but how to think.”
Governor Morrisey praised Dr. Miller’s commitment to the Washington Center’s mission and his alignment with President Trump’s efforts to combat ideological bias and promote American values in higher education.
Under Dr. Miller’s leadership, the Washington Center will expand academic opportunities in constitutional studies, political philosophy, and the history of Western thought. The Center will also encourage students to explore a diversity of viewpoints and engage in respectful debate.
“I hope to give the people of this state what they asked for: a place where the young of West Virginia can learn about our civilization and our country in an atmosphere of respect, even reverence,” said Dr. Miller. “My vision is to train students in the Western tradition, starting with ancient Greece and Rome, through the framing of the US Constitution, and up to the present crisis.”
The Washington Center will receive $1.5 million in state funding in the upcoming fiscal year to support faculty recruitment, curriculum development, and public programming.
“Too many universities today have lost sight of what higher education is supposed to be about. They’ve become echo chambers for political ideology, where dissenting opinions are discouraged and even punished,” said Governor Morrisey. “The Washington Center will ensure that the values that made America great are taught with not only honesty, but a sense of pride.”
Dr. Miller joins WVU from Duquesne University, where he has been an Associate Professor of Philosophy since 2012. In October 2024, he spent time as a Visiting Professor of Education and Culture at Doshisha University in Kyoto – one of Japan’s oldest private universities. Previously, he was a Junior Fellow in Classics at the Harvard University Center for Hellenic Studies and a Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Duke University.
Dr. Miller has a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a D.A.D. from the Psychoanalytic Institute of the Carolinas, M.A.s in Greek and Philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a B.A. in Philosophy from McGill University.
