November 14, 2008

 

Brian Flanagan participated in the second panel of the Hauenstein Center’s conference, “George W. Bush: Legacy & Lessons.” The panel explored “The Bush Administration: Process and Policies,” and Flanagan presented a paper on “The State of the National Security State.”

Brian Flanagan is associate director of the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies at Grand Valley State University. With Gleaves Whitney and staff, he has helped organize more than one-hundred public programs, including two national conferences covered by C-SPAN, one debate web cast live to more than 3,500 viewers in eighteen countries, and another watched on YouTube by more than 40 thousand people on six continents. He has developed the Center’s presence online, with a traditional website that has attracted 10 million hits, and a “Hauenstein Center Everywhere” campaign that brought the Hauenstein Center to YouTube, Wikipedia, Blogger, Flickr, Facebook, and MySpace.

In 2008, Brian and a Hauenstein Center team were awarded a Mawby Fellowship to explore the connection between philanthropy and the American presidency. In 2007, he was appointed to the Michigan Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Committee, a two-year effort charged with providing leadership and direction for Michigan’s celebration of the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. He also served as a Teaching and Learning Resources advisor for the National Endowment for the Humanities and was selected as a 2007 class member by Leadership Grand Rapids, a community leadership program by the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the Economic Club of Grand Rapids and the World Affairs Council of Western Michigan.

During the 2004-05 academic year, Brian helped establish the Peter C. Cook Leadership Academy, the Hauenstein Center’s leadership training program. He has conducted research at four presidential libraries, including the Lyndon B. Johnson Library in Austin, Texas, the Gerald R. Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the Jimmy Carter Library in Atlanta, Georgia, and the George H. W. Bush Library in College Station, Texas.

Flanagan graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2003, where he studied English literature, composition, and history. He is currently a Master’s candidate in Grand Valley’s School of Public and Nonprofit Administration.