The Blue
Tribune
The Blue Tribune is your place to learn about all things Covenant and keep up with stories from campus and beyond. By guiding you through the different aspects of Covenant, we'll help you decide if you want to pursue your very own Covenant experience.
ISI Awards Dr. Philip Bunn for Excellence in Conservative Thought
Assistant political science professor, Dr. Philip Bunn, has been announced as one of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute鈥檚 2025 Top 20 Under 30 Award Winners and Collegiate Network Fellows.
Intercollegiate Student Institute (ISI) is a nonprofit institution that fosters conservative education and academia supported through debate and discussion. ISI believes that teaching students classical liberal ideals and how to uphold liberty is necessary for the enrichment of good moral character in future leaders.
Dr. Bunn has been recognized by ISI previously as an ISI Honors Scholar, a Richard M. Weaver Fellow, and a Collegiate Network alumnus. He has participated at their institution for nearly a decade, serving just this past year as a junior faculty member for their 2024 Honors Conference.
鈥淚SI does great work in student education,鈥� states Dr. Bunn. He describes how undergraduate and graduate students are, as their motto puts it, 鈥渆ducate[d] for liberty鈥� by attending conferences and reading texts from philosophers such as Russell Kirk and Friedrich Hayek. Dr. Bunn continues, 鈥淚 was blessed with the opportunity to attend the ISI Honors Conference as an undergraduate and made some of my closest friends through ISI.鈥�
鈥淲e are so proud of Philip鈥檚 scholarly excellence as well as his fine work in the classroom here at Covenant,鈥� says Dr. Collin Messer, vice president of academic affairs. He describes how this reflects 颁辞惫别苍补苍迟鈥檚 commitment to Christ-honoring recruitment of excellent faculty who create and sustain missionally faithful and rigorous academic programs and contribute to scholarly and public discourse.
鈥淲e are grateful for Philip鈥檚 commitment to pursuing his scholarship and teaching in a Christ-honoring way,鈥� exclaims Dr. Messer. 鈥淟ike many of our faculty, Philip is a wise and winsome voice in the public square. We join ISI in celebrating his many gifts.鈥�
鈥淚 appreciate ISI for being a truly 鈥榖ig tent鈥� for conservative intellectualism,鈥� Dr. Bunn states, 鈥減roviding space for serious conversations about what 鈥榗onservatives鈥� of various stripes ought to care about in our pursuit of peaceful life together in political community.鈥� ISI will be presenting Dr. Bunn with this award in September during their homecoming weekend in Wilmington, DE.