Host Les Lenkowsy is joined by Matt Ely and Dr. Abigail Rawleigh to explore the texts that shaped the revolutionary generation. From Horace to Cicero, the conversation looks at what students in colonial colleges were assigned and how those ideas influenced early American thought. Ely shares how he brings these works into the present through interactive workshops, while Rawleigh adds context from early American literature, religion, and the intellectual traditions that informed the founding era.
Matt Ely is a PhD student in Higher Education at Indiana University Bloomington, where he also serves as an adjunct instructor and graduate academic advisor in the Hutton Honors College. Before coming to IU, Ely served as a military officer and later taught high school social studies in Iowa. His work focuses on how education shapes civic understanding, including the historical texts and ideas that influence American institutions.
Dr. Abigail Scott Rawleigh is an independent researcher, recently finishing a term as visiting lecturer in the Department of English at Indiana University Bloomington. She earned her PhD in early American literature from University of Notre Dame, where her research focused on the intersection of religion and literature in the early Atlantic world. Her work explores devotional practices, poetry, and intellectual life in the seventeenth century, and her current book project examines themes of domesticity and apocalypse in early American writing.
Leslie Lenkowsky is professor emeritus of public affairs and philanthropic studies at Indiana University Bloomington and a leading scholar of civil society, philanthropy, and public policy. He previously served as CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, appointed by President George W. Bush, and was a founding board member of the agency under President Bill Clinton. Lenkowsky has held senior roles in government, research, and higher education, and has written widely on civic engagement and the role of nonprofits in American life.