Through dialogue, research and education, the Institute inspires us to talk and listen to each other respectfully about the issues and values that have shaped America and Americans from all walks of life.
Dialogue between multiple viewpoints spurs engagement, understanding and human connection.
Andrew Finstuen is the Dean of the Honors College and Senior Advisor to the President for Strategic Planning and Academic Initiatives at Boise State University. Finstuen teaches courses in modern American history, the history of American Christianity, and the history of genocide and mass killing.
His first book, “Original Sin and Everyday Protestants: The Theology of Reinhold Niebuhr, Billy Graham, and Paul Tillich in an Age of Anxiety,” won the 2010 American Society of Church History’s Brewer Prize. He co-directed the “The Worlds of Billy Graham” project, which produced “Billy Graham: American Pilgrim,” an edited volume with Oxford University Press (2017). Also in 2017, he co-produced, and in association with Journey Films and Maryland Public Television, a documentary film titled An American Conscience: The Reinhold Niebuhr Story. Finstuen recently authored an essay for The Oxford Handbook of Reinhold Niebuhr.
Andrew Finstuen is the Dean of the Honors College and Senior Advisor to the President for Strategic Planning and Academic Initiatives at Boise State University. Finstuen teaches courses in modern American history, the history of American Christianity, and the history of genocide and mass killing.
His first book, “Original Sin and Everyday Protestants: The Theology of Reinhold Niebuhr, Billy Graham, and Paul Tillich in an Age of Anxiety,” won the 2010 American Society of Church History’s Brewer Prize. He co-directed the “The Worlds of Billy Graham” project, which produced “Billy Graham: American Pilgrim,” an edited volume with Oxford University Press (2017). Also in 2017, he co-produced, and in association with Journey Films and Maryland Public Television, a documentary film titled An American Conscience: The Reinhold Niebuhr Story. Finstuen recently authored an essay for The Oxford Handbook of Reinhold Niebuhr.
Isaac Castellano is a Clinical Associate Professor in the School of Public Service and has been teaching political science at Boise State since 2013. Raised in the Seattle area, he spent his adult life living in a range of places in our country, including Texas, Kentucky, Ohio, Oregon, and Idaho. Castellano believes that there is more that unites us than divides us as Americans, and that tolerance and engagement with our fellow citizens is a critical component of a democracy. As the Associate Director of the Institute, his role is to facilitate our range of programs geared at generating civic discourse on our campus and across the State of Idaho.
Isaac Castellano is a Clinical Associate Professor in the School of Public Service and has been teaching political science at Boise State since 2013. Raised in the Seattle area, he spent his adult life living in a range of places in our country, including Texas, Kentucky, Ohio, Oregon, and Idaho. Castellano believes that there is more that unites us than divides us as Americans, and that tolerance and engagement with our fellow citizens is a critical component of a democracy. As the Associate Director of the Institute, his role is to facilitate our range of programs geared at generating civic discourse on our campus and across the State of Idaho.
In this video, learn from Boise State President Marlene Tromp and Institute Director Andrew Finstuen about their goals and the vision they have for the new Institute for Advancing American Values. Closed captions and a video transcript are available.
