Dr. Jim Reid has a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Missouri (Columbia). He has been a member of the Tusculum College community for five years. He served as Vice-President for the Residential College during his first two years and is beginning his fourth year of full-time teaching in Tusculum's Commons program and in the disciplines of Political Science and History. His main fields of interest are political philosophy, international politics and constitutional law. He has written several essays which examine issues in American foreign policy as they relate to the purposes and values of a unique type of nation-state which was formed seeking to be left alone and which now has the potential to command the world stage.

"What I find most gratifying about teaching at Tusculum" Dr. Reid says, "is the wide variety of courses I have the opportunity to teach and the ability to teach each of them from an interdisciplinary perspective. In addition to numerous Political Science courses, I regularly teach Jerusalem, a course that studies the broad meaning of the Judeo-Christian tradition and courses in European History. I try to bring the perspectives of philosophy, religion, politics, history and other disciplines to all that I do."

Dr. Reid also serves as co-director of the Warren G. Hobbie Center for the Civic Arts, an arm of the College dedicated to perfecting and seeking further recognition for the College's efforts to educate students for effective citizenship.

Dr. Sharpe earned his B.A. and Ph.D. in political science from the University of South Carolina. He also earned a J.D. from the University of Texas. Prior to joining Tusculum College, he taught at Georgia Southern University and Northwestern College (IA). His teaching and research interests include contemporary political theory, the history of political thought, and constitutional law. He has published Modesty and Arrogance in Judgment: Hannah Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem (Praeger, 1999), "Advice from a Tocquevillian Liberal: Arendt, Tocqueville, and the Liberal-Communitarian Debate" (Praeger, 1998) and "Did Adolf Eichmann Receive a Fair Trial?" (Gale Group, 2003).

His current research projects include the political and legal theory of Francis Lieber and the role of the U.S. Supreme Court in the politics of the early period of the American republic. He also serves as the Director of the Honors Program and Pre-law advisor for the College. He and his wife, Leslie, live in Jonesborough, Tennessee's oldest town.