Professor of Philosophy, degrees in philosophy and history. His doctoral studies were completed at Boston College. His research interests are Bernard Lonergan, Eric Voegelin, modern poetry, and the topic of human worth and dignity. Dr. Hughes teaches philosophy of religion, contemporary philosophy, philosophy of art, twentieth century intellectual history in the Honors Program, and philosophy of literature. He received the St. Mary's Distinguished Faculty Award in 1995. He is author of many articles; Mystery and Myth in the Philosophy of Eric Voegelin (University of Missouri Press, 1993); Transcendence and History (University of Missouri Press, 2003); and A More Beautiful Question: The Spiritual in Poetry and Art (University of Missouri Press, 2011). He is editor of The Politics of the Soul (Rowman & Littlefield, 1999), and co-editor of two other volumes of philosophy (one forthcoming in 2013). He is a regular contributor of original scholarship at national conferences, and has been both a co-ordinator of and invited lecturer at international meetings and events. He received a Fulbright Research Scholar Grant in 2008 to work at the Peace Research Institute of Oslo, Norway (PRIO). His poetry has appeared in many national literary journals and two chapbooks; he has also edited or co-edited four volumes of work by the Northwest poet Robert Sund. In 2012, he and his colleague Dr. Megan Mustain received a National Endowment for the Humanities "Enduring Questions" grant for the development of a course on human dignity, to be taught over four semesters beginning Fall 2013.