Program: Budapest Fellowship Program – Senior Fellow
Year: 2024
Host Institution: Axioma Center
Research Focus: Culture, the human person, and life and family policy
Quote: “I’m fascinated by culture because I’m fascinated by people and our innate desire for truth, goodness, and beauty. People can live well when their leaders reckon with those metaphysical realities. I look forward to pondering what it means to live well and what the answers to that question mean for culture and good government during my time in Budapest.”
Read her introduction here: hungaryfoundation.org
Evelyn Whitehead grew up traveling the United States as the oldest of six in a proud Navy family. Evelyn’s parents sacrificed to provide their children with a wonderful Catholic education through Seton Home Study School.
Evelyn attended Franciscan University of Steubenville where she majored in Philosophy and participated in the Great Books Honors Program and the Dietrich von Hildebrand Project student fellowship. Some of the highlights of college included a semester-long study abroad spent in Gaming, Austria—one of the most beautiful places in the world. Her academic focus at Franciscan was personalism and phenomenology through the lens of John Paul II’s spirituality.
After a two-year academic hiatus, Evelyn accepted a scholarship to attend Ave Maria School of Law in Naples, Florida. During law school, Evelyn served on the Ave Maria Law Review Executive Board, worked as a research assistant to Dean Emeritus Eugene Milhizer and Professor Stephen Mikochik, received the St. Raymond of Penyafort Commencement Award for Excellence in Writing, and graduated summa cum laude. Most importantly, Evelyn met her husband, Daniel, during the first week.
Before moving to Budapest with her husband, Evelyn clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims for Judge Scott Laurer. Prior to that, she was the Associate Director for the Freedom of Thought Project and for Practice Groups at the Federalist Society. Evelyn is a Fellow of the Good Counselor Project with Napa Legal Institute, Americans United for Life, and the Dietrich von Hildebrand Project student fellowship program.
Axioma Center is a christian think tank that strivers to impact society through research, education and media that are grounded in faith and reason.
Their goal is to contribute to individual and social fulfillment, protect human dignity and promote the common good.