The Personal Story
I am a native Texan, born in Houston and raised in Sugar Land.
I attended St. Thomas More Catholic grade school and Strake Jesuit College Preparatory (Diploma 1981) in Houston, before attending St. Mary's University (Bachelor of Arts 1986) in San Antonio, where I met my wife Dr. Mary Lynne Gasaway Hill. 
During college, I spent two summers doing health care field work as a volunteer for Amigos de las America, in Mexico and Costa Rica respectively. After graduation, Mary Lynne and I were married on campus in Assumption Chapel in January of 1988. In fact, we baptized our only child on Easter Day in 2006 in the same chapel in which we had been married eighteen years earlier.
I began work at St. Mary's University in 1988, working in Enrollment Management, and later after law school (Juris Doctor 1998) in Student Development first as the Associate Dean of Students and then later as the Director of the Service Learning Center. During this time, I was first appointed to the Associate Faculty of the Graduate School, as a Lecturer of law and ethics, on May 1, 1998. After five years, I was promoted to Senior Lecturer “in recognition of distinguished teaching service to the University.” While at St. Mary's University, I taught courses on international law and treaties, and on international legal systems, for the International Relations program at St. Mary's. I am a member of the American Society for International Law (ASIL) & International Bar Association (IBA). A complete list of professional associations is at Linkedin. Also while at St. Mary's University, I led several international service and study-abroad trips, including a service trip with a dozen students to Coahuila, Mexico in 2004, and a semester-long study abroad trip with three dozen students to London, England in 2002. During these days, we also had a chance to travel and see a lot of the world for personal as well as professional opportunities. I have lectured widely on integrating Service Learning into international education programs, including at the 2004 Conference on International Education Exchange held in November in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and at the 2004 joint conference of the National Society for Experiential Education and the International Consortium for Experiential Learning held in October in Miami, Florida. Also during these years, my wife Mary Lynne was a professor at St. Mary's, in the English and Communication Studies Department. Together we worked and taught for many years at the University, and also tried to advance the Catholic and Marianist identity of the university through: teaching as faculty members for the Marianist International Institute of Language (2000); publishing articles, a book chapter in "Understanding Student Affairs at Catholic Colleges and Universities" (2002), and Mary Lynne's book "Stories from the Wake" (2005); presenting to Marianist high schools and universities, such as “The Characteristics of Marianist Education and Leadership,” at Nolan Catholic High School, Ft. Worth, Texas (2003) and at the Marianist Universities Meetings (St. Mary's 1997, Dayton 1998, Chaminade 1999, St. Mary's 2001, Dayton 2002, Chaminade 2003, St. Mary's 2004, Dayton 2005); and leading the Marianist Forum, which I did with one of the Marianist Brothers, Dr. Michael Sullivan, S.M. (2003 - 2005). In recognition of these and other efforts, we jointly received the Marianist Heritage Award in January of 2000. In 2006, following the birth of our only child, we relocated near family in Fort Worth, Texas. Mary Lynne resigned her tenured appointment but kept writing as an independent scholar, and I worked at the University of Dallas until 2008, the year I began my studies at Trinity College Dublin. For the next four years, I enjoyed the famous Marianist hospitality as a frequent visitor and guest of the Brothers at the Marianist Community in Ballybrack, Dublin, near the Marianist school there: St. Laurence College. As a postgraduate research student looking into human rights, my research took me into the field of peace practitioners, and thus to the Glencree Centre for Peace & Reconciliation in Enniskerry, County Wicklow, Ireland, and to the Corrymeela Peace & Reconciliation Centre in Ballycastle, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland. The visit to Corrymeela was a life changer, and the entire family moved to Northern Ireland, as both Mary Lynne and I began working at the Centre as volunteers and we enrolled the wee one into the Ballycastle Integrated Primary School. During this time, I was part of the team that planned and executed the 2011 Irish Peace Centres International Summer School, called "Capturing and Sharing the Learning," and also the 2012 Lilly Fellows Program Summer Seminar for College and University Teachers, called “Teaching Peace and Reconciliation: Theory and Practice in Northern Ireland." The latter program was funded with a generous grant from the Lilly Foundation, which allowed 14 college professors from the United States to travel to Corrymeela to study the history of the Anglo-Irish conflict in Ireland, the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, and the resulting move to a post-conflict society. The participants also explored the on-going reconciliation efforts with world-class scholars who are shaping its theoretical framework and with seasoned practitioners who are bringing this theory to life in a still divided society. We returned to Texas for the beginning of the academic year in fall 2011, with Mary Lynne accepting a post back "home" in the English Department at St. Mary's University, and with me teaching Philosophy and Ethics at Northwest Vista College. In 2013, I moved to St. Philip's College, where I continue to teach Philosophy and Ethics. I was promoted from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor in 2019, and finally to Professor in 2024. During the course of my time at St. Philip's College, some highlights have included being a Fellow in the Stanford Global Studies Division (2018-2019), working to establish the Intercollegiate Civil Disagreement Partnership (2020-2024), and my on-going volunteering with the San Antonio Chapter of the Fulbright Association and the Corrymeela Community in Northern Ireland. I am deeply grateful to my family and many mentors & colleagues. 
The participants in the 2012 Lilly Fellows Program Summer Seminar for College and University Teachers, called “Teaching Peace and Reconciliation: Theory and Practice in Northern Ireland."
2024, International Education Week
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1964, Houston, Texas
1981, Houston, Texas
1986, San Antonio, Texas
1986, San Antonio, Texas
1988, San Antonio, Texas
2000, San Antonio, Texas
2010, Dublin, Ireland
2018. Stanford University
2018. Stanford University
2019. Stanford University
2019. Stanford University
2022, Corrymeela, Northern Ireland
2024, Corrymeela, Northern Ireland
2024, Corrymeela, Northern Ireland
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Derick Wilson, Corrymeela Community
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Mary Gregory, Corrymeela Community
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2024 ~ The Big Year
January 2024, Boston, Harvard University
Intercollegiate Civil Disagreement Partnership
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In January 2024, I traveled with one of our ICDP Fellows, Ian Aguirre, to the PEN America Free Expression Student Summit and the first ever face-to-face meeting of the Fellows in the ICDP.
February 2024, Waco, Texas, Baylor University
Keston Spring Panel
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April 2024, San Antonio, St. Philip's College
Promotion to Professor of Philosophy
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Following the April 16, 2024 vote of the Board of Trustees, I was promoted to Professor of Philosophy at St. Philip's College.
June 2024, London, England, United Kingdom
Royal Society of the Arts
The Royal Society of the Arts House
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The Globe Shakespeare Theatre
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Mary Lynne is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and this was her first time to visit the RSA House in Covent Garden.
July 2024, Ballycastle, N. Ireland, Corrymeela Centre
Nurturing Hope 2024 Summer Learning Journey
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2024, Corrymeela, Northern Ireland
We volunteered at Corrymeela and were there to support our students who attended the Summer Learning Journey.
July 2024, Derry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Nurturing Hope 2024 Summer Learning Journey
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July 2024, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Nurturing Hope 2024 Summer Learning Journey
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August 2024, Dublin, Ireland
Nurturing Hope 2024 Summer Learning Journey
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September 2024, Memphis, Tennessee
Rhodes College
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September 2024, Oxford, Mississippi
University of Mississippi
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November 2024, La Crosse, Wisconsin
Viterbo University
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November 2024, Collegeville, Minnesota
St. John's University
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November 2024, St. Joseph, Minnesota
College of Saint Benedict
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December 2024, Waco, Texas
Baylor University
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