ASU Names Timothy Sandefur as Barry Goldwater Chair in American Institutions

Arizona State University’s School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership has announced that Goldwater Institute Vice President for Legal Affairs Timothy Sandefur will serve as the 2023-2024 Barry Goldwater Chair in American Institutions at ASU.

The Chair—which has no affiliation with the Goldwater Institute—was established in 1977 to honor Senator Goldwater for his exceptional service to Arizona and the United States. It is given to scholars who have distinguished themselves in the fields of political science, history, economics, law, and public policy, and who uphold the principles of Americanism, individual freedom and the free enterprise system.

Sandefur has served as a Vice President at the Goldwater Institute since 2016, overseeing its legal scholarship programs as well as litigating in defense of constitutional rights in state and federal courts from coast to coast. Before joining the Institute, he served for fifteen years as an attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation in California. He is the author of eight books—including most recently Freedom’s Furies: How Isabel Paterson, Rose Wilder Lane, and Ayn Rand Found Liberty in an Age of Darkness—and more than 50 scholarly articles on a wide variety of legal and historical subjects.

In addition to teaching a class, the Goldwater Chair typically offers presentations to the general public. Beginning in January, Sandefur will teach “The American Dream: Economic Liberty as an American Institution,” a class on the legal, social, and cultural influence of economic freedom in America. The Goldwater Chair also traditionally gives public presentations, and Sandefur will deliver his first on October 17 at ASU’s Tempe Campus, on the subject of his book, Freedom’s Furies. You can register here.