Chardon native named inaugural director for Cleveland State’s new “intellectual diversity” center – The Cauldron

Photo Credit: Cleveland State University

Cleveland State University (CSU) has selected Peter Koritansky, Ph.D., as the inaugural director of the new Center for Civics, Culture and Society at CSU, announced Wednesday, Feb. 5 in an email to the campus community.

With an academic career of over 20 years, Koritansky is a current professor of history, philosophy and religious studies at the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) in Prince Edward Island, Canada. He also previously served in several administrative roles in academia, such as the chair of UPEI’s department of religious studies.

“I am deeply honored to be joining the faculty at Cleveland State,” said Koritansky. “Having grown up in Northeastern Ohio, I am thrilled to be coming home and to be serving the students of CSU, the people of the Greater Cleveland area and the State of Ohio.”

The Center will be housed within the CSU Levin College of Public Affairs and Education as an independent academic unit to promote “intellectual diversity” on campus. Per Ohio Senate Bill 117, the legislation that formally mandated the Center in 2023, this entails “teaching and research in the historical ideas, traditions, and texts that have shaped the American constitutional order and society.”

S.B. 117 allocated the state funding necessary to maintain the Center’s operations, not just at CSU but other Ohio universities and colleges who have established a similar center as a result of the bill.

Senate Bill 117: combating “leftist ideology” on campus

The bill was co-sponsored by Ohio Sen. Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland) and Sen. Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) with the goal of fighting ideology in higher education. 

“Leftist ideology has a monopoly on most college campuses that is squashing intellectual diversity and punishing wrong-think and anti-woke dogma,” shared Cirino in July 2023 before the bill passed the Ohio House. “But I do not believe the way to cure the leftist bias on campus is by foisting conservative ideology on academia. I believe the real fix is to ensure neutrality on the part of the instructors and administrators. Let all sides be heard. Let students decide for themselves what is true. Let free speech be preserved and protected. That is the American way. It should be taught in our universities again.”

As the Center’s new director, Koritansky will report to Provost Nigamanth Sridhar and work with Levin College Dean Jill Gordon, Ph.D., “To advance the Center’s mission to foster understanding and dialogue on the issues of civics, culture and society,” reads the email.

A Chardon native, Koritansky returns to his native state to take on this role. He has taught at universities across Ohio and as a visiting scholar in The University of Notre Dame and Princeton University. He is also a published author with scholarship focused on the history of political philosophy, philosophy of religion and the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Koritansky will assume his role on June 1, 2025.