Staff

Marion Smith, president

Marion, a native of South Carolina, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wofford College with a BA in Government & History. He has studied in England, France, The Netherlands, and, most recently, Hungary where he received an MA in International Relations from Central European University, writing his thesis on the compatibility of NATO and EU security cooperation. Marion’s articles have appeared in various publications, including the Washington Times, National Review Online, and Wall Street Journal Europe. He is a graduate fellow at the B. Kenneth Simon Center for Principles and Politics at The Heritage Foundation. He was a 2010 Washington Fellow at the National Review Institute in Washington, D.C., and a 2011 Publius Fellow at the Claremont Institute in California.  As founding president of CSS, Marion is responsible for the general management of CSS Budapest and CSS Washington, DC in addition to anything else that needs doing.

Barrett Bowdre, program director

Barrett, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, is a 2010 graduate of Furman University, where he earned a BA in political science. He currently works as a research assistant at the Program on American Citizenship at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. and was a 2010 Fellow in Political Theory, Law, and Theology at the John Jay Institute. At CSS, Barrett organizes debates and forum discussions that seek to explore the role that a rich Western heritage plays—and should play—in shaping modern events and thought.

To contact anyone above, please write to info[at]commonsensesociety.com.