Steven Pittz

Dr. Steven Pittz is the Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Government and the Individual. He is also currently the Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) and Chair of the Political Science Department. He is a graduate of the UCCS Political Science Dept. (BA 2004) and is excited to be back at his alma mater, after stints in graduate school at the University of Texas (Ph.D 2014) and a postdoctoral fellowship at Emory University in Atlanta. Steven's research focuses primarily on political liberalism and current challenges to the liberal order. He approaches these topics primarily through explorations of the status of individualism and spiritual fulfillment in modern liberal societies. Steven also writes on other topics in both political theory and international politics and economics. His first book, Recovering the Liberal Spirit: Nietzsche, Individuality and Spiritual Freedom, was published by SUNY Press in 2020. A second, with Joseph Postell, American Citizenship and Constitutionalism in Principle and Practice, was published by Oklahoma Press in 2022. In addition, he has recently written several pieces on atomism (individualism), conspiracism in liberal democratic societies, and the ethics of creative destruction in entrepreneurship.

Steven grew up in Colorado Springs which is now his family's home. He and his wife have two boys who keep them busy and (mostly) happy. The Pittz family loves Colorado and feels blessed to call it home. In the time he has away from his kiddos, he likes to mountain bike, play soccer and basketball, or nestle into the couch for a full Saturday of college football.