Dr. Andrew J O'Shaughnessy, the Saunders Director of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies (ICJS) at Monticello and Vice President of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, has left the Thomas Jefferson Foundation to pursue new opportunities. He currently is serving as Visiting International Fellow at the Wilberforce Institute, the University of Hull, Kingston Upon Hull, East Yorkshire, UK. Andrew has been a tremendous and visionary leader on our team for years, and we will miss him.
"Serving at Monticello has been one of the greatest honors of my life, " O'Shaughnessy said. "It has been my honor to train, learn from, and befriend the many colleagues who have come to Monticello, sometimes figuratively and sometimes literally. It also has been my pleasure to travel throughout the world on behalf of the ICJS and share with colleagues and audiences the tremendous work our team has been doing at Monticello. I remain today and always will be a most enthusiastic supporter of the mission of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation."
A noted scholar of the American Revolution, Andrew is a professor of history at the University of Virginia. Over his nineteen years of service at the Foundation, he showed foresight and steadfast dedication to Monticello, and particularly to the ICJS, a 78-acre campus devoted to research and education about Thomas Jefferson and early America. He oversaw the growth of its programs, increasing the number of visiting fellowships, conferences, and outreach talks.
The author of "The Illimitable Freedom of the Human Mind:" Thomas Jefferson's Idea of a University (2021),a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a member of the advisory council of the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, Andrew created a vibrant network of scholars, educators, and students engaged in dialogue with a global community about Jefferson's ideas. His earlier book, The Men Who Lost America. British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire (2013) won eight national prizes, including the New York Historical Society Prize, the George Washington Prize, and the Society of Military History Prize. He remains a co-editor of the Jeffersonian America Series at the University of Virginia. During his tenure, he oversaw some 350 visiting fellows.
Andrew cultivated relationships around the world, leading international conferences in eighteen countries, including as China, Cuba, Ireland, Russia, and Australia. They led to the publication of twelve published volumes, as well as two entire journals in China. Andrew also greatly expanded the ICJS 's collaborations for conferences and events, which include the American Academy of Diplomacy, the University of Notre Dame, the University of the West Indies in Trinidad, the Democracy Initiative at the University of Virginia, the American Philosophical Society, the International Museum of Slavery (Liverpool), and many others. He raised the profile of the Foundation both at home and abroad. He became a well known international speaker, including most recently a presentation at the World Expo in Dubai on behalf of the State Department.
Please join us in thanking Andrew for his dedication and commitment to the important work of the institution.