(Courtesy of YU) The Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought of Yeshiva University is pleased to announce the hiring of Dr. Tevi Troy as its inaugural senior scholar and impact office director. Dr. Troy will teach courses based on his areas of expertise and mentor YU students pursuing careers in journalism, government and public policy.
Dr. Troy has extensive experience in government and Jewish affairs. He is a senior fellow and director of the Presidential Leadership Initiative at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a best-selling presidential historian and a former White House aide. From 2007 to 2009, Dr. Troy served as deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service— the second-in-command and chief operating officer of the largest civilian department in the federal government. Previously, Dr. Troy served at the White House as deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy, as well as the White House Jewish liaison, acting as President Bush’s main adviser on Jewish issues and the administration’s point person with the Jewish community.
Dr. Troy has held other high-level positions on Capitol Hill as well. From 1998 to 2000, Dr. Troy served as the policy director for Senator John Ashcroft. From 1996 to 1998, Dr. Troy was senior domestic policy adviser and later domestic policy director for the House Policy Committee, chaired by Christopher Cox. From 2014 to 2018, Dr. Troy was the founder and CEO of the American Health Policy Institute. Before that, Dr. Troy was senior fellow at Hudson Institute. He has also been a researcher at the American Enterprise Institute.
Dr. Troy is the author of four books, including “Fight House: Rivalries in the White House From Truman to Trump,” which the Wall Street Journal listed as one of the five best political books of 2020. Previous books include “Intellectuals and the American Presidency”; “Shall We Wake the President? Two Centuries of Disaster Management From the Oval Office,” which warned in 2016 that we were unprepared for coronavirus; and the best-seller “What Jefferson Read, Ike Watched, and Obama Tweeted: 200 Years of Popular Culture in the White House.” He has also written over 400 published articles for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Politico, Commentary, JTA, Tablet, The Forward, Times of Israel, Jerusalem Post and other publications.
“As a big believer in Torah Umadda,” said Dr. Troy in an interview with YU News, “I want to help Yeshiva students who are committed to their Orthodoxy also find ways to fit into American society. Too often, people seem to choose one or the other: religious life or secular integration. I think my experience has shown that both are possible, and I want to convey lessons from my experience to students.” Dr. Troy looks forward to advancing the mission of the Straus Center. “As for the Straus Center,” he added, “I think it is a perfect place for accomplishing this mission, as it attracts top students who are interested in the best ideas that both Jewish tradition and Western philosophy have to offer.”
Dr. Troy’s many other affiliations include serving as a member of the Board of Fellows of the Jewish Policy Center and a board member of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights. He is a frequent speaker to both business and Jewish groups, and he has served as scholar-in-residence at Passover programs in Los Angeles, Orlando, New Jersey, the Dominican Republic and Niagara, among other locations. Dr. Troy earned his Ph.D. in american civilization from the University of Texas and a B.S. from Cornell University. Dr. Troy lives in Kemp Mill, Maryland, with his wife, Kami, and they have four children. He is originally from Queens, New York.
