Matthew Smith is the founding President of Hildegard College. He holds a PhD in literature from the University of Southern California and an MA from the University of Connecticut. He is the author of numerous papers and books on early modern thought, including Performance and Religion in Early Modern England (Notre Dame), Face to Face in Shakespearean Drama (Edinburgh), and Literature and Religious Experience (Bloomsbury). Matthew also serves as an editor of Christianity & Literature and speaks and writes on the future of higher education and liberal learning.