Biographies
Full Bio
Ryan S. Olson is Senior Director of Individual Giving at the American Enterprise Institute. Before AEI, he was a research professor at the University of Virginia and director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at UVA. He is also the founder of the Moral Ecology Trust, a network of senior leaders from various sectors of American society who gather to pool their expertise, networks, and influence to improve the moral ecosystems that form students, citizens, and leaders. He was appointed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development to serve on the Questionnaire Expert Group for PISA 2029.
Olson earned graduate degrees in theology, Asian and Middle Eastern studies, and classical languages and literature from Durham University and Oxford University, completing his D.Phil. in Classics at Oxford (Trinity College). His book, Tragedy, Authority, and Trickery: The Poetics of Embedded Letters in Josephus (Harvard University Press), is a study of narrative epistolography in its historical and cultural contexts. He is also co-editor of The Content of Their Character and of The Necessity of Character.
Previously, Olson served as a program director at the Kern Family Foundation, leading grant-making initiatives in educational reform and character education, and earlier directed an education policy department at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a state-based think tank. He has been invited to give presentations and lectures by the Philanthropy Roundtable, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Association of Education Finance and Policy, the State Policy Network, and the U.S. Department of Education.
Olson has held fellowships at Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, DC. He is a faculty affiliate of the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University and a fellow of the Center for Psychological Humanities and Ethics at Boston College. His research focuses on generosity as a virtue that is central to a flourishing life of character and to a free society.
Shortened Bio
Ryan S. Olson is Senior Director of Individual Giving at the American Enterprise Institute. Previously, he was a research professor at the University of Virginia and director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture. Olson earned graduate degrees in theology, Asian and Middle Eastern studies, and Classics from Durham and Oxford, earning his D.Phil. at Oxford (Trinity College). His publications include Tragedy, Authority, and Trickery (Harvard University Press) and co-edited volumes The Content of Their Character and The Necessity of Character.
Previously, Olson led grant-making initiatives in educational reform and character education at the Kern Family Foundation. He has presented to organizations including the OECD, U.S. Department of Education, and Philanthropy Roundtable. Olson has held fellowships at Harvard’s Center for Hellenic Studies and is a faculty affiliate of Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program and fellow at Boston College’s Center for Psychological Humanities and Ethics where he writes on generosity as a central virtue in a life of character and a free society. He serves on the Questionnaire Expert Group for PISA 2029.
Speaking Introduction
Ryan S. Olson is a Research Professor at the University of Virginia and Senior Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture. A classicist by training, he studies ancient education and its relevance in the late modern world. Author of Tragedy, Authority, and Trickery (Harvard University Press), Olson also founded the Moral Ecology Trust.
Conference Biography
Ryan S. Olson is a Research Professor at the University of Virginia and Senior Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture. A classicist by training, Olson explores ancient educational cultures and their relevance in the late modern world. He co-directs the Institute’s program on culture and formation and founded the Moral Ecology Trust. Olson earned his D.Phil. in Classics from Oxford and is author of Tragedy, Authority, and Trickery (Harvard University Press) and co-editor of The Content of Their Character. His work bridges classical scholarship and contemporary education, and he has held fellowships at Harvard’s Center for Hellenic Studies.
Headshots
