New Academic Vice-President at LCC

In January 2017 Dr. J.D. Mininger entered into the role of Academic Vice-President and Dean of Faculty at LCC International University. His relationship to LCC reaches as far back as 1995, when his parents, James and Virginia Mininger, began the first of their thirteen years of service at LCC. Dr. J.D. Mininger began teaching literature and philosophy at LCC in 2007; in addition to his teaching he served as Associate Dean for Faculty Development from 2013-2016. He has also been Professor of Philosophy at Vytautas Magnus University (Kaunas, Lithuania) and Recurrent Visiting Professor at the University of Bologna-Forlì campus (Italy).

Dr. Mininger received a B.A. in History and German Language & Literature (double major) from Goshen College (Indiana, U.S.A.), and completed his PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota in 2006. His scholarly work and teaching engages the intersections of philosophy, literature, and politics. Mininger has published on philosophy and style in the works of Søren Kierkegaard, Immanuel Kant, and the poet Paul Celan; he has made contributions to the fields of political philosophy, in areas such as sovereignty andhuman rights, and aesthetic theory, focused on such topics as  late style, irony, and allegory); he is editor (with Jason Michael Peck) of German Aesthetics: Fundamental Concepts from Baumgarten to Adorno (Bloomsbury, 2016) and editor (with Leonidas Donskis) of Politics Otherwise: Shakespeare as Social and Political Critique (Rodopi, 2012). He is a senior editor at the Baltic Journal of Law and Politics, managing editor of the philosophy-focused Value Inquiry Book Series (VIBS) at Brill (Leiden/Boston), and editor of the VIBS subseries Philosophy, Literature, and Politics.

Dr. Mininger is a strong advocate of the liberal arts model of education in Lithuania, Europe, and beyond. He has given numerous public lectures on liberal arts education and participated in public debates about the importance and benefits of this model for students and society. He has given interviews for print and television journalists in the region, raising the visibility of liberal arts ideas and practices for academics as well as the general public in the Baltics. When asked about the strengths of LCC International University’s Christian liberal arts education model, Dr. Mininger explains: “Like any university worthy of the Liberal Arts identity, LCC provides students with multiple knowledges gained from a broad general education platform combined with expertise in a major field’ and we amplify the usefulness of all our degree programs through the development of particularly strong skills in communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. But at LCC liberal arts is not merely a curricular model, it’s an institutional ethos—one which extends from active classroom pedagogy to developing student leadership skills to the deeply held beliefs that students are not numbers and our university does not exist to simply manufacture graduates. LCC’s highly diverse international student body thrives within our Christian liberal arts environment because every LCC student is valued and respected as a unique individual and singular voice. We train students to be socially committed, self-reflective, active citizens and professionals. It is this liberal arts ethos, this commitment to critical thinking and self-awareness of one’s values and cultural assumptions, that I think sets LCC apart from many other universities in the region and in Europe; it’s certainly one of the most significant reasons that I am pleased and proud to contribute to both academic leadership and classroom teaching at LCC.”

Dr. Mininger follows Dr. Kirk Kauffeldt, who served as Academic Vice President from 2013-2016. Dr. Kauffeldt has taken a new position external to LCC, but he and his wife Shelley continue to reside in Klaipeda and remain closely connected to LCC. 

In January 2017 Dr. J.D. Mininger entered into the role of Academic Vice-President and Dean of Faculty at LCC International University. His relationship to LCC reaches as far back as 1995, when his parents, James and Virginia Mininger, began the first of their thirteen years of service at LCC. Dr. J.D. Mininger began teaching literature and philosophy at LCC in 2007; in addition to his teaching he served as Associate Dean for Faculty Development from 2013-2016. He has also been Professor of Philosophy at Vytautas Magnus University (Kaunas, Lithuania) and Recurrent Visiting Professor at the University of Bologna-Forlì campus (Italy).

Dr. Mininger received a B.A. in History and German Language & Literature (double major) from Goshen College (Indiana, U.S.A.), and completed his PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota in 2006. His scholarly work and teaching engages the intersections of philosophy, literature, and politics. Mininger has published on philosophy and style in the works of Søren Kierkegaard, Immanuel Kant, and the poet Paul Celan; he has made contributions to the fields of political philosophy, in areas such as sovereignty andhuman rights, and aesthetic theory, focused on such topics as  late style, irony, and allegory); he is editor (with Jason Michael Peck) of German Aesthetics: Fundamental Concepts from Baumgarten to Adorno (Bloomsbury, 2016) and editor (with Leonidas Donskis) of Politics Otherwise: Shakespeare as Social and Political Critique (Rodopi, 2012). He is a senior editor at the Baltic Journal of Law and Politics, managing editor of the philosophy-focused Value Inquiry Book Series (VIBS) at Brill (Leiden/Boston), and editor of the VIBS subseries Philosophy, Literature, and Politics.

Dr. Mininger is a strong advocate of the liberal arts model of education in Lithuania, Europe, and beyond. He has given numerous public lectures on liberal arts education and participated in public debates about the importance and benefits of this model for students and society. He has given interviews for print and television journalists in the region, raising the visibility of liberal arts ideas and practices for academics as well as the general public in the Baltics. When asked about the strengths of LCC International University’s Christian liberal arts education model, Dr. Mininger explains: “Like any university worthy of the Liberal Arts identity, LCC provides students with multiple knowledges gained from a broad general education platform combined with expertise in a major field’ and we amplify the usefulness of all our degree programs through the development of particularly strong skills in communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. But at LCC liberal arts is not merely a curricular model, it’s an institutional ethos—one which extends from active classroom pedagogy to developing student leadership skills to the deeply held beliefs that students are not numbers and our university does not exist to simply manufacture graduates. LCC’s highly diverse international student body thrives within our Christian liberal arts environment because every LCC student is valued and respected as a unique individual and singular voice. We train students to be socially committed, self-reflective, active citizens and professionals. It is this liberal arts ethos, this commitment to critical thinking and self-awareness of one’s values and cultural assumptions, that I think sets LCC apart from many other universities in the region and in Europe; it’s certainly one of the most significant reasons that I am pleased and proud to contribute to both academic leadership and classroom teaching at LCC.”

Dr. Mininger follows Dr. Kirk Kauffeldt, who served as Academic Vice President from 2013-2016. Dr. Kauffeldt has taken a new position external to LCC, but he and his wife Shelley continue to reside in Klaipeda and remain closely connected to LCC.