RYAN HANNING

Ryan Hanning PhD is a consultant, public speaker and Professor of Theology and Catholic Studies serving the University of Mary Liffrig School of Education, and Franciscan University of Steubenville Catechetical Institute. Prior, he led the operational and administrative aspects of the University of Mary’s unprecedented partnership with Arizona State University serving hundreds of students on multiple campuses in two states. He continues to consult for several Catholic universities, dioceses, religious orders and both religious and non-religious non-profits and NGO’s.

Ryan is focused on transferring his classroom and teaching experience to practical application for primary, secondary, and higher education clients across the U.S. Specifically, Ryan concentrates on several educational segments including enhancing continuing professional education for teachers/administrators, better understanding parent and stakeholder demand, appropriate pedagogical selection, and how to form teachers in the tradition of Classical and alternative models of education. Coming from the teacher and administrator ranks and working with over 30 primary and secondary schools and 12 universities over the course of 20 years, Ryan can quickly assess situations across a range of educational organizations.

Dr. Hanning has extensive experience in private education and universities and in-depth knowledge of Church operations, canon law and theology, as well as public higher education. He has conducted research into Covid related learning losses and its disproportionate impact on lower income families nationally, and was awarded a grant to investigate effective remediation strategies for Charter Schools in New York City.  He directed the Department of Family Catechesis, Diocese of Phoenix, under Bishop Olmsted, worked internationally with Catholics Come Home, and the Virtuous Leadership Institute, served as director and chairman for Aid to Women Center, a crisis pregnancy medical clinic and was a founding member of Catholic Leadership Circle and Caritas in Veritate International.

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Ryan earned a Ph.D. in Theology from Maryvale Institute Liverpool Hope University in England, a Masters in Educational Leadership from Northern Arizona University, a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies at ASU and has studied at University of Dallas, Cambridge, and the Jagiellonian in Krakow, Poland. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Catholic Theology, and the San Juan Diego Institute and a member of the Royal Historic Society, American Catholic Historical Association and Fellowship of Catholic Scholars.

In addition to teaching and consulting, he writes and speaks internationally on education, theology, ecology, and virtue. His book, The Will Power Advantage: Building Habits for Lasting Happiness was published through Ignatius Press in the fall of 2020, and he serves as an editor for Hearth & Field, a Christian agrarian journal. Though traveling nationally for his work, Ryan currently homesteads in Tennessee with his beautiful wife Rebecca, and their ten well-socialized homeschooled children.