Practical. Intellectual. Personal. Social.

About Us

Our Mission

Preparing young people to be principled, creative individuals of independent judgment, capable of succeeding and leading in tomorrow’s dynamic world.

Founded in 2005, The Great Connections Seminars of the Reason, Individualism, Freedom (RIF) Institute are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization devoted to fostering active minds and empowering individuals to build lives of creative achievement.

In our college-level program, we use specialized methods which strengthen reasoning skills and independent judgment.

These include a focus on the objective basis of knowledge in every field, physics to poetry, as well as the relation between abstract ideas and real-world consequences.

We combine these methods with content from world-changing classic texts, modern science and economics, and a special emphasis on reasoning, logic, psychological self-awareness, and practical skills, for a content-rich program.

Students learn to think for themselves as well as implement ideas in the world.

Learn With Experts

MEET THE TEAM

Marsha Enright

President, Founder, Chairman of the Board, Lead Instructor

John Joseph Enright

Member, Board of Trustees, Instructor

Malachy Walsh

Member, Board of Advisors, Writing Instructor

Felicia Goglia

Co-Facilitator, Assistant Program Director

Andrew Humphries

Co-Facilitator

Alexander Staudt

Director of Development

Advisors

Carrie-Ann Biondi, Ph.D.
Adolescent Program Manager and Coach at Higher Ground Education, and Humanities Guide, Academy of Thought and Industry

Robert L. Campbell, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology, retired
Clemson University

R. Paul Drake, Ph.D.
Professor of Space Sciences, retired,
University of Michigan

Joel Franck, M.D.
Neurosurgeon

Jay Friedenberg, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
Manhattan College

Mimi Gladstein, Ph.D.
Professor of English and TheatreArts
University of Texas, El Paso

Lawrence I. Gould, Ph.D.
Professor of Physics
University of Hartford

Eduardo Marty
Founder & President
Fundación para
Responsabilidad Intelectual

Fernando Menendez
Educational Consultant
Private Practice

Ray Raad
MD MPH, Private Practice

Chris Matthew Sciabarra, Ph.D.
Author, Scholar, Editor
Journal of Ayn Rand Studies

Michael Shermer, Ph.D.
Publisher, Skeptic Magazine,
Fellow, Chapman University

Michael Strong
Education Entrepreneur

John Tomasi, Ph.D.
Professor of Political Science
Director of the Political Theory Project
Brown University

Malachy Walsh
Creative Director, J.Walter Thompson, retired

Board of Trustees

Marsha Familaro Enright
Founder and President, The Great Connections

John Joseph Enright, IV
Owner, John Enright Consulting

Stephen Hicks
Professor of Philosophy Executive Director, Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship Rockford University

Sable Levy
M.S., Data Analyst
Jacobs Levy Equity Management
Houston, TX

In Loving Memory

Daniel S. Curran, March 6, 1930-September 30, 2019

Founding Trustee of The Reason, Individualism, Freedom Institute (parent organization of The Great Connections), Dan was always an inspiration to us. He was a self-made man, hardworking, energetic, and immensely generous in material and spirit to his family, friends, and many, many young people.

Impact by the Numbers

Our programs have made a difference in the lives of hundreds of students who have gone on to pursue meaningful and important work. More than this, their lives have been transformed in many cases from participating in Great Connections programs. Here are just a few stats on our programmatic impact.

0 %
say they were "transformed"
0 %
became teachers and professors
0 %
volunteer later with Great Connections
0 %
maintain contact with us after the sessions

Answering Your Questions

FAQ

Our Overseas program is for adults of any age where you’ll learn from the greatest thinkers and worthwhile modern works in an overseas excursion filled with riveting conversation, explorations of our surroundings, and convivial meals. Previous locations include Greece and Sicily.

We also offer bi-weekly Great Books Conversations in Chicago, which are free to attend.

a. Each participant must bring their reading to all sessions, come to all of the sessions, arrive on time, and stay during the discussion unless he or she has an emergency.

b. Each participant prepares for the seminars during his or her individual time.

c. Participants must ask questions of the text and each other.

d. Participants must cite the text to give evidence for their ideas and interpretations.

e. Participants should try to make connections to previous sessions and to their lives.

f. Each person takes responsibility for his or her own learning and for the quality of the conversation.

g. Each person recognizes that Reason is the only authority in the discussion, which means that each person must offer facts and logic for his or her arguments; no one, not even the instructor, is an authority.

h. Each person treats the other participants respectfully.

We focus on enabling you to have excellent independent judgment, self-confidence, reasoning powers, social skills, and to learn about ideas across the ideological spectrum, so you can think for yourself.

Many young people haven’t had the opportunity or the experiences needed to learn how to judge what’s best for themselves. If you’re one of them, our program will save you money and grief by helping you figure out what direction you should take and how to go about taking it before you waste money and valuable time.

Our Overseas program is for adults of any age where you’ll learn from the greatest thinkers and worthwhile modern works in an overseas excursion filled with riveting conversation, explorations of our surroundings, and convivial meals. Previous locations include Greece and Sicily.

We also offer bi-weekly Great Books Conversations in Chicago, which are free to attend.

A method developed in the early part of the 20th century to teach The Great Books. In the late 1920s, a committee assembled by University of Chicago President Robert Maynard Hutchins were worried about the emphasis on narrow specialization in American colleges which fail to educate in great ideas and reasoning, and in the products of Western civilization and thought. They knew that an education in the liberal arts, with an emphasis on cross-disciplinary, integrated, and moral learning was essential to developing the free human being and the foundation for real professional and personal success.

You’ll discuss works of great authors about key topics which will sharpen your understanding of how to think and how to live.

You’ll have an opportunity to work on a real world problem with a small group, and you’ll also learn about personal finance, economics, the stock market, technology, and the role of art in a well-lived life.

The Atlas Slave

The Story Behind Our Logo

Our logo is based on this sculpture, called “The Atlas Slave” by famed Renaissance sculptor Michelangelo Buonarroti. 

This figure seems partially entombed in stone. Part of him is hidden: undefined and bound. Yet what is visible is powerful, muscular and striving.

Perhaps you’ve felt like this before: like there are parts of you bound, restricted, unfree. Perhaps you know you are capable of more. 

Many participants at the Great Connections have felt this way. It’s one of the things that draw them here. Like you, they’re a work of art unfolding before the eyes of others.

Take the First Steps For Your Future

Join a Great Connections Program

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We’ll keep you updated on all our program opportunities.