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Guest Name
William Ruger
Guest Occupation
Vice President for Research and Policy at the Charles Koch Institute
Guest Biography

William Ruger serves as Vice President for Research and Policy at the Charles Koch Institute and the Vice President, Foreign Policy at Stand Together (where he leads the Koch network’s foreign policy initiative). 

He was previously an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Texas State University and an adjunct Assistant Professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas-Austin.

His scholarship has appeared in a number of academic journals including International Studies Quarterly, Civil Wars and Armed Forces and Society.

He is the author of the biography Milton Friedman and co-author of two books on state politics, including Freedom in the 50 States (now in its 5th edition).

Ruger has written op-eds for numerous outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post and USA Today and he has been interviewed frequently for television and radio, appearing on Fox News, MSNBC and CNN.

He serves on several non-profit boards, including the Board of Directors of the Center for the National Interest and the Advisory Board of the Policing Project at the New York University School of Law.

Ruger is a veteran of the Afghanistan War and an officer in the U.S. Navy (Reserve Component). 

Ruger earned his Ph.D. in Politics from Brandeis University and an A.B. from the College of William and Mary.