Since 1996, Francis Russell Hittinger has been the incumbent of the William K. Warren Chair of Catholic Studies at the University of Tulsa, where he is also a Research Professor in the School of Law. In 2001 Bl. John Paul II appointed him to the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas, of which he became ordinarius in 2004 and, since 2006, appointed to its governing board. In 2009 Pope Benedict XVI appointed him to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences as ordinarius. He is one of only two lay academics in the world to be appointed to two pontifical academies. In 2003, to mark the centenary of the death of Pope Leo XIII, he offered a lecture to the Ministry of Culture of the Italian Government. In December 2006, he addressed the President, Prime Minister, and Speakers of the Polish Parliament, culminating a week-long celebration of human rights and the Polish constitution.
