Department of Philosophy

Philosophy Faculty Receives Research Grants

Jennifer Mensch, Assistant Professor of Science, Technology, and Society and Philosophy, recently received two research grants to support her scholarship in the history of philosophy: a Franklin Research Grant from the American Philosophical Society and a Kristeller-Popkin Fellowship from the Journal of the History of Philosophy.

Tuana named 2008 SWIP Distinguished Woman Philosopher

Nancy Tuana, DuPont/Class of 1949 Professor in Ethics, Professor of Philosophy, Humanities and Women’s Studies, and Director of the Rock Ethics Institute, has been named the Society of Women in Philosophy’s 2008 Distinguished Woman Philosopher. Begun in 1984, this annual award honors a woman philosopher whose contributions to the support of women in philosophy and to philosophy itself are outstanding and merit special recognition. A panel and reception celebrating Professor Tuana’s accomplishments will be organized for the Eastern Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association in Philadelphia , December 27-30, 2008.

Robert Bernasconi Joins Faculty

Professor Robert Bernasconi will join the philosophy faculty at Penn State in Fall 2009 as Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Philosophy.  Professor Bernasconi’s primary research and teaching interests lie in critical philosophy of race, particularly in relation to the history of philosophy, and Continental philosophy, especially figures such as Sartre, Levinas, and Heidegger.  For more information on Professor Bernasconi, click here.   

Kathryn Gines Joins Faculty  

Professor Kathryn Gines will join the philosophy faculty at Penn State in Fall 2008.  In 2008-09 she will be a Philosophy and Africana Research Center Post-doctorate Fellow and beginning fall 2009 she will be an Assistant Professor in Philosophy.  Professor Gines’s primary research and teaching interests lie in Continental philosophy, Africana Philosophy, and Philosophy of Race and Gender, and she focuses on figures such as Hannah Arendt, Jean-Paul Sartre, Franz Fanon, and Anna Julia Cooper.  For more information on Professor Gines, click here.

Leonard Lawlor Joins Faculty

Professor Leonard Lawlor will join the philosophy faculty at Penn State in Fall 2008 as Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Philosophy.  Professor Lawlor’s primary research and teaching interests lie in Continental philosophy, especially figures such as Derrida, Deleuze, Foucault, Merleau-Ponty, Bergson, Husserl, and Nietzsche.  For more information on Professor Lawlor, click here.

Philosophy Graduate Students Win University Teaching Award

Philosophy Ph.D. candidates Mary Alessandri and Alex Stehn have both received the Harold F. Martin Graduate Assistant Outstanding Teaching Award, which is jointly sponsored by the Graduate School and the Office of the Vice President and Dean for Undergraduate Education. This is the third consecutive year that Philosophy graduate students have been recognized for their excellence in teaching; only ten awards are granted each year. Recipients will be honored at the Student Awards Reception in spring of 2008.

Philosophy Faculty Receives President's Award

Nancy Tuana, DuPont/Class of 1949 Professor in Ethics, Professor of Philosophy, Humanities and Women’s Studies, and Director of the Rock Ethics Institute in the College of the Liberal Arts, is the 2008 recipient of Penn State's President's Award for Excellence in Academic Integration.  This award is given to a full-time member of the faculty who has exhibited extraordinary achievement in the integration of teaching, research or creative accomplishments, and service.

Philosophy Faculty Featured in Symposium for Teaching and Learning with Technology

Christopher Long, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of Graduate Studies, has been recognized by Penn State's Education Technology Services for his innovative use of blogging and podcasting in his philosophy courses. He will present his pedagogical use of Web 2.0 technologies at the Symposium for Teaching and Learning with Technology on March 29th, 2008.

To read his featured story, see: http://symposium.tlt.psu.edu/stories/ChrisLong.

Cultivating Underrepresented Students in Philosophy (CUSP) program set to begin Spring 2008

CUSP is an all-expense paid 2-day workshop held at the Philosophy Department at the Pennsylvania State University each April for up to 8 promising prospective graduate students in philosophy from traditionally underrepresented groups (such as, African Americans, Chicano/as and Latino/as, Native Americans, Asian Americans.) For information on eligibility and application process, click here.

Philosophy Faculty Receive Research Chairs

Vincent Colapietro and Dennis Schmidt have been named Liberal Arts Research Professors of Philosophy. Complete story.