Recent News

Graduate Student Awarded Newcombe Fellowship

The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation is pleased to announce that Camisha Russell, a doctoral candidate in philosophy at Pennsylvania State University, is the recipient of a Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship for 2012-13. The Newcombe Fellowship is the nation’s largest and most prestigious such award for Ph.D. candidates in the humanities and social sciences addressing questions of ethical and religious values. Ms. Russell’s dissertation, The Assisted Reproduction of Race: Thinking through Race as a Reproductive Technology, explores the complex relationship between race and assisted reproductive technologies. Congratulations Camisha!

Graduate Student Wins Teaching Award

The philosophy department is pleased to announce that Aaron Krempa is the recipient of a 2012 College of the Liberal Arts Outstanding Teaching Award for Graduate Students. This honor is awarded to graduate students in the college with a sustained record of excellence in teaching. Congratulations Aaron!

Philosophy Department Welcomes Sarah Clark Miller to its Faculty

We are delighted to announce that Sarah Clark Miller will join Penn State University as Associate Professor of Philosophy and Associate Director of the Rock Ethics Institute in January 2013. Professor Miller specializes in ethics, feminist philosophy, and social/political philosophy. She is the author of The Ethics of Need: Agency, Dignity, and Obligation (Routledge, 2012) as well as multiple essays in ethical theory, feminist philosophy, global ethics, and bioethics. Her current research focuses on feminist bioethics, genocidal rape and moral repair, and cosmopolitanism, and she is working on a book entitled Critical Cosmopolitanism: A Feminist Account of Global Responsibility.

Philosophy Department Welcomes Chike Jeffers, 2012 Anna Julia Cooper Fellow

With the Rock Ethics Institute, the philosophy department is pleased to welcome Chike Jeffers as Penn State's 2012 Anna Julia Cooper Fellow. Professor Jeffers is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Dalhousie University (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada). He obtained his Ph.D in 2010 from Northwestern University. He has published articles and book chapters in Africana philosophy and has edited Listening to Ourselves: A Multiligual Anthology in African Philosophy, forthcoming from SUNY Press. He will present "The Cultural Theory of Race: Another Look at Du Bois's 'The Conservation of Races'" on Monday February 20 at 12:15pm in 124 Sparks Building.

Privileged Partnership with University of Freiburg

Penn State University recently expanded its Global Engagement Network with the University of Freiburg, Germany, at a signing ceremony on Penn State’s University Park campus. The official agreement between Penn State and Freiburg formalizes the relationship between the two universities as mutual strategic partners in research, teaching and student education.  For more information on the partnership from Penn State, click here, and from Freiburg click here.

Philosophy Department Welcomes 2011-12 Alain Locke Fellow

The philosophy department welcomes its first Alain Locke Postdoctoral Fellow, Luvell Anderson.  Anderson received his BA in philosophy from University of Missouri at St. Louis and recently completed his PhD in philosophy at Rutgers University.  He specializes in philosophy of language and critical philosophy of race and has published articles on racial slurs and racist humor.  Anderson will teach a special topics course on racist language in spring 2012.

Post-doctoral Fellowship in Critical Philosophy of Race

The Department of Philosophy invites applications for its Alain Locke Fellowship, a one-year post-doctoral teaching fellowship in critical philosophy of race.  The fellowship will begin Fall 2012 and be coordinated with Penn State’s Rock Ethics Institute.  Our department is grounded in the history of philosophy pursued in an international context, with specialties in Continental and American philosophy.   In addition to these specialties, the department has considerable expertise in critical philosophy of race.  Our faculty and graduate students are involved in a number of critical race projects, including ones with a global outreach.   During their residency, fellows will teach one course per semester and will contribute to the various initiatives in critical philosophy of race in the philosophy department and Rock Ethics Institute.  Successful applicants will have completed their dissertation before beginning the fellowship.  Salary competitive.  Applicants should submit a dossier that includes a letter of application explaining both their teaching experience and their research plans for the post-doc year; a CV; a graduate transcript; and a writing sample.  They should also arrange to have sent three confidential letters of recommendation.  To ensure full consideration, complete applications must be received by November 28, 2011, at:  Search Committee, Department of Philosophy, 240 Sparks Building, Penn State University, University Park, PA 16802-5201. Tel: 814-865-6397; fax: 814-863-7986. Penn State is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity and the diversity of its workforce.

Penn State - Freiburg Conference

Penn State University and the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg held their third annual joint conference in Freiburg, Germany, this past June 2010. Faculty members from the Philosophy, German, and Comparative Literature departments participated in the joint workshop. The fourth annual conference will be held in State College, PA, spring 2011. freiburg
Photo taken by Josephine Carubia

Philosophy Department Welcomes Paul Taylor

The Philosophy Department is delighted to welcome Paul C. Taylor to its faculty as of Fall 2010. Professor Taylor received his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Morehouse College and his Ph.D. in philosophy from Rutgers University. He writes on aesthetics, race theory, Africana philosophy, pragmatism, and social philosophy, and is the author of the book Race: A Philosophical Introduction (Polity, 2004). His recent work includes a study of video model Vida Guerra, an essay on post-analytic race theory, and keynote lectures to the Philosophical Society of South Africa, the Alain Locke Society, and the Philosophy of Education Society. He is currently at work on a book called Black is Beautiful: A Philosophy of Black Aesthetics (under contract, Blackwell).

Graduate Students Win Awards

Two graduate students in philosophy recently have won awards for their teaching and research. David Agler is the recipient of a 2011 Harold F. Martin Graduate Assistant Outstanding Teaching Award, which is awarded at the university level in recognition of excellence in teaching. Toby Svoboda has been awarded a 2011 Institute for Arts and Humanities Summer Residency Fellowship in support of his dissertation project on “Duties Regarding Nature: A Kantian Approach to Environmental Ethics.” Congratulations David and Toby!

Philosophy Department Shines in NRC Rankings

Penn State’s philosophy department has been highly ranked by the National Research Council (NRC) in its long-awaited national review of PhD granting universities. Out of 90 PhD granting philosophy departments in the United States, Penn State is ranked between 6 and 15 in terms of overall quality using survey-based weights that evaluated departments’ faculty, students, and program as a whole (the "S" ranking). As calculated by the independent site phds.org, that makes us #11 overall and the top-ranked non-analytic philosophy program in the United States. The department was also ranked #1 nationally in terms of the highest percentage of women on its faculty (46%). To access the NRC data and rank philosophy departments based on a variety of categories via phds.org, click here.

Colapietro Receives Teaching Award

Professor Vincent Colapietro has been awarded the College of Liberal Arts' 2010 Outstanding Teaching Award for Tenure-Line Faculty. This award goes to a tenure line faculty member who has demonstrated excellence in his or her teaching, and it recognizes the superior classroom instruction and mentorship that Professor Colapietro has provided our undergraduate and graduate students. Professor Colapietro will formally receive the award from Dean Susan Welch on March 25, 2010.

First Anna Julia Cooper Fellowship: January 24 - 31, 2010

Kris Fauna Camille Sealey, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Fairfield University, will be the first Anna Julia Cooper Fellow at Penn State University. The Rock Ethics Institute offers the Anna Julia Cooper Fellowship to Assistant Professors of Philosophy from under-represented groups. The Fellowship gives them an opportunity to present their work in a research environment, to be mentored on publishing toward receiving tenure, and in turn to mentor Penn State philosophy graduate students in preparation for the profession. Professor Sealey will visit Penn State from January 24-31, 2010, to work on a paper on Levinas and a book project on Sartre and Levinas.

Philosophy Department Welcomes New Faculty

The philosophy department welcomes three new faculty members in fall 2009.

Professor Christian Becker joins the philosophy faculty as Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Science, Technology and Society. He took his Ph.D. in economics from Heidelberg University and wrote his second Ph.D.-thesis (Habilitation) in philosophy at Kaiserslautern University, Germany. His primary research and teaching interests lie in environmental and sustainability ethics, business ethics, philosophy of economics, philosophy of sustainability research, particularly with a focus on ecological economics, and in continental philosophy, especially romanticism and German idealism. For more on Professor Becker’s research, click here.

Professor Robert Bernasconi joins the philosophy faculty this fall as Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Philosophy. His 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 on Professor Bernasconi’s research, click here.

Professor Kathryn Gines, who was a 2008-09 Penn State Philosophy and Africana Research Center Post-doctorate Fellow, joins the philosophy faculty as Assistant Professor in Philosophy this fall. Professor Gines’s primary research and teaching interests lie in continental philosophy, Africana philosophy, and philosophy of race and gender. For more on Professor Gines’ research, click here.

Gines to Participate in UNESCO Meeting


Professor Kathryn Gines has been invited to participate in the First Assembly of the International Network of Women Philosophers sponsored by UNESCO. This historic meeting will be held December 14-15, 2009, in Paris, France. The International Network of Women Philosophers was launched in March 2007 with the purpose of assembling women philosophers to examine topics of philosophical and political importance, including but not restricted to issues of gender. For more on the network, please click here.

Grosholz Joins Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos

Emily Grosholz has been invited to join Penn State's Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos (IGC). The IGC is a multidisciplinary institute of Penn State researchers dedicated to the study of the most fundamental structure and constituents of the universe. As a member of the institute's faculty, Professor Grosholz will work in the Center for Fundamental Theory. For more information on the IGC, please click here.

Long Produces Philosophy Podcast

As part of his Teaching and Learning with Technology Faculty Fellowship, Christopher Long developed the Digital Dialogue podcast this summer. The podcast is designed to cultivate the excellences of dialogue in a digital age by inviting scholars at Penn State and other universities to engage in dialogue about their work in philosophy, history, politics, and deliberative democracy. The podcast was featured in an article on PSU Live, Penn State's official news wire.

To read more about the podcast, visit Professor Long's blog: Socratic Politics in Digital Dialogue.

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