School of Arts and Humanities
Philosophy & Religious Studies
Congratulations to 2012 philosophy graduates Eric Clanton and Grant Bradshaw who both accepted admission to the MA program in philosophy at San Francisco State University.
Congratulations to four recent Religious Studies graduates who have moved on to Grad School: Leah Lopeteguy is a graduate student in Clinical Psychology emphasizing Marriage, Family, and Child Therapy at Phoenix University; Melissa Bowen is pursuing an MA in history at CSUB; Veronica Wilson is pursuing an MA in English at CSUB; and Armida Byler is a graduate student in the Master of Theological Studies Program at St. Norbert College in DePere, Wisconsin.
Dr. Christopher Meyers (Philosophy) will present his paper "Making Sense of Moral Remainder" at the annual meeting of the Association of Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE). Dr. Meyers also continues his work with area hospitals, most recently helping some revise their policies and procedures for handling requests for non-beneficial medical treatment and for managing DNR orders during surgical and other procedures.
Dr. Jacquelyn Kegley (Philosophy-Dept. Chair) will offer an invited talk at the First European Conference on Pragmatism, to be held at the Universite Roma Tre in Rome, Italy, Sept. 19th, 2012. The title of her talk is “Josiah Royce: Classical American Philosopher, Pragmatist, Phenomenologist, Process Thinker and Advocate for Community”. While at the conference Dr. Kegley will be promoting the recently published, Josiah Royce for the 21st Century: Historical, Ethical and Religious Interpretations (Lexington, 2012), to which she contributed a chapter along with scholars from the US, Poland, Russia, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Belgium. Dr. Kegley will also be promoting her co-edited book Democracy: Compulsion and Persuasion, to be published this year.
Dr. Steven Gamboa’s paper “The Liberation Philosophy of Ignacio Ellacuría” was included as a chapter in the recently published Ideology, Politics, and Demands in Spanish Language, Literature and Film (Cambridge Scholars, 2012).
Dr. Senem Saner (Philosophy) will present her paper "Indifferent histories, interested parties: Dialectical image as the home of contradiction" at a conference dedicated to the works of Walter Benjamin. The conference, titled “Critical Speculations—Future Worlds, Perilous Histories, and Walter Benjamin Unbound”, will be held at the University of Albany SUNY, September 28 & 29, 2012.
Dr. Tim Vivian (Religious Studies) presented his paper “The Bodhisattva in the Desert: ‘Ahimsa’ in the Desert Fathers” at the 14th Annual Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society Conference at UCLA, July 14, 2012. Also, Dr. Vivian’s paper “Spiritual Surgery and the Nursing Mother: Ahisma, Compassion, and Community in the Desert Fathers and Mothers” appeared in the journal Coptica 10 (2011), pp. 29-44.
Congratulations to the following Senior Award Winners:
Congratulations to Marya Rafiq and Thein-Tin Le who were both accepted to the 2012 Colorado Summer Seminar in Philosophy to be held at the University of Colorado, Boulder, July 23 - Aug 10th. The Seminar is intended for outstanding undergraduates who are considering graduate school in philosophy. The aim is to introduce students to the atmosphere of a graduate-level seminar, giving participants a chance to explore and sharpen their philosophical abilities before they commit to a graduate program. This year's seminar topic is epistemology, and they've lined up an impressive group of guest lecturers. Admission to the seminar was very competitive, so kudos to Marya and Tin for taking advantage of this great opportunity!
Congratulations to philosophy major Eric Clanton who has been accepted to the MA program at CSU Long Beach.
Congratulations to philosophy and psychology double major Josh Uhalt who has been accepted to the MS program in psychology at Cal State LA.
The 8th Annual Philosophy & Religious Studies Undergraduate Conference, scheduled for Saturday, April 28th, has a new keynote speaker: Teed Rockwell from Sonoma State University.
Kadri Vihvelin from USC had agreed to provide this year's keynote, but she was compelled to rescind her acceptance due to an injury that made travelling difficult.
We were very fortunate that Professor Rockwell was able to re-arrange his schedule and provide our keynote. The title for Professor Rockwell's talk is "God, Freedom, and Darwin: Where Science Stops and Theology Begins".
Congratulations to Philosophy major Thien-Tin Le whose paper "Musical Platonism: A Challenge to Levinson" won first prize for Humanities at the CSUB Student Research Competition. Tin will represent CSUB at the 26th Annual CSU Student Research Competition to be held May 4-5 at CSU Long Beach.
Dr. Maria Paleologou (Philosophy) will be commenting on the paper "Substantive and Formal Goods in Aristotle: Contemplation and Friendship" at the APA Pacific Division meeting in Seattle, April 4-7
Dr. Tim Vivian (Religious Studies) was a panelist, along with Rabbi Cheryl Rosenstein and Amir Emad Meerza, at the "Three Faiths, One God" forum held at CSUB on February 21.
Dr. Christopher Meyers (Philosophy) will present a paper on privacy as part of a panel entitled "Privacy: Its Value and Meaning Across Disciplines" at the annual meeting of the Association of Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE). Dr. Meyers will also chair a session on Kant and Practical Ethics; serve on a "Hot Topics" panel representing Clinical Ethics; attend a session including a paper by Gregory L. Bock, "Religious Surrogates in the Clinic: A Response to Christopher Meyers"; attend meetings as a member of the APPE Executive Board; and judge the final rounds of the Ethics Bowl National Championships. The APPE Conference will be held March 1 – 4, in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Dr. Jacquelyn Kegley (Philosophy-Dept. Chair) will offer the Presidential Address at the National Meeting of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy (SAAP), March 14-17, in New York City. Her presentation is titled "Mining the Past, Acting in the Present, and Enriching the Future".
Dr. Steven Gamboa (Philosophy) will present his paper "Prinz on the Cognitive Prerequisites of Intentionality" at the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology Conference in Savannah, Georgia, March 23-25.
Dr. Jacquelyn Kegley (Philosophy-Dept. Chair) will present a paper entitled "Justice Begins at Home: From Family to Community, Nation to World" at the American Philosophies Forum, 2012 Symposium, to be held at Penn State University, April 12-14.
Congratulations to Philosophy major Thien-Tin Le whose paper "Musical Platonism: A Challenge to Levinson" has been accepted to the Pacific University Undergraduate Philosophy Conference to be held April 20-22 at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon.
Dr. Jacquelyn Kegley (Philosophy-Dept. Chair) will present her paper "Re-assessing Compulsion and Persuasion in Democracy Via a New Framework" as the keynote address at the VII American and European Values Seminar on Persuasion and Compulsion in Democracy, to be held at the University of Opole, Poland.
Congratulations to Religious Studies major Stefany Truesdell ('11) who has been accepted to the M.A. program at CSU Long Beach.
Congratulations to Religious Studies major Kimberly Jackson for winning the Dean's Award for Outstanding Paper.
Philosophy major Thien-Tin Le has been accepted to attend the 2011 Rutgers Summer Institute for Diversity in Philosophy. This highly competitive, seven day program is designed to introduce undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds to the various areas of specialization within the discipline of philosophy, give students a better idea of what graduate studies in philosophy is about, and explore various views about what it means to be a professional philosopher. Congratulations, Tin!
Philosophy major Paola Fernadez has been selected to participate in the UC Irvine School of Law Pre-Law Outreach Program ("POP") during summer 2011. Paola was chosen from a very competitive applicant pool with the hope that with appropriate knowledge and mentorship she will become a successful attorney, who will provide access to justice for underserved communities. Congratulations, Paola!
Philosophy graduate Patty Lopez (2007) graduated from San Joaquin College of Law in May 2011. Congratulations, Patty! She is currently studying to take the CA Bar Exam.
Philosophy graduate James Brannen (2008) completed his J.D. from UC Davis in 2011. He has accepted an offer as an associate with Weintraub, Genshlea, Chediak, a large law firm in downtown Sacramento. Congratulations, James!
Philosophy graduate John Clevenger ('09) has accepted an offer of admission to the PhD program in philosophy at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne. John was offered admission to a number of prestigious PhD programs, but chose Illinois because of its commitment to Experimental Philosophy (or X-Phi) and excellent program in the philosophy of cognitive science. Congratulations, John!
Dr. Senem Saner (Philosophy) has been accepted to the Summer 2011 National Endowment of the Humanities Summer Seminar for College and University Teachers. Dr. Saner will attend the 5-week Seminar entitled "Walter Benjamin's Later Writings: The Arcades Project and Commodity Culture" at the University of California, Irvine, directed by Alexander Gelley.
Congratulations to Dr. Debra Jackson (Philosophy) and Dr. Paul Newberry (Philosophy) for their new book, Critical Thinking: A User's Manual (Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2011). This textbook offers an innovative skill-based approach to critical thinking that provides step-by-step tools for learning to recognize, analyze, evaluate, and construct arguments.