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College of Arts & Sciences
Texas A&M University Philosophy

Graduate Placement

PH.D. PLACEMENT

2025

Haley Burke

  • Dissertation: “Hermeneutic Solidarity: Interpretive Charity for the Social Domain,” Chair: Theodore George

  • Areas of Specialization: Continental Philosophy and Aesthetics

  • Placement: Tenure-track Assistant Professor at University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, Texas

Michael Portal

  • Dissertation: “The Problem of Evil and Being in Levinas and Blanchot,” Chairs: Claire Katz and Dan Conway

  • Areas of Specialization: Jewish and French/Francophone Philosophy

  • Placement: Tenure-track Assistant Professor and Director of the Jewish Life & Learning Initiative at University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky

2024

Kristian Cantens

  • Dissertation: Imagining Animals Differently: Developing a Murdochian Account of Moral Disagreement and Moral Change for Animal Ethics,” Chair: Clare Palmer

  • Area of Specialization: Environmental Ethics

  • Placement: Tenure-track Assistant Professor at Catawba College, Salisbury, North Carolina

Denise Meda-Lambru

  • Dissertation: “A Chicanx Investigation of the Aesthetic and Ethical Commitments to Re-Member our Dead,” Chair: Gregory Pappas

  • Areas of Specialization: Latin American Philosophy, Social and Political Philosophy, Feminist and Decolonial Theory

  • Placement: Tenure-track Assistant Professor at University of North Texas

2023

Victoria Green

  • Dissertation: “Habituating Wild Primates: Ethics of the Researcher-Subject Relationship and Its Implications for Field Research Methodology,” Chair: Clare Palmer

  • Area of Specialization: Animal Ethics

  • Placement: Full time Instructor at Western Governor's University

Sean Conte

  • Dissertation: From Evidence To Opinions: Exploring Variance In Scientific Communities,” Chair: Kenny Easwaran

  • Area of Specialization: Decision Theory

  • Placement: Assistant Professor at Community College of Denver

2022

Robert Reed

  • Dissertation: “Anscombe, Obligation, and Moral Motivation” Linda Radzik, Chair

  • Areas of Specialization: Ethics, Philosophy of Religion, Epistemology

  • Placement: Lecturer, Baylor University – Waco, Texas

Alexander Crist

  • Dissertation: “A Hermeneutics at the Limit: The Prelinguistic Testimony of Human Finitude” Theodore George, Chair

  • Placement: Tenure Track Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Pensacola State College – Pensacola, Florida

Jared Oliphint

  • Dissertation: “Employing Resources from Social Ontology, Conceptual Engineering, and Conceptual Ethics to Assess the Social, Agent-Dependent Features of Objects” Christopher Menzel, Chair

  • Areas of Specialization: Ethics, Metaphysics (including Social Ontology), Philosophy of Language

2021

Jonathan Bibeau

  • Dissertation: “Murder, Responsibility, and Mourning in the Writings of Emmanuel Levinas and Literature” Claire Katz, Chair

  • Placement: Center Director, Mathnasium – Bryan, Texas

Rocio Alvarez

  • Dissertation: “Mestizaje: An Ideology in Flux?” Gregory Pappas, Chair

  • Areas of Specialization: Social and Political Philosophy, Latin American Philosophy, Chicano Thoughts, Anticolonialism, Critical Race Theory

  • Supplementary Masters: M.A., Chicana and Chicano Studies (emphasis in Comparative Ethnic Studies), San Jose State University; M.A., Philosophy, San Jose State University

  • Placement: Lecturer, California State University – Stanislaus

Steve Dezort

  • Dissertation: “Sex and the Principle of Double Effect.” Martin Peterson, Chair

  • Areas of Specialization: Applied and Professional Ethics

  • Supplementary Masters: M.A., English, Texas A&M University

  • Placement: Full-Time Instructor – Humanities Division, Blinn College – Bryan, Texas

Dong An

  • Dissertation: “Rethinking the Fitness of Emotions” Linda Radzik & Martin Peterson, Co-Chairs

  • Placement: Tenure Track, Zhejiang University – China

Jennifer Wargin

  • Dissertation: “Public Servant: On Application of Humility to the United States Congress” Linda Radzik, Chair

  • Placement: Assistant Teaching Professor, University of Missouri—Kansas City

Chris Black

  • Dissertation: “Beyond Meditation: Thinking About Technology Existentially, Or, The Algorithm That I Also Am” Theodore George, Chair

  • Areas of Specialization: Existentialism (Esp. Kierkegaard), Philosophy of Technology, Philosophy and Literature

  • Placement: Upper English School Instructor, TMI Episcopal, San Antonio, TX

2020

John “Curry” O’Day

  • Dissertation: “Drone Logic” Martin Peterson, Chair

  • Placement: Adjutant Instructor, Tulane University; Director of Media Services, Loyola University – New Orleans

Adebayo Oluwayomi

  • Dissertation: “The Power of Knowledge and Knowledge of Power: Envisioning the Discourse of Black Epistemologies in Africana Philosophy”  Tommy Curry, Chair

  • Tenure Track Assistant Professor, West Chester University, West Chester, Pennsylvania

2019

Dalitso Ruwe

  • Dissertation: “Black Narricide and Ontological Sovereignty: The Mischaracterization of American Slavery in Philosophy” Tommy Curry, Chair

  • Tenure Track Assistant Professor, Queen’s University – Kinston, Ontario, Canada

Wendy Bustamante

  • Dissertation: “Antigone Uninterrupted: Antigone’s Biographical Tale of Learning Counsel” Gregory Pappas, Chair

  • EIT O&M Technical Writer, Indian Health Services

  • Antigone Uninterrupted Book Publication: https://vernonpress.com/book/826

2018

Alex Haitos

  • Dissertation: “Finding the Foundations of the World in Aesthetic Experience: The Radical Empiricism of William James and the Metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead” John J. McDermott, Chair

  • Areas of Specialization: American Philosophy, History of Metaphysics, Philosophy of Art and Aesthetics

  • Areas of Competence: History of Philosophy, Continental Philosophy (esp. Phenomenology and Existentialism), Philosophy and Literature

  • Supplementary Masters: M.A., English, Texas A&M University

  • Placement: Lecturer, Philosophy Department, Southern Connecticut State University

Patrick Anderson

  • Dissertation: “Anticolonial Amerika: Resisting the Zone of Nonbeing in an Anglo-Saxon Empire” Tommy Curry, Chair

  • Areas of Specialization: Africana Philosophy, Social-Political Philosophy, Ethics, Philosophy of Film and Literature

  • Placement: Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Central State University- Wilberforce, Ohio

Andrew Soto

  • Dissertation: “Chican@ Sociogenics, Chican@ Logics and the Development of Chican@ Philosophy: Rupturing the Black-white Binary and Western Anti-Latin@ Logic” Tommy Curry, Chair

  • Areas of Specializations: Latin American Philosophy, Chicana/o Philosophy, Applied Ethics, Critical Race Theory, Latcrit, Africana Philosophy, Anti-Colonialism, Philosophy of Education (esp. Urban Education & Critical Race Pedagogies)

  • Supplementary Masters: M.Ed., Curriculum and Instruction, emphasis on Urban Education, Texas A&M

  • Placement: Tenure Track Philosophy Instructor, Philosophy Department, Hartnell College

Matthew Wester

  • Dissertation: “Judgement and Its Limits: Eichmann, Modernity, and the Development of Hannah Arendt’s Theory of Political Judgement” Daniel Conway, Chair

  • Areas of Specialization: Modern Philosophy, 19th Century German Philosophy, Political Theory

  • Placement: Lecturer, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX

2017

Brittany Leckey

  • Dissertation: “Irritatingly Incomplete: The Ontologically Reconsidered Filmic Image” Theodore George, Chair

  • Areas of Specialization: 19th and 20th Century Continental European Philosophy, Existential Ethics, Aesthetics, Philosophy of Film

  • Supplementary Masters: M.A., English Literature, Texas A&M University

  • Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of History and Philosophy, South Texas College – Edinburgh, Texas

Karen Davis

  • Dissertation: “Aesthetic Play as Ethical Practice: Rethinking Moral Life Through Kant, Schiller, Gadamer, and Prison Theater” Kristi Sweet, Chair

  • Areas of Specialization: Ethics

  • Supplementary Masters: M.A., English, Texas A&M University

  • Placement: Tenure Track Assistant Professor, Philosophy Department, Lewis University

Kristen Drake

  • “Demystification: An Identity Focused Revision to Logic-based Therapy” Claire Katz, Chair

  • Areas of Specialization: History of Philosophy, Continental Philosophy since Kant, Existentialism, Phenomenology, Feminist Philosophy, Philosophical Counseling

  • Supplementary Masters: M.A., Performance Studies, Texas A&M University

2016

Jennifer Gaffney

  • Dissertation: “From Citizenship to the Space of Appearance: Arendt, Haiti, and the Problem of Political Exclusion” Theodore George, Chair

  • Areas of Specialization: Social and Political Philosophy, Continental Philosophy, Philosophy of Race, Ethics, History of Philosophy

  • Supplementary Masters: M.A., History, Texas A&M University

  • Placement: Tenure Track Assistant Professor, Philosophy Department, Loyola University – Chicago, Illinois

2015

Harris Bechtol

  • Dissertation: “Inflections of the Event: The Death of the Other as Event in Heidegger, Derrida, and Marion” Theodore George, Chair

  • Areas of Specialization: Continental Philosophy since Kant, especially as it developed in phenomenology, hermeneutics, existentialism, and continental philosophy of religion

  • Supplementary Masters: M.A., Philosophy, Loyola Marymount

  • Current Position: Lecturer, Philosophy Department, Sam Houston State University – Huntsville, Texas

2014

T.J. Kasperbauer

  • Dissertation: “Perceiving Nonhumans: Human Moral Psychology and Animal Ethics,” Clare Palmer and Gary Varner, Co-chairs

  • Areas of Specialization: Applied Ethics (particularly animal and environmental ethics), Moral Psychology, and Philosophy of Psychology

  • Supplementary Masters: M.S., Psychology, Texas A&M University, 2012

  • Current Position: American Association for the Advancement of Science, Science and Technology Fellowship at the NIH

David E. Wright

  • Dissertation: “John Stuart Mill’s Sanction Utilitarianism: a Philosophical and Historical Interpretation,” Linda Radzik, Chair

  • Areas of Specialization: Mill, Ethical Theory, Social and Political Philosophy

  • Supplementary Masters: M.A., History, Texas A&M University, 2012

  • Current Position: Chief Operations Officer, Catholic Social Services Alaska

Olga Gerhart

  • Dissertation: “A Reconstruction of the Meaning of Time’s Passing within the Classical American Philosophical Tradition,” John McDermott, Chair

  • Areas of Specialization: Classical American Philosophy, Philosophy of Aging, Ethics and Aging, Engineering Ethics

  • Supplementary Masters: M.S., Exercise Physiology, University of Texas at Austin, 2003

  • Current Position: Research Coordinator, College of Applied Arts, Texas State University

2012

Charles Carlson

  • Dissertation: “Some Philosophical Origins of an Ecological Sensibility,” John McDermott, Chair

  • Areas of Specialization: Philosophy of Biology, Ethics, American Philosophy, German Idealism, History and Philosophy of Science, Modern Philosophy

  • Supplementary Masters: M.S., Biology, Texas A&M University, 2011

  • Current Position: Program Manager, Public Partnership and Outreach, Office of the Provost, Texas A&M University

Kim Diaz

  • Dissertation: “Radical Democracy in the thought and work of Paulo Freire and Luis Villoro,” Gregory Pappas, Chair

  • Areas of Specialization: Social and Political Philosophy, Social Ethics, Classical American Pragmatism, Latin American Philosophy

  • Supplementary Masters: M.A. Hispanic Studies, Texas A&M University, 2010

  • Current Position: Lecturer, Chicano Studies, University of Texas at El Paso

John Tyler

  •  Dissertation: “A pragmatic standard of Legal Validity,” John McDermott, Chair

  • Areas of Specialization: Philosophy of Law, Political Philosophy, Ethics, History of Philosophy

  • Supplementary Degree: Juris Doctor, Southern Methodist School of Law

  • Current Position: Associate Professor of Government, School of Humanities; Program Coordinator, Legal Studies;  Houston Baptist University

2011

Oak DeBerg

  • Dissertation: “War as Aesthetic: The Philosophy of Carl von Clausewitz as the Embodiment of John Dewey’s Concept of Experience,” Gregory Pappas, Chair

  • Areas of Specialization: Political Philosophy, Ethics, Military Philosophy, Military Ethics, Animal Ethics, and Philosophy of Science

  • Supplementary Masters: M.S., Aerospace Engineering, Air Force Institute of Technology

  • Current Position: Associate Professor of Instruction, Philosophy Department,  The University of Texas at San Antonio

2010

Paul R. Shockley

  • Dissertation: “Bridging the Culture Gap: How John Dewey’s Aesthetics May Benefit the Local Church,” Gregory Pappas, Chair

  • Areas of Specialization: Aesthetics, Hermeneutics, Moral Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion

  • Supplementary Masters: Th.M, Systematic Theology and Biblical Exposition, Dallas Theological Seminary, 2002; M.A. History of Ideas, University of Texas-Dallas, 2003

  • Current Positions: Lecturer of Philosophy, Multidisciplinary Programs, Stephen F. Austin University; Adjunct Faculty Member, Religious Studies, The University of Miami

2008

Muhammad Haris

  • Dissertation: “Four Facets of the Relation of Tragedy to Dialectic and the Theme of Crisis of Expectations,” John J. McDermott, Chair

  • Areas of Specialization: Philosophy of Literature and Culture, History of Philosophy, Engineering Ethics

  • Supplementary Masters: M.S., Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 2002

  • Current Position: Assistant Dean for the School of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Program Director and Assistant Professor in Comparative Humanities, School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Habib University

David Henderson

  • Dissertation: “Wilderness: the History, Significance and Promise of an American Value,” John J. McDermott, Chair

  • Areas of Specialization: Environmental Philosophy, Classical American Pragmatism, Ecology

  • Supplementary Masters: M.S., Wildlife and Fisheries Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 2006

  • Current Position: Tenured Associate Professor of Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion Department, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, North Carolina

2007

Kent Dunnington

  • Dissertation: “Addiction and Action: Aristotle and Aquinas in Dialogue with Addiction Studies,” John J. McDermott, Chair

  • Areas of Specialization: Philosophical Theology, Ethics (including virtue ethics, theological ethics, and medical ethics), Philosophy of Religion

  • Supplementary Masters: M.A., Duke University, Durham, North Carolina

  • Current Position: Chair, Undergraduate Department of Philosophy, and Associate Professor of Philosophy, Biola University

Jeremy Evans

  • Dissertation: “An Essay on Divine Commands, Divine Will, and Moral Obligation,” Hugh J. McCann, Chair

  • Areas of Specialization: Philosophy of Religion, Ethics (Applied ethics and Metaethics), Philosophical Theology

  • Supplementary Masters: Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MDivBL)

  • Current Position: Associate Professor, Philosophy Department, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, North Carolina

2006

James “Jake” Noland

  • Dissertation: “Two Rival Versions of Historical Inquiry and Their Application to the Study of the Sixteenth Amendment,” John J. McDermott, Chair

  • Areas of Specialization: Social and Political Philosophy, Ethical Theory, Philosophy of History

  • Supplementary Masters: M.P.S.A., George Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 2004

  • Current Position: Dean of Faculty, St. Thomas More Academy