May 2009 Archives

The Philosophy Department has had a very successful recruiting year and is happy to welcome the following students into the Department beginning in the fall 2009 semester.

Ayesha Abdullah majored in Philosophy at Trinity College. Throughout her four years there, her interests have centered within the 19th and 20th Century Continental tradition and French Feminist Thought. They also include, in particular, Existentialism, Phenomenology, Critical Theory, and Philosophy of Language in terms of history, oppression, the question of individuality and structural links through language. She recently began cultivating her interests in Deconstruction and Psychoanalysis.

Axelle Karera is currently completing her B.A. in Philosophy and Psychology at York University in Toronto. Her interests include continental philosophy, feminist philosophy, and philosophy of race. Axelle is also fascinated by the philosophy of the Negritude movement as well as the dialogue between 20th century French existentialists and leading thinkers of the anti-colonial and liberation movements such as Frantz Fanon and C.L. R. James.

Shaheen Moosa received her MA in Philosophy from the University of Memphis and her BA in Philosophy and Theatre from Sweet Briar College. Her areas of interest include the history of ethical thought, contemporary ethical theory, and contemporary Continental philosophy.

Lauren Nuckols is returning to the study of philosophy after spending a few years working and playing outside. She graduated in 2005 from the University of Hartford with a B.A. in Philosophy, with minors in creative writing and visual arts. She reports: "While I genuinely enjoy learning about nearly everything, my main areas of interest include American philosophy, pragmatism, environmental philosophy, social justice, feminist philosophy, embodiment, and aesthetics."

Ronke A. Oke received her BA in Political Science and Philosophy from Spelman College and her MA in Philosophy from the University of Memphis. Her philosophical interests are African Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy, and Logic. She has recently adopted an interest in group formation and identity and plans to incorporate this focus in her study of African Philosophy.

Daniel Palumbo is finishing his BA in Philosophy from DePaul University.  His interests include 20th continental philosophy, French phenomenology, German Idealism and the History of Philosophy.  He is currently finishing his undergraduate studies in Paris where he is participating in a study abroad program run by the DePaul faculty. 

Ryan Pollock graduated in May 2009 with a B.A. in philosophy with a minor in Spanish from the University of Dayton. His interests are primarily in the areas of American pragmatism (especially John Dewey and C.S. Peirce). Additionally, he is interested in aspects of continental philosophy (phenomenology, Heidegger), and analytic philosophy (Wittgenstein, Quine).

Jameliah Shorter is a native of Augusta, GA. In May, she graduated summa cum laude from Paine College in Augusta, GA with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and Religion. Jameliah is the Salutatorian of her graduating class. Jameliah's research interests include Continental and American philosophies with specific interests in Existentialism, Black American feminism, and Gender. At Paine College she was the recipient of the Presidential Scholarship, a member of the Honors Program, and an inductee into the Alpha Kappa Mu Honor Society. Her academic fellowships include the Mellon-Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, The Mellon-Schomburg Fellowship at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and the Rutgers Diversity in Philosophy Fellowship at Rutgers University. Jameliah's paper entitled, "Our Mothers' Gardens" which explores philosophical possibilities for Black feminist epistemologies has been presented at Duke University and the Ida B. Wells Philosophy Conference at the University of Memphis. Subsequently, the paper was accepted for publication in the Mellon-Mays Undergraduate Journal printed by Harvard University Press (forthcoming, Spring 2009). This summer, Jameliah will participate in the Ralph Bunche Summer Humanities Institute at the University of California Los Angeles. There, her research will concern African American gender/sexuality. In the future, Jameliah hopes to become a college professor of both Philosophy and Women's Studies. Her academic aspiration is to publish on Black feminist and gender theories.
Amy Wendling, PhD. in Philosophy '06 and Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Creighton University, has a new book, Karl Marx On Technology and Alienation.  She is currently being highlighted on the Penn State University's Alumni Library website:

http://alumni.libraries.psu.edu/PSUauthors.html.

There will be a session on the book at the 2009 meeting of the Society for the Philosophical Study of Marxism at the Eastern Division APA meeting in New York.

We congratulate Amy and hope many of the friends of Penn State's graduate program in philosophy will be able to attend the book session.
Masato Ishida successfully defended his dissertation entitled: Philosophical Commentary on C. S. Peirce's "On a New List of Categoriies": Exhibiting Logical Structure and Abiding Relevance. Vincent Colapietro chaired the doctoral committee, with Dennis Schmidt and Christopher Long as inside members and Stephen Simpson as the outside member of the committee.

Dr. Ishida also received the Department of Philosophy's Joseph J. Kockelmans Award in Philosophy. The purpose of this award is to honor and recognize outstanding achievement by a graduate student in Philosophy who is ABD. Professor Kockelmans was employed as a professor of philosophy at Penn State from 1968 to 1995. He was an important figure in the history of continental philosophy in the United States, being heavily involved in the early days of SPEP, the Heidegger Circle, and the journal Man and World, now known as Continental Philosophy Review. He was also the first "continental" President of the APA Eastern Division.

We congratulate Dr. Ishida on his recent accomplishments.  We will miss him and we wish him the best success in his excellent placement.