Here is some information from, for, and about Lawrence students who are either professional philosophers or doing graduate work in Philosophy (or both). This is not an all inclusive page; it does not, for example, contain information about students who graduated from Lawrence before I arrived.

This page is designed to serve two purposes:

1. To help former Lawrence students in Philosophy to stay in touch with one another through a single, common source of information. All of the email addresses are, I think, up to date. If you want to see who is doing what or to get in touch with someone, this is the place.

2. To provide anyone interested in Philosophy, Philosophy at Lawrence, or Lawrence with additional sources of information about Philosophy, Philosophy at Lawrence, and Lawrence. These people have "been there and done that," and they are willing to answer your questions.

Comments or contributions? Email me at thomas.c.ryckman@lawrence.edu

• Andy Specht, soon to be alum ('09), will be heading off to earn his Ph.D. in Philosophy at Syracuse University this fall ('09) Congratulations Andy. You have lots to look forward to.

• Ben Bayer LU '98

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Ben's Homepage (Online papers and so on, a pretty nice website) LU '98:Ph.D., Philosophy, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Ben, who is currently finishing a year as a Lecturer at Loyola University in Chicago, has just accepted a one year position, Visiting Assistant Professor, at Colorado College. (From an email Ben sent out 4/18/08. I think this means he finished his dissertation. Very Cool.

 

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• Brett Bevers. LU '03. M.A. in Philosophy, University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee '05. Brett is in the PhD program at the University of California at Irvine. Brett reports, "I passed the "portfolio" examination earlier this year and I am now searching for a dissertation topic." (email 3/1/08)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That was Brett during his last week at Lawrence (Philosophy Department Picnic). (I think he was preparing for a future flipping burgers; I am confident that he will be doing something else--unless he discovers that he has a passion for the grill.) Here is a more recent photo of Brett and his daughter:

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• Ben Bradley LU '93 Ph.D. The University of Massachusetts at Amherst '99. Ben is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Syracuse University. Here is his website http://web.syr.edu/~wbradley/.

• Jason Hanna LU'03 Ph.D. Colorado '09. Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Northern Illinois University.

Areas of Specialization: Normative Ethics and Applied Ethics

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• Brendan Jackson LU '94 PhD Cornell University in New York '04. Assistant Professor of Philosophy at The University of California Davis. Brendan's UC Davis Website

His research interests are primarily in the philosophy of language and metaphysics. Currently he is working on a range of topics in philosophical semantics, including the interaction between compositional semantic structure and lexical meaning, and the role of extra-linguistic context. His current research interests in metaphysics include fictionalism and ontological commitment, neo-Fregean approaches to abstract objects, and issues in meta-ontology more generally.

 

 

 

 

(Sounds like fun to me.)

• Greg Janssen LU '90 Graduate work at University of Rochester. Finishing his doctoral dissertation.

Greg writes (10/6/99): I am still a graduate student at the University of Rochester, working on a dissertation on mental causation. I hope to be finished soon. Greg Janssen's Homepage

• Diane Jeske LU '88 Ph.D. MIT '92. Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Iowa.

  Here is the link to Diane's website: Diane Jeske's Homepage

The Lawrence University Philosophy Club recently (April 08) brought Diane back to campus for a lecture and discussions. Kudos to the Club and Diane.

• Jayme Johnson LU '04 Graduate work at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

  Jayme writes (2/15/05) After finishing up my first semester in graduate school at UMass and now beginning my second, I have realized what some of my main philosophical interests are. While in undergrad Ryckman put forth much effort to enlighten me to the world of the philosophy of language. I resisted. Now I realize that he was right. It is a very interesting and thought provoking area, and one to which I feel myself drawn. I took a survey course in Phil Language last semester, am currently taking a Formal Semantics course, and plan next year to do some Semantics courses in the Linguistics Dept. While I still have a focused interest in metaphysics,  I now count philosophy of language as one of my core philosophical interests. I blame this on Tom Ryckman.    

  

  Link to Jayme's Website.

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• Mark Lukas LU '93 Ph.D. University of Massachusetts at Amherst, '05. Mark is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy, at Longwood University.

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  Gerald Marsh LU '02 Graduate Study Arizona State University

I am currently working on my PhD at Arizona State University.  I start my dissertation soon. [COOL] I'll be writing on metaontology.  Specifically, I'm writing on verbal disputes (I've discovered that it is really damn hard to say precisely just what it is to have a genuine as opposed to a merely verbal or a merely apparent disagreement).  I've got two papers under review at major journals (one on an issue related to Kyburg's Lottery Paradox at Pacific Philosophical Quarterly and another on metaontology at the Australasian Journal of Philosophy.  Both papers are on my website).  

I can be found on the web at http://www.public.asu.edu/~ghmarsh/

• Scott Senn LU '92 Ph.D. University of Massachusetts at Amherst '04. Scott is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy, at Longwood University.

• Andy White LU '03 Graduate work at Arizona State University. Email address coming soon.

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• Christine M Weigel LU '93 Ph.D. Temple University '99, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Utah Valley State College. Here is a link to her website: http://www.uvu.edu/profpages/profiles/show/user_id/4749 and you can contact her via this email address: weigelch@uvsc.edu

• Erik Wielenberg LU '94 Ph.D. University of Massachusetts at Amherst '00. Assistant Professor of Philosophy at DePauw. I just (2/3/05)(received a copy of Erik's first book, Value and Virtue in a Godless Universe, Cambridge University Press. Congratulations Erik. Here is Erik's website: http://fs6.depauw.edu:50080/~ewielenberg/

This just in (courtesy of Ben Bayer); Erik's "My Turn" article in Newsweek.