Awarded Ph.D.s and Placements

Recent Ph.D.s have secured positions at St. Andrews University, Oxford University, Notre Dame University, the University of Oslo, Kuwait University, Gonzaga University, the University of Delhi, Lewis & Clark College, the University of Massachusetts at Boston, the University of Memphis, Grand Valley State University, the University of California at Merced, Fairfield University, the University of Iowa, the University of Idaho, the University of Kentucky,  the University of Konstanz, Monash University, Yonsei University, the University of Tokyo, Muhlenberg College, Sam Houston State University, the University of Minnesota-Duluth, the Czech Academy of Sciences, the University of California-Merced, TPX Communications, Cambridge Semantics, and Cycorp. Our doctoral students are a global community from Argentina, China, Egypt, India, Ireland, Turkey, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom, as well as the U.S.

2024

Katrina Kish
Advisor: Heather Battaly
Dissertation: Care for Perspective: A Liberatory Virtue Analysis of Trust and Distrust
First Appointment: Assistant Professor, St. Catherine's University


Susanna Melkonian-Altshuler
Advisor: Keith Simmons
Dissertation: Truth Depends on Reality: A Defense of Deflationism
First Appointment: Postdoc, University of Vienna, and Tutor, Jesus College, Oxford


Yuhan Liang
Advisor: Heather Battaly
Dissertation: Diverse Virtues and Universal Values—A Confucian Exemplarist Approach to Virtue Cultivation
First Appointment: Postdoctoral Fellow, Wuhan University


David Rodriguez
Advisor: Heather Battaly
Dissertation: Character Growth Externalism: An Approach to Vice Epistemology


Mengyu Hu
Advisor: Lionel Shapiro
Dissertation: Expressivist Semantics, Metaethical Taxonomy and Functional Explanation


Eric Berg
Advisor: Michael Lynch
Dissertation: Hacking Reality: Propaganda and Epistemology in Online Environments
First Appointment: Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for the Future of Mind, Florida Atlantic University

2023

Christopher Rahlwes
Advisor: Alexus McLeod
Dissertation: Negation, Denial, and Classical Asian Logic
First Appointment: Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Connecticut


Heather Muraviov
Advisor: Heather Battaly
Dissertation: Liberatory Virtue Epistemology
First Appointment: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Center for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Notre Dame


Jenelle Salisbury
Advisor: William G. Lycan
Jenelle Salisbury's Personal Website
Dissertation: People at Work: The Unity of Consciousness and the First-Person Perspective
First Appointment: Assistant Professor (tenure-track), Delta College, Michigan


Mandy Long
Advisor: Lewis Gordon
Dissertation: People at Work: Demystifying the Meaning and Value of Work in Light of Ethical Freedom
First Appointment: Assistant Professor (tenure track), Community College of Rhode Island

2022

Rashad Ahmad
Advisor: Keith Simmons
Dissertation: Ungroundedness and Paradox
First Appointment: Assistant Professor at Kuwait University


Phillip Barron
Advisor: Lewis Gordon
Dissertation: Distributed Identity
First Appointment: Post-doctoral Fellowship, Lewis & Clark College


Mary Gregg
Advisor: William G. Lycan and Lewis Gordon
Dissertation: No Funny Business: The Untold Help of Harmful Visual Jokes
First Appointment: Underwood International College, Yonsei University
Current Appointment: Lecturer, Underwood International College, Yonsei University


Kensuke Ito
Advisor: Keith Simmons
Dissertation: Denial and Assertion
First Appointment: Three-year post-doctoral position at the University of Tokyo, sponsored by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)


Darian Spearman
Advisor: Lewis Gordon
Dissertation: Myth, Meaning and the Foundations for An Africana Philosophy of Myth
First Appointment: Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Oslo


Drew Johnson
Advisor: Dorit Bar-On
Dissertation: A Hybrid Theory of Ethical Thought and Discourse
First Appointment: Assistant Professor at Gonzaga University


Cody Turner
Advisor: Michael P. Lynch
Dissertation: A Virtue Epistemology of Brain-Computer Interface and Augmented Reality Technology
First Appointment: Postdoctoral Fellow at the Notre Dame Technology Ethics Center

2021

Tithi Basu Mallik
Advisor: William Lycan
Dissertation: A Perspective on Self-Deception
First Appointment: Assistant Director for Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Support, University of Kentucky
Current Appointment: Assistant Dean for Postdoctoral Affairs, Office of the Dean of Faculty, Princeton University


Kristin Culbertson
Advisor: Alexus McLeod
Dissertation: Embracing the Non-Ideal: A Suffering-Oriented Ethical Approach
First Appointment: Visiting Assistant Professor, Fairfield University


Ryo Tanaka
Advisor: Dorit Bar-On
Dissertation: Semantic Competence: Speaker's Knowledge and Expression
First Appointment: Three-year post-doctoral position at the University of Tokyo, sponsored by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
Current Appointment: Adjunct Research Fellow at the University of Tokyo (April 2024 - March 2025)

2020

Teresa Allen
Advisor: Michael P. Lynch
Dissertation: Engaging Others


Junyeol Kim
Advisor: Marcus Rossberg and Michael P. Lynch
Dissertation: Frege's Conception of Truth as an Object
First Appointment: Research Assistant Professor of Philosophy, College of General Education, Kookmin University
Current Appointment: Associate Professor (Tenured) at Chungbuk National University, South Korea


Jordan Ochs
Advisor: Mitch Green
Jordan Och's Personal Website
Dissertation: Inner Speech and Self-Knowledge
Current Appointment: Compass Ethics Consulting


David Pruitt
Advisor: Keith Simmons
Dissertation: A Nominalistic Theory of Logical Consequence

More Awarded Ph.D.s

2019-2010

2018-2019

  • Richard Anderson
    • Advisor: Marcus Rossberg
    • Dissertation: The Frege-Geach Problem for Normative Propositions
  • Jared Henderson
    • Advisor: Keith Simmons
    • Dissertation: Degrees and Deflationism
    • First Appointment: Ontological Engineer, Cycorp (Austin, TX)
  • Nathan Kellen
    • Nathan Kellen's Personal Website
    • Advisor: Michael P. Lynch
    • Dissertation: Pluralisms about Truth and Logic
    • First Appointment: Visiting Assistant Professor - Kansas State University
  • Dana Francisco Miranda
    • Dana Francisco Miranda's Personal Website
    • Advisor: Lewis Gordon
    • Dissertation: Approaching Cadavers: A Philosophical Consideration of Suicide and Depression in the African Diaspora
    • First Appointment: Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Muhlenberg College

2017-2018

  • Emma Bjorngard Basyane
    • Advisor: Mitch Green
    • Dissertation: An Embodiment Constrain on Theories of Affect
    • First Appointment: Academic Advisor & Program Coordinator in the UConn School of Business
  • Hanna Gunn
    • Hanna Gunn's Personal Website
    • Advisor: Michael Lynch
    • Dissertation: Social-Epistemic Agency
    • First Appointment: Mellon Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University
  • Alycia LaGuardia-LoBianco
    • Alycia LaGuardia-LoBianco's Personal Website
    • Advisor: Paul Bloomfield and Daniel Silvermint
    • Dissertation: Suffering and Self-Sabotage in Ethical Life
    • First Appointment: Resident Ethics Fellow, Stockdale Center for Ethics, United States Naval Academy
    • Current Appointment: Assistant Professor of Philosophy (tenure-track), Grand Valley State University
  • Thomas Meagher
    • Advisor: Lewis Gordon
    • Dissertation: Maturity in a Human World: A Philosophical Study
    • First Appointment: Visiting Assistant Professor, Quinnipiac University
    • Interim Appointment: Visiting Assistant Professor, Quinnipiac University and 2018-9 W.E.B. Du Bois Visiting Scholar at UMass Amherst
  • Andrew Tedder
    • Andrew Tedder's Personal Website
    • Advisor: Jc Beall
    • Dissertation: Applications of Non-Classical Logic
    • First Appointment: Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute for Computer Science, Czech Academy of Sciences

2016-2017

  • Mayank Bora
    • Advisor: William Lycan
    • Dissertation: Believing About Individuals
    • First Appointment: Guest Faculty, University of Delhi
    • Current Appointment: Assistant Professor (Tenure Track equivalent), University of North Bengal
  • Toby Napoletano
    • Toby Napoletano's Personal Website
    • Advisor: Lionel Shapiro
    • Dissertation: Semantics, Meaning, Truth and Content: Disentangling Linguistic and Philosophical Approaches to the Study of Meaning
    • First Appointment: Adjunct Professor, UConn
  • Benjamin Nelson
    • Advisor: Donald Baxter
    • Dissertation: Hume’s “Of scepticism with regard to reason”
    • First Appointment: Adjunct Professor, UConn
  • Colena Sesanker
    • Advisor: Lewis Gordon
    • Dissertation: Self-Respect and Social Roles: A Critical Study of the Duty to Resist Oppression
    • First Appointment: Philosophy Instructor (tenure-track), Gateway Community College
  • Nathan Sheff
    • Advisor: Michael Lynch
    • Dissertation: Thinking Together: Joint Commitment and Social Epistemology
    • First Appointment: Adjunct Professor, UConn

2015-2016

  • Ralph DiFranco
    • Ralph DiFranco's Personal Website
    • Advisor: Mitch Green
    • Dissertation: Charged Expressions: on the Power of Slurring Words and Derogatory Gestures
    • First Appointment: Instructor, Auburn University
  • Michael Robillard
    • Advisor: Hallie Liberto and Michael Lynch
    • Dissertation: The Moral Dimensions of Vulnerability and Exploitation
    • First Appointment: Postdoctoral Researcher, Uehiro Center for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford

2014-2015

  • Katherine Fazekas
    • Katherine Fazekas' Personal Website
    • Advisor: Crawford Elder
    • Dissertation: The Nature of the Passage of Time: A Defense of a Revisionist B-theoretic View of Passage
    • First Appointment: Visiting Assistant Professor, Willamette University
    • Current Appointment: Visiting Assistant Professor, UConn
  • Michael Hughes
    • Advisor: Jc Beall
    • Dissertation: Substantive Theories of Epistemic Justification: An Exploration of Formal Coherence Requirements
    • First Appointment: Software Engineer, TPx Communications
  • Casey Johnson
    • Casey Johnson's Personal Website
    • Advisor: Michael Lynch
    • Dissertation: Speech Acts and Silencing: Applying a New Account of Illocutions To Debates over Silencing and Testimony
    • First Appointment: Post-doc on the Humility and Conviction project at UCHI, UConn
    • Current Appointment: Associate Professor, University of Idaho

2013-2014

  • Alexis Elder
    • Alexis Elder's Personal Website
    • Advisor: Paul Bloomfield
    • Dissertation: Metaphysics of Friendship
    • First Appointment: Visiting Assistant Professor, Southern Connecticut State University
    • Current Appointment: Associate Professor, University of Minnesota Duluth
  • David Lambie
    • Advisor: Thomas Bontly
    • Dissertation: Toward a Naturalistic Solution to the Moral Problem
    • Current Appointment: Adjunct Professor at SUNY-Oswego
  • Mark Lowe
    • Advisor: Crawford Elder
    • Dissertation: Implications of Species-as-Individuals: Kinds, Essentialism, Induction, De-Extinction
    • First Appointment: Instructor of Humanities (tenure-track), Quinebaug Valley Community College
    • Current Appointment: Assistant Professor, Humanities, Quinebaug Valley Community College, Danielson CT
  • Jeremy Wyatt
    • Jeremy Wyatt's Personal Website
    • Advisor: Michael Lynch
    • Dissertation: Pluralism and the Absence of Truth
    • First Appointment: Post-doctoral Researcher, Pluralisms Global Research Network, Veritas Research Center, Yonsei University
    • Current Appointment: Senior Lecturer, University of Waikato, Australia

2012-2013

  • Matthew Clemens
    • Advisor: Jc Beall
    • Dissertation: New Directions for Mathematical Fictionalism
    • First Appointment: Research Associate, Polinsky Language Sciences Lab, Harvard University
    • Current Appointment: Advisor for Prestigious Fellowships and Scholarships and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, Siena College
  • Douglas Owings
  • Paul Silva
    • Paul Silva's Personal Website
    • Advisor: Michael Lynch
    • Dissertation: The Epistemology of Intuition and Seemings
    • First Appointment: Lecturer in Philosophy, Monash University
    • Current Appointment: Junior Professor (tenure-track), University of Cologne

2011-2012

  • Nilanjan Bhowmick
    • Advisor: Samuel C. Wheeler III
    • Dissertation: That F is G: Defending Quantification
    • First Appointment: St. Stephens College, University of Delhi
  • Daniel Massey
    • Advisor: Michael Lynch
    • Dissertation: The Argument from Irresolvable Moral Disagreement
    • First Appointment: Visiting Assistant Professor, Arkansas State University
  • Bradley Jay Strawser
    • Bradley Jay Strawser's Personal Website
    • Advisor: Michael Lynch and Steve Wall
    • Dissertation: The Bounds of Defense: Moral Responsibility, Autonomy, and War
    • First Appointment: Assistant Professor, Naval Postgraduate School; Research Associate, Oxford University’s Ethics, Law, and Armed Conflict center

2010-2011

  • Theodore Bach
    • Theodore Bach's Personal Website
    • Advisor: Thomas Bontly
    • Dissertation: Folk-Psychology and Analogy
    • First Appointment: Visiting Assistant Professor, Southern Connecticut State University
  • David Capps

2009-2010

  • Colin Caret
    • Colin Caret's Personal Website
    • Advisor: Jc Beall
    • Dissertation: The Interpretation of Partitioned Frame Semantics
    • First Appointment: Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Arché Research Centre in St. Andrews
  • Aaron J. Cotnoir
    • Aaron Cotnoir's Personal Website
    • Advisor: Jc Beall
    • Dissertation: Non-classical mereologies and their applications
    • First Appointment: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Northern Institute of Philosophy, University of Aberdeen (2010-2012)
  • Rik Hine
    • Website
    • Advisor: Austen Clark
    • Dissertation: Paying Attention to Consciousness
    • First Appointment: Postdoctoral Fellow, UConn
  • Andrea Jean Purton
  • Qiong Wang

2009-2000

2008-2009

  • Brian Leahy
    • Brian Leahy's Personal Website
    • Advisor: John Troyer
    • Dissertation: Fantasy, Fiction, Forecast
    • First Appointment: Post-doctoral Fellow, Department of Linguistics, University of Konstanz
  • Gustavus Alexus McLeod
    • Advisor: Joel Kupperman
    • Dissertation: Moral Personhood in Confucius and Aristotle
    • First Appointment: Assistant Professor, University of Dayton
  • Brian Rockwood
  • Franklin Scott
  • Steven Todd
    • Advisor: Austen Clark
    • Dissertation: Unmasking Consciousness: A case study demonstrating the impact of empirical data on theories of consciousness
    • First Appointment: Associate Professor of Philosophy, Lone Star College – Kingwood

2006-2007

  • David Slutsky

2005-2006

  • Patrick Fleming
    • Advisor: Joel Kupperman
    • Dissertation: Reason, Desire and Ends
    • First Appointment: James Madison University, 1-year
  • Adam Potthast
    • Advisor: Joel Kupperman
    • Dissertation: Morality, Identity, and Continuity: Reductionism about Personal Identity over Time and Utilitarianism
    • First Appointment: Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T), Assistant Professor of Professional Ethics, Fall 2005

2004-2005 

  • Daniel Blair 
  • Timothy Nulty

2002-2003  

  • Lisa M. Cassidy 
    • Advisor: Diana Tietjens Meyers 
    • Dissertation: Different Bodies 
    • First Appointment: Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Ramapo College of NJ 
  • William D. Cornwell III 
    • Weimin Sun 
      • Advisor: John Troyer 
      • Dissertation: Interpretations of Probability 
      • First Appointment: Assistant Professor, California State University Northridge (tenure track) 

       2001-2002

      • Erik Anderson 
      • Chris Panza 
        • Advisor: Donald Baxter 
        • Dissertation: Locke's Theory of Abstraction 
        • First Appointment: Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Drury University 
      • Gordon Stevenson

        2000-2001 

        • Paula Droege 
        • Keya Maitra 
          • Advisor: Ruth Millikan 
          • Dissertation: Our knowledge about our own mental states: An externalist account 
          • First Appointment: Assistant Professor of Philosophy, College of Staten Island/CUNY, Fall 1999 
        • Virgil Whitmyer 

        1999-2000 

        • Matthew Berry 
        • Elise Springer 

        1999-1990

        1998-1999 

        • Andrew Aavatsmark 
          • Advisor: Ruth Millikan 
          • Dissertation: Individuation and Explanation in Cognitive Psychology 
          • First Appointment: Connecticut College Visiting Assistant Prof--1 year 1999-2000 
        • Jessica Prata Miller 
        • Xinli Wang

          1997-1998 

          • Shannon O'Rourke

              1995-1996 

              • Elizabeth A. Dobie 

                1994-1995 

                • Andrew Beedle 
                • Stephen Lahey 
                  • Advisor: A.S. McGrade 
                  • Matthew McKeon 

                  1993-1994 

                  • Timothy Eves 
                  • Peimin Ni 

                      1990-1991 

                      • David Schejbal 

                        1989-1990 

                        • Stuart Cedrone 

                        1989-1980

                        1988-1989 

                        • Roma Farion 

                          1984-1985 

                          • Ira Newman 

                              1981-1982 

                              • Joel Marks 
                                • Joel Marks' Personal Website
                                • Advisor: Joel Kupperman 
                                • Dissertation: Dispassion and the Ethical Life: An Investigation of Causal and Conceptual Connections Among Belief, Desire, Emotion, and the Good (with Frequent References to Buddhism) 
                                • First Appointment: Visiting Assistant Professor, St. John Fisher College 
                                  • Kristin Waters 
                                  • Martin Wheeler 

                                        1979-1980 

                                        • Louis Mazzucco 
                                        • Mitchell Silver 

                                        1979-1973

                                        1978-1979 

                                        • William Kinnaman

                                          1977-1978 

                                          • Jonathan Bakker 
                                          • Jonathan Lee 
                                          • Dorothy Mazzocca

                                              1976-1977 

                                              • Sandra Scott

                                                1975-1976 

                                                • Loren Lamasky 
                                                  • Dissertation: Plantinga on God and Other Minds:  An Examination of Inductive Apologetics 
                                                • William Edward Tolhurst 

                                                      1974-1975 

                                                      • George Munda Carew

                                                      1973-1974 

                                                      • Richard Henry Reinkraut 

                                                        1972-1973 

                                                        • Earnest Paul Anderson 
                                                        • Sue Perrott Stafford