Our year in review

Here's a recap of our student and faculty accomplishments in the last academic year.

Events

We hosted and took part in a number of events this past year, giving our faculty and students a wealth of extra-curricular experiences.

• We hosted a lecture by Sally Haslager. In November Haslanger came from MIT to deliver the Evans lecture and spoke on power and social agency. (Right: Sally Haslanger)
• We were excited to be able to hold the Midwest Epistomology Workshop (MEW), a regional Philosophy conference, here at UNL this past October. The conference, which ran for two days and had eight speakers, was directed by Al Casullo. This regional conference aims “to advance interest in epistemology by organizing an annual workshop for the presentation and discussion of current work in the field.” 
• The Ethics Center hosted its inaugural Ethics and Technology Bazaar. This 3-day event featured lectures, a resource fair, and outreach programs.

Undergraduate Student Accomplishments

We're very proud of everything that our students have accomplished this year.

• We want to congratulate all of our 2019-2020 graduates.

  Fall 2019 graduates:
  Cornelio Jaimes
  Isabel Reynolds
  Anton Skretta
  Hayden White

  Spring 2020 graduates:
  Tyler Beck
  Vy Doan
  Asher Hilton
  Ian Hunter
  Tate Kollar
  Jada Loro
  Hayden Myers
  Caleb Nigrin
  Daniel Scheunemann
  Adam Tagart
  Stein Wiesner

• We're very happy to see so many of our students make the Dean's List this past year.

  Dean’s List for fall 2019:
  Gabriel Adams
  Tyler Beck
  Pierce Bower
  David Cavada
  Matthew Cooke
  Aden Davis
  Vy Doan
  Andrew Graff
  Logan Hawkins
  Asher Hilton
  Ian Hunter
  Cornelio Jaimes
  Tate Kollar
  Rachael Lange
  Jada Loro
  Haley Mercer
  Hayden Myers
  Caleb Nigrin
  Hui Xin Crystal Seet
  Cole Shardelow
  Anton Skretta
  Ethan Weiche
  Leo Welch

  Dean’s List for spring 2020:
  Gillian Christine Allison
  Nicolas Annerino
  Tyler Alan Beck
  Pierce Logan Bower
  David Andres Cavada
  Logan Paul Hawkins
  Ariana Alexis Leybold
  Eric Cherrod Morris
  Caleb Thomas Nigrin
  Daniel Thomas Scheunemann
  Hui Xin Crystal Seet
  Cole Allen Shardelow
  Ethan Weiche
  Vy Mai Phuong Doan
  Emily Jean DeGraff
  Matthew Richard Cooke
  Aden Jeffrey Davis
  Jack W Reed
  Gabriel Christopher Adams
  Kayla Kremke
  Haley Nicole Mercer
  Rachael Ann Lange
  Hayden Premysl Myers
  Ian Jacob Hunter
  Nicolas Annerino
  Aden Davis
  Ariana Leybold
  Daniel Scheunemann

• Our Philosophy Club met weekly to discuss philosophical topics. This is an undergrad-run club and we are so excited to see this kind of passion for philosophy in our undergraduate students. (Left: Philosophy Club answers questions at their booth during Big Red Welcome)

Graduate Student Accomplishments

• Christopher Stratman was awarded the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award in May. The award celebrates a TA who has demonstrated "special effectiveness in teaching undergraduates at Nebraska."  (Right: Christopher Stratman)

• We awarded five PhDs this year, and we are excited to announce our new doctoral graduates:

  Gabriel Bruguier
  Thesis: A Defense of the Resonating Role Account of Meaning in Life
  Advisor: John Brunero

  Zachary Garrett
  Thesis: Vagueness and the Logic of the World
  Advisor: Reina Hayaki

  Katerina Psaroudaki
  Thesis: The “Beneficiary-Pays” Principle and Race-Conscious Affirmative Action
  Advisors: Aaron Bronfman and John Brunero

  Chelsea Richardson
  Thesis: Upon the Body: Examining the Relationship Between Race and Ancestry
  Advisors: Jennifer McKitrick and Harry Ide

  Andrew Spaid
  Thesis: Desire-Satisfaction Theories and the Problem of Depression
  Advisors: Joseph Mendola and John Brunero

• Our Graduate Student Research Colloquia is a weekly meeting to discuss original research that our graduate students are conducting. The colloquia met weekly and continued on Zoom after classes went remote. Our graduate students are doing amazing work, and we had presentations on topics ranging from epistemology, metaphysics, political philosophy, and philosophy of language to aesthetic expertise, cognitive phenomenology, and fairness in sports.

Faculty Accomplishments

We are happy to announce the achievements of our wonderful faculty.

• Aaron Bronfman was awarded $82,400 from the Open Education Resources Kelly Grant for instructional development. The goal of the Kelly Grant is to provide support for faculty who are working to develop open education resources. 
• John Brunero has been appointed President of the Central States Philosophical Association. In 2019, he served as Vice President.

• David Henderson had the opportunity to meet the Dalai Lama. After spending six years working with the Emory Tibet Science Initiative and helping develop the curriculum, The Dharma of Science: Philosophy of Science for Buddhist Scholars, Henderson was able to present a published copy of that curriculum to His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. (Right: David Henderson presents his curriculum to the Dalai Lama)
• Mark van Roojen became one of the editors of the journal Philosophy and Phenomenological Research in fall 2019.

Publications

We want to congratulate all of our faculty who have worked hard to get their work published this past year.

• John Brunero recently published his book Instrumental Rationality: The Normativity of Means-Ends Coherence. Brunero also published two articles throughout the year. In November, he published “Fittingness and Good Reasoning” in the Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy along with a review of Benjamin Kiesewetter’s The Normativity of Rationality in Philosophical Review in April. (Left: John Brunero's Instrumental Reality)
• Colin McLear published two articles: “On the Transcendental Freedom of the Intellect” in Ergo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy, and “Animals and Objectivity” in Kant on Animals.
• Mark van Roojen published three articles this past year: “Promising and Assertion,” in The Oxford Handbook of Assertion, “Second Thoughts about ‘Wishful Thinking’ (and Non-Cognitivism)” in Res Philosophica, and “Motivation, Recommendation, Non-Cognitivism, and the Naturalistic Fallacy,” in The Naturalistic Fallacy.
• Jennifer McKitrick published her article “Potentialities as Properties” in Philosophical Inquiries.
• David Henderson published The Dharma of Science: Philosophy of Science for Buddhist Scholars with Mark Risjord as a part of the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative. Henderson also published The Routledge Handbook in Social Epistemology which he co-edited. He also authored three of the chapters in the handbook: "On the Background of Social Epistemology," "Overview, Science and Social Epistemology" and "Epistemic Norms as Social Norms."

We are happy to look back on our accomplishments over this past year and we are excited to get back to campus this fall and see what the next year has in store for our department.