Summer 2019

We were honored to have alumnus David Owens, BA 2004, address the 2019 Department of Philosophy graduating class at our annual graduation reception. David is a partner at Loevy & Loevy, a civil rights law firm in Chicago. David also teaches in the University of Chicago Law School’s wrongful conviction legal clinic, The Exoneration Project, working with law students to find justice for individuals. After graduating from the University of Washington, David had planned on going directly to law… Read more
The Department of Philosophy celebrated the achievements of our undergraduate and graduate students and our faculty at our annual Awards Reception on May 31, 2019. Our Philosophy community continued its annual tradition of honoring our award winners by having faculty share personal anecdotes from the classroom and office hours about each of the recipients to the delight of family and friends. We are proud of the achievements of our students and faculty and look forward to seeing what they… Read more
It’s rare for professors to use superlatives to describe their students. But in their nomination letters for the College of Arts & Sciences’ 2019 Dean’s Medalists and Graduate Medalists, adjectives like “remarkable” and “inspirational” are peppered throughout. Reading about the students’ accomplishments, it’s easy to understand why. Each year, the College honors an undergraduate and graduate student from each of its four divisions as medalists, selected on the basis of academic performance… Read more
From race relations in the United States to Great Danes in small apartments, this year's summer book recommendations by the Philosophy faculty once again cover a wide array of subjects. Check out the books that our faculty members have read recently or are planning to read this summer. We hope you find something exciting to add to your reading list! Sara Goering The Collected Schizophrenias by… Read more
Hannah Martens is among four undergraduates to earn the prestigious Dean’s Medal from the University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences. Hannah, who received her bachelor’s degree this spring, double-majoring in philosophy and in law, societies, and justice, with minors in bioethics, disability studies, and ethics, was named the Dean’s Medalist in the Social Sciences division for her academic excellence and leadership. From her first quarter at the University of Washington, Hannah has… Read more
On June 11, 2019 we celebrated Michael’s retirement and his contributions to the Department of Philosophy and the University of Washington.  Michael joined the Department of Philosophy in 2003 and served as Department Chair from 2011 to 2016 and as the Samuel and Althea Stroum Chair in Jewish Studies from 2016 to 2019. During his time in the department, Michael taught thousands of students many of whom have reached out to the department to let us know that Michael has been their favorite… Read more
Angelia Miranda, a double major in philosophy and international studies, will embark on the adventure of a lifetime next year as a 2019 Bonderman Fellow. Each year, a small group of University of Washington students are awarded with Bonderman Travel Fellowships, which fund independent travel in order to “inspire individual transformation by expanding the fellow’s understanding of themselves and the complex, diverse and interconnected… Read more
Congratulations to Melanie Tate on being awarded the prestigious Graduate School Presidential Dissertation Fellowship for 2019-2020. The fellowship assists PhD Candidates in the final stages of writing and completing their dissertations by providing a full quarter of fellowship funding with tuition and benefits. Melanie's dissertation, Read more
Alex Lenferna (Ph.D. 2019) was already a dedicated climate justice activist in his native South Africa before moving to Seattle to complete his PhD in Philosophy at the University of Washington. He continued his advocacy here in the U.S. while completing his PhD. Now, back in his home country, Alex works as South African Climate Justice Campaigner for 350.org, an international non-profit organization… Read more
Doctoral Candidate Blake Hereth was chosen by the APA for their member spotlight interview. Blake works primarily in the ethics of self-defense and philosophy of religion and is co-editor of The Lost Sheep: New Perspectives on Race, Gender, Disability, and Animals in Philosophy of Religion (Routledge, forthcoming), which addresses underexplored issues in philosophy of religion.… Read more
Doctoral candidate Paul Tubig organized the first ever Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl at the Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW) on April 14, 2019. The Freedom Education Project of Puget Sound (FEPPS) and University of Puget Sound teams discussed questions such as: Should we bring back species that have been driven to extinction? Are laws allowing terminally ill children to choose euthanasia morally defensible? Is China’s social credit system, which assigns a social credit score based… Read more
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UW Center for Philosophy for Children weighs in on the beenfits of introducing students to the world of ethics at a young age.Featured on KQED 
As a community college student in San Diego, Paul Tubig was drawn to philosophy. Now a doctoral student in philosophy at the University of Washington, Tubig finds himself once again spending time at a community college. It feels different this time around. “Having attended a community college, it’s been interesting to re-enter that setting as an aspiring professor and PhD student who has been acculturated in the university context,” Tubig says. Tubig’s return to community college is through a… Read more
UW Philosophy alum Alex Lenferna (PhD 2019) recently published an opinion piece arguing that "vast subsidies keeping the fossil fuel industry afloat should be put to better use." This topic is also the subject of a forthcoming book chapter by Lenferna.… Read more
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