Past Philosophy News & Events

Fall 2007-Spring 2008

• Two people were recognized at this year's commencement activities:
      1) Dr. Susanna Goodin received recognition as one of the "Top Ten Teachers" in the College of Arts & Sciences. This award is received by graduating student votes for outstanding teachers.
      2) Student, Nicholas T. Haderlie, received recognition as one of the twenty "Outstanding Graduates," nominated by faculty. He is a Philosophy major from Laramie, Wyoming.
   

• Shout Out

  Just a little shout out to the UW master's students whose hard work has paid off in some nice graduate school placements.

  • Jeremy Bryant Weiss, Ohio State University (full funding)
  • Thomas Scott Dixon, University of California, Davis (full funding)
  • Erik Hoversten, Rutgers University (full funding)
  • Adam Ross Thompson, University of Nebraska (full funding)

  Major congratulations, fellas!! Enjoy the ride.

  Taken from the publication "Close Range"
  http://rationalhunter.typepad.com/close_range/2008/04/shout-out.html
   

• Philosophy tops in results for Student Evaluations. The February 2008 A&S You Like It publication states the "Departments of Modern & Classical Languages and Philosophy offer courses that our students judge to be the most intellectually challenging, .." both rating on the table at 4.66 out of 5.0 Philosophy also scored within the top ten departments on "Overall assessment of instruction"with a score of 4.46.
   

• Robin Hill, Adjunct Professor and B.A in Philosophy '75 (with a full-time appointment on campus as Coordinator of Instructional Computing) has published a short feature in the June 2007 issue of SIGACT News, a quarterly for computer scientists interested in computability theory, entitled "How Close Did Kurt Godel Get to the University of Wyoming?" The answer is "Not very," but a handful of distant coincidences, manifested in wartime correspondence and later local connections, turned out to be intriguing.  Dr. Hill thoroughly enjoyed the research, in the course of which she earned a New York Public Library card and access to the scholarly Manuscripts Reading Room.

• Annual Philosophy "Welcome Back" Picnic; Thurs., Sept. 13, 2007, 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Washington Park, shelter #2

Fall 2006-Spring 2007

• Carlos Mellizo's paper "MILL AND THE ETHICS OF DEATH" has been accepted to be read at the 5^th International Conference of the Iberian-American  Society of Utilitarian Studies, to be held in Granada, Spain, on September 26-28 (5/24/07)
   
• Congratulations to this years winners of the 2007 Willetts Essay Competition; First place to  Jeremy Weiss, entering the paper, "A Torturous Choice," and runner-up Adam Thompson, who's paper was, "The Moral Permissibility of Torture." Each paper can be viewed at https://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/a%26s/Willits/Winners-07.htm.
   
• We are pleased to announce that Jeff Lockwood, Professor of Natural Sciences and Humanities, with a joint appointment in Philosophy and the MFA program in Creative Writing, has won the George Duke Humphrey Distinguished Faculty Award for 2007. In his announcement letter, Myron Allen, Vice President for Academic Affairs, writes: "This selection is one of the highest honors that the University awards and it is testimony to your remarkable and varied contributions to the University of Wyoming as well as to the extraordinary caliber of your teaching and scholarship."

  
  Congratulations Jeff !!!

  Click Here to view the UW News Release

• Dr. Jeffrey Lockwood's article, "The Nature of Violence," was chosen to be included in this year's edition of Best American Nature and Science Writing; an anthology publication by Houghton Mifflin. (3/20/07)

• Taylor Carman (BA in Philosophy 1987), an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Bernard College, while teaching a seminar on Nietzsche and Heidegger this fall, found that Emeritus Professor Richard Howey is now immortal.  He has been quoted in Wolfgang Müller-Latuer's big Nietzsche book, Volume III: Heidegger und Nietzsche (2000). Chapter 2 (page 67) begins, "Wer sich eingehend mit Heidegers Nietzsche-Interpretationen beschäftigt, wird jenen Eindruck von 'ambivalence' gewinnen, den R. L. Howey so bescreibt: 'There are aspects of his interpretation that are highly stimulating and lead to new insights regarding the nature of Nietzsche's metaphysical enterprise. However, all too often, Nietzsche gets buried under Heidegger's attempt to demonstrate his thesis.
  Congratulations Richard! (Sept. 06)

• Philosophy once again scores highly (4.62), second in line behind Modern & Classical Languages (4.68), of the Student Teaching Evaluations for if a "Course is Intellectually Challenging." Philosophy also scored within the top 10 for "Overall Assessment of Instruction" with a score of 4.44. (Detailed information is available in the Sept. 2006 issue of A&S You Like It.) (Sept. 06)

Fall 2005-Spring 2006

• Papers are now being accepted for the 2006 James Orr Willits Ethics Essay Competition, topic: Is Abortion Wrong? First Prize Award: $1500.00. Second Prize Award: $1000.00. Contest Deadline: Monday, April 10, 2006. For further information refer to the A&S Dean's Office website: http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/a&s/AS-second-page.asp.

• Philosophy scored in the top three of the Student Teaching Evaluations averages regarding if a "Course is Intellectually Challenging" following Modern & Classical Languages at 4.69, Physics and Astronomy at 4.63 and Philosophy at 4.62. Philosophy also scored within the top 10 for "Overall Assessment of a Course" with a score of 4.41. (Detailed information is available in the January 2006 issue of A&S You Like It.) (Feb. 06)

• Franz-Peter Griesmaier debates with Kent Hovind, founder of Creation Science Evangelism, on creationism vs. evolution. Read more in the Boomerang archives (Oct 12, 2005) and Dean Walter's comments to the event in the October issue of "A&S You Like It". (For a copy of the "A&S You Like It" article contact crivord@uwyo.edu) (Oct. 05)

• Philosophy rates in the top ten from Spring 2005 Advising Evaluations in the October 2005 issue of "A&S You Like It." (For a copy of the "A&S You Like It" article contact crivord@uwyo.edu) (Oct. 05)

• Dean Walter recognizes the department of Philosophy in the publications of the "A&S Report." Click here to read. (Sept. 05)

Spring 2005

• Mike Farnsworth, graduate student, has honorable achievements for the Spring 2005 term:
  1. Acceptance at the 4th International Summerschool on "Philosophy, Probability, and Physics" held at the University of Konstanz in Konstanz, Germany.
  2. Recipient of Arts & Sciences Summer Independent Study Award
  3. Paper presented "Probabilistic Knowledge of the Status Quo Under the Veil" at the 32nd Annual Conference on Value Inquiry held at Lousisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana April 8 - 11 (May 05)

• Dr. Susanna Goodin receives A&S Top Teacher Award by the graduating class of 2005. (April 4, 2005)

• Former graduate student and current visiting lecturer John Bengson presented papers at four conferences this spring. The conferences included the CUNY and Rocky Mountain graduate student conferences, the 32nd meeting of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy (SAAP), and the 79th meeting of the American Philosophical Association (APA) Pacific Division. The papers were titled “How to Perceive the Pat with Your Eyes Shut” and “On the Value of Mystical and Religious Experience”. Visit http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/News/2005/March/uwnews22.htm for a news article, published by the Branding Iron and UW News, on the latter paper. (Spring 2005)