EDUCATION
Ph.D. in Philosophy University of Dallas, examination phase
M.A. in Philosophy University of Dallas, 2011 (GPA 3.75)
B.A. in Christian Education North Central University, cum laude, 2001
PUBLICATIONS – BOOK CHAPTERS
“A Difficult Redemption: Facing the Other in Woody Allen’s Exilic Period.” Companion to Woody Allen, eds. Peter J. Bailey and Sam B. Girgus. Oxford: Blackwell/Wiley, 2013.
PUBLICATIONS – ARTICLES
“The City of God as Pariah: Peregrinic Metaphysics as a Ground for Ethics in Augustine’s De Civitate Dei contra Paganos.” Ramify: The Journal of the Braniff Graduate School of Liberal Arts, Volume 2:1, (Fall 2011), pp. 54-66.
“Eichmann in Inferno: An Examination of Conscience in Dante’s Commedia.” Purlieu: A Philosophical Journal, Vol. 1:2 (Spring 2011), pp. 9-26.
PUBLICATIONS – BOOK REVIEWS
Review of Sam B. Girgus (2010) Levinas and the Cinema of Redemption: Time, Ethics, and the Feminine, Columbia University Press. Borderlands, Volume 9, Number 2, 2010.
Review of Alexander García Düttmann (2009)Visconti: Insights into Flesh and Blood, Stanford University Press. Film-Philosophy, Volume 14, Number 2, 2010: 176-180.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
“Emancipating the Carceral Subject: A Propaedeutic to an Integrated Prison Pedagogy.“ Advancing Public Philosophy Conference, Emory University, May 2013.
“The Savage Lens and Invisible Subjectivities: Levinas and Arendt on the Representation of Indigenous People in Film.“ North American Levinas Society, “Levinas, the Environment, and Cultures of Place,” University of Alaska Anchorage, May 2012.
“Is the Sho’ah Unique?“ Fall Philosophy Colloquium, University of Dallas, Sept. 20011
“How to Watch Film: Sam Girgus’s Ethical Paideia for Cinema.“ North American Levinas Society, “Totality & Infinity at 50″, Texas A&M University, May 2011.
“Eichmann in Inferno: An Examination of Conscience in Dante’s Commedia.“Institute of Philosophic Studies Spring Colloquium, University of Dallas, Feb. 2011.
“Perverts and Prosthetics: Ethics and the Technology of Representation in Cinema.” The 43rd Meeting of the North Texas Philosophical Association, University of North Texas, Apr. 2010.
“The Ethical Image: The African-American Experience and the Ethical Dimension of Film.“ The 34th Annual National Council for Black Studies, New Orleans, LA, Mar. 2010.
“Plato’s Revenge: Reading the Republic with Hannah Arendt.“ Institute of Philosophic Studies Spring Colloquium, University of Dallas, Feb. 2010.
“Rupture and Redemption: A Levinasian Analysis of The Reader.“ Holocaust Representation Since 1975, University of Chester, Sept. 2009.
“Why We Like Movies About Cyborgs and Superheroes.“ Fall Philosophy Colloquium, University of Dallas, Sept. 2009.
TEACHING COMPETENCE – PHILOSOPHY
Primary: 20th Century Continental Philosophy (esp. Hannah Arendt), Postmodern Philosophy (esp. Emmanuel Levinas), and Existential Phenomenology.
Secondary: Philosophy of Film, Prison Studies, Philosophy of Technology, Philosophy of Race, Genocide Studies, Human Rights, 21st Century Continental Philosophy (esp. Bernard Stiegler)
TEACHING HISTORY
University of Dallas, Dallas, Texas 2011-Present
- Philosophy & the Ethical Life (Fall 2011)
- Texts covered; Plato, Republic; Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica I-II.90-95; Karl Jaspers, The Way to Wisdom, Hannah Arendt, “Thinking and Moral Considerations”.
- Philosophy & the Ethical Life (Spring 2012)
- Texts covered; Plato, Republic; Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica I-II.90-95; Immanuel Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism; Hannah Arendt, “Thinking and Moral Considerations”.
- Philosophy of Man (Fall 2012)
- Texts covered; Plato, Phaedo; Aristotle, De Anima; St. Thomas Aquinas, “Treatise on Man,” in Summa Theologica I.75-87; St. Augustine, Confessions, Rene Descartes, Discourse on Method, Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition.
- Philosophy of Man (Spring 2013)
- Texts covered; Plato, Phaedo; Aristotle, De Anima; St. Thomas Aquinas, “Treatise on Man,” in Summa Theologica I.75-87; St. Augustine, Confessions, Rene Descartes, Discourse on Method, Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition.
- Writing Lab – Tutor (2010-Present)
Invited Lectures
- “Racism, Resistance, and Redemption.” Creekview High School, Carrollton, TX (Fall 2009)
- “Cinema of Transgression: The Films of Pedro Almodovar.” University of Dallas, Humanities Department, Recent World Course (Spring 2010)
- “Racism, Resistance, and Redemption.” Brookhaven Community College, Institute of Political Science (Spring 2011)
- “Racism, Resistance, and Redemption.” North Central Texas College, English Composition Course (Fall 2011)
- “Cinema of Transgression: The Films of Pedro Almodovar.” University of Dallas, Humanities Department, Recent World Course (Spring 2013)
Non-Credit Adult Education Courses
- “Mining Your Past for Assets,” University of Dallas, Center for Entrepreneurship, Prison Entrepreneurial Program (Spring 2008-Fall 2008)
- “Rebranding the Brand Called You,” University of Dallas, Center for Entrepreneurship, Prison Entrepreneurial Program (Spring 2009-Spring 2011)
- “Rebranding the Brand Called You,” Brookhaven Community College, Prison Entrepreneurial Program (Fall 2011-Present)
READING LANGUAGES
- Latin
- German
ACADEMIC AWARDS
- Braniff Scholarship
University of Dallas, 2007-Present - McDermott Fellowship, 2010-2011
- McDermott Fellowship, 2011-2012
- McDermott Fellowship, 2012-2013
GRANTS
- NEH Grant, summer seminar on, “The Political Theory of Hannah Arendt: The Problem of Evil and the Origins of Totalitarianism,” June 23-July28, 2012: held at Bard College, Annandale-on-the-Hudson, NY.
SCHOLARSHIPS
- Braniff Graduate Student Association (BGSA) Travel Stipend, May 2010
- BGSA Travel Stipend, May 2011
- BGSA Travel Stipend, May 2012
ACADEMIC SOCIETIES
North Texas Philosophical Association
North American Levinas Society
Dallas Area Seminar on European Inquiry (DASEIN)
ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE
Ramify: The Journal of the Braniff Graduate School of Liberal Arts, Editorial Board (Fall 2010-2012)
RESEARCH INTERESTS
I am currently focusing my research on the concept of human dignity in the work of Hannah Arendt. This research will culminate in a dissertation project which will examine the roots of Arendt’s concept of human dignity in the work of Martin Heidegger, Karl Jaspers, and Ernst Cassirer.
GRADUATE WORK
Ancient Philosophy
Medieval Philosophy
Early Modern Philosophy
Recent Philosophy
The Scholastic Tradition
Philosophy of Imagination
Philosophy of Anthropology
Phenomenology of the Other
Plato’s Republic and Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics
Philosophy of Technology
Reflections on the Shoah (not taken for credit)
Kant’s Critique of Judgment
Augustine’s City of God and Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae
Philosophy of Religion
Philosophy of History
Film, Fantasy & Dreams (not taken for credit)
Hannah Arendt: The Life of the Mind (Directed Reading)
German for Reading Knowledge
Dante’s The Divine Comedy and Milton’s Paradise Lost
Classical Rhetoric (not taken for credit)
Martin Heidegger: Being and Time
Hobbe’s Leviathan and Rousseau’s The First and Second Discourses
Hegel, Dostoyevsky Nietzsche
Bernard Stiegler: Technics and Time (Directed Reading)
Homer and Vergil
The Johannine Literature
Introduction to German Literature (not taken for credit)
Roman Historians: Sallust and Livy
UNIVERSITY WORK AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
- Volunteer Instructor, Prison Entrepreneurial Program, Dallas Texas, 2008-Present.
- Hospitality Manager, Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture, Dallas, Texas, 2010.
CAREER GOALS
I hope to obtain a tenure-track teaching position where I can actively contribute to my academic community, engage and support my colleagues in research and administrative commitments, impact society by consistently “bringing the gown-to-town,” actively publish in my field, and develop creative, critical, and interdisciplinary pedagogies that emphasize human dignity and human rights and cultivate independent thinking and ethical commitment in students through effective teaching and ongoing mentoring relationships.
