Awarded PhDs and Placements | Philosophy Department | College of Liberal Arts and Sciences | University of Connecticut

Awarded PhDs and Placements | Philosophy Department | College of Liberal Arts and Sciences | University of Connecticut
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A to Z Index
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.
2025
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
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: Assistant Professor (tenure track), Gonzaga University
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:
FYE Director at the University of Connecticut
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
Andrew Parisi
Andrew Parisi's Personal Website
Advisor: Marcus Rossberg
Dissertation: Second Order Modal Logic
First Appointment: Cycorp
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
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
Asha Bhandary
Asha Bhandary's Page on the UIOWA Website
Advisor: Diana Meyers
Dissertation: Liberalism and Dependency Care
First Appointment: Visiting Assistant Professor, Wesleyan University
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
Qiong Wang's Page on the SUNY Oneonta Website
Advisor: Joel Kupperman
Dissertation: The Family Relationships and Familial Obligations
First Appointment: University of Oklahoma, Visiting Assistant Professor
Jeffrey Wisdom
Jeffery Wisdom's Page on the Joliet Junior College Website
Advisor: Paul Bloomfield
Dissertation: From Moral Fictionalism to Moral Realism: an Essay in Moral Metaphysics
First Appointment: Assistant Professor, Joliet Junior College
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
William Cornwell's Page on the Academia.edu
Website
Advisor: Ruth Millikan
Dissertation: Knowledge Without Justification
First Appointment: Assistant Professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point
Weimin
Sun
Advisor: John Troyer
Dissertation: Interpretations of Probability
Fi
rst Appointment: Assistant P
rofessor, California State University Northridge
(tenure track)
2001-2002
Erik Anderson
Chris Panza
Chris Panza's Page on the Drury University Website
Advisor: Donald Baxter
Dissertation: Locke's Theory of Abstraction
First Appointment: Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Drury University
Gordon Stevenson
2000-2001
Paula Droege
Paula Droege's Page on the PennState Website
Advisor: Austen Clark
Dissertation: Second Sense: A Theory of Consciousness
First Appointment:
Hartwick
College
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: C
onnecticut 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
Peimin Ni's Page on the Grand Valley State University Website
Advisor: Joel
Kupperman
Dissertation: Hume and the Definition of Cause
First Appointment: Assistant Professor, Montana State University
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