News Archive

M.A. student Tejas Bhojraj has been awarded a 2026 Outstanding Graduate Student Award, given annually to one student from each program for distinction in research and scholarly activity.
Congratulations to M.A. student Mahek Jain, who has been awarded the 2025 Mason and Madeline Myers Award for outstanding achievement in graduate study in philosophy.
M.A. student Michael Armen has been awarded the 2025 JoAnne Rafalson Memorial Essay Prize for his paper "Anti-Humean Modality and Negative Possibility: Defending Hardcore Actualism."
Congratulations to Malcolm Graham, a senior philosophy major, who has received a 2025 Deans’ Award for academic excellence and contributions to the department and college.
First-year Master’s student Yunchao Bai has been accepted to participate in Carnegie Mellon University’s Summer School in Logic and Formal Epistemology
Congratulations to M.A. students Laurie Harris and Rithik Shetty, who have been awarded the 2024 C. Mason and Madeline Myers Award for outstanding achievement in graduate study in philosophy.
Congratulations to senior philosophy major Mike Sherman, who has received a 2024 Deans’ Award for academic excellence and contributions to the department and College.
Presidential Engagement and Partnerships Professor Mylan Engel has been invited to present “Designing and Implementing an Experiential and Community-Engaged Service Learning Course” for �鶹��Ʒ’s 2024 community engagement brown bag series.
M.A. student Daniel Cappell is the department's recipient of the 2024 Outstanding Graduate Student Award from �鶹��Ʒ's Graduate School. This award is given each year to one student from each program who has earned distinction in research and scholarly activity.
Congratulations to philosophy alumnus Anthony Capezio, who received a 2023 Deans’ Award in recognition of outstanding scholarship and service to �鶹��Ʒ’s Sustainability and Climate Action Planning Taskforce.
Congratulations to M.A. student Anton Skretta, who has received the Graduate School's Outstanding Graduate Student Award in recognition of exceptional achievement in research and scholarly activity.
Congratulations to M.A. student Pierce Neal, who has been awarded the 2023 JoAnne Rafalson Memorial Essay Prize for his paper "Gibbardian Parity Theses and Moore-Paradoxical Assertions."
Professor Mylan Engel has been named a 2023 Presidential Engagement and Partnership Professor in recognition of his outstanding record of community engagement.
The department’s office administrator, Linda Davis, has been selected as the recipient of �鶹��Ʒ's 2023 Patricia S. Siebrasse Administrative Professionals Award for Excellence.
The department mourns the loss of Associate Professor Emeritus Elston Wells van Steenburgh ("Van"), who passed away on Dec. 8, 2022, at age 94. Van arrived at �鶹��Ʒ in 1968 and retired in 1993. He worked in metaphysics, epistemology, the philosophy of language, and the history of philosophy, especially Berkeley and Hume. He also served ably as department chair from 1976 to 1981. He will be missed. .
Congratulations to M.A. students Nurit Matuk Blaustein and Dashiell Shulman, who have been awarded the 2022 C. Mason and Madeline Myers Award for outstanding achievement in graduate study in philosophy.
The 15th annual Northern Graduate Philosophy Conference was held October 28-29, 2022, in the Holmes Student Center University Suite. Prof. Sanford Goldberg (Northwestern) delivered the keynote address.
Congratulations to philosophy M.A. student Keith Lui, whose essay "The Value of Majoring in Philosophy" was selected for a Jan Kiergaard Award. The Kiergaard Award recognizes the best essays written in select �鶹��Ʒ composition courses.
Congratulations to senior philosophy major Chelsie Verstraete, who has received a 2022 Deans' Award in recognition of outstanding scholarship and contributions to the university community.
M.A. student Nick Piedmont has been selected as the winner of the 2022 JoAnne Rafalson Memorial Essay Contest for his paper, "Equivocating the Norms of Assertion." Congratulations, Nick, on a job well done!
In a recent interview on , Professor Mylan Engel discussed the use of service learning and civic engagement projects in philosophy courses.
Congratulations to M.A. student Lixing Miao, who has received the Graduate School's Outstanding Graduate Student Award in recognition of exceptional achievement in research and scholarly activity
The department mourns the passing of Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus Theodore ("Ted") Kisiel. Professor Kisiel worked at �鶹��Ʒ from 1969 until his retirement in 2006. An internationally renowned Heidegger scholar, he inspired generations of �鶹��Ʒ students.
Philosophy major Keelyn Sarmiento discusses her experience as an �鶹��Ʒ transfer student in a Huskie Spotlight interview.
M.A. student Will Perrin has been selected as the winner of the 2021 JoAnne Rafalson Memorial Essay Contest for his paper, "What Slurs Do Not Mean: In Defense of a Prohibitionist Account." Congratulations, Will, on a job well done!
Congratulations to philosophy major Janai Crumbley, who is one of five recipients of �鶹��Ʒ's for 2021
Congratulations to Meredith Sheeks (M.A., expected 2021), who has received the 2021 Myers Award for outstanding graduate student in philosophy.
Two philosophy majors—seniors Brooke Lavite and Claire Miller—were named as finalists for �鶹��Ʒ's . Congratulations to both!
has received �鶹��Ʒ's 2020 Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award in recognition of outstanding contributions to graduate education at �鶹��Ʒ.
discussed the philosophy of physics in a recent interview with .
Evan Dutmer (B.A., 2012), Instructor of Latin at Culver Academies, was recently named .
Congratulations to Zachary Smith (M.A., expected 2020) for being the Philosophy Department's recipient of the in recognition of distinction in the area of scholarship.
Congratulations to Maria Altepeter (M.A., 2014) for receiving the American Philosophical Association's for one of the three best papers submitted to the APA Eastern Division Meeting by a graduate student. Ms. Altepeter is currently a doctoral student at Washington University in St. Louis.
Congratulations to Devin Lane (M.A., expected 2020) for being selected recipient of the 2019 Myers Award for outstanding graduate student.
Congratulations to Brian Wagner (B.A., 2007; M.A., 2009), who recently received the .
Professor Mylan Engel spoke on "Eating Sustainably, Eating Well: Effective Ways to Reduce Our Ecological Footprint at Meal Times" for the on November 13.
Congratulations to Sarah Castle (B.A., philosophy, 2019) for taking First Place in the .
Congratulations to Anna Rdzok (B.A., philosophy, 2019) for taking Third Place in the .
Congratulations to Mack Sullivan (M.A., expected 2019) for being the Philosophy Department's recipient of the Graduate School's 2019 Outstanding Graduate Student Award in recognition of distinction in the area of scholarship.
Maggie Hitchcock, a Philosophy major, is featured in the Huskie Spotlight.
The ever-enthusiastic Varun Ravikumar (M.A., expected 2019) is in the .
Professor Mylan Engel Jr. is in the for his 2018 Presidential Teaching Professor Award.
, an open-access source of educational videos in philosophy co-directed by , just received a .
Congratulations to John Hill (M.A., expected 2019) for being selected recipient of the 2019 Myers Award for outstanding graduate student.
Jeremy Shipley (M.A., philosophy, 2006), currently an assistant professor of philosophy at Volunteer State Community College, .
is the recipient of a 2018 Presidential Teaching Professorship.
Evan Dutmer (B.A., 2012), who is currently finishing his Ph.D. in philosophy at Northwestern University, will be a full-time, tenure-track Instructor in Latin at the in fall 2018.
It is with sadness that we announce that our former colleague C. Michael Gelven passed away on June 1. Professor Gelven (1937-2018) taught at �鶹��Ʒ for 46 years, inspiring generations of students. The author of a dozen books, he served as a Distinguished Research Professor from 1997 until his retirement in 2011.
(M.A., 2012) will be an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee in the fall of 2018.
(M.A., 2012) will be an assistant professor at Princeton University in fall 2019, with appointments in the Department of Politics and the University Center for Human Values.
Junior philosophy major Maggie Hitchcock is the recipient of the for 2018.
Brianna Campbell and Christopher Copan are co-winners of the 2018 C. Mason and Madeline Myers Graduate Philosophy Award for outstanding achievement in graduate study in philosophy.
Sayid Bnefsi (M.A., 2018) is the Philosophy Department's recipient of the Graduate School's 2018 Outstanding Graduate Student Award, in recognition of distinction in the area of scholarship.
John Pindel (B.S., philosophy, 2016) is featured in .
Junior philosophy major Maggie Hitchcock is one of five recipients of the .
Anthony Chiarito (M.A., 2011) has been named one of "" by The Observer.
Philosophy major Matthew Wolf won the 2017 Illinois Philosophical Association Undergraduate Student Essay Contest for his essay "Negative Existentials: A Problem of Mistaken Beliefs."
Prof. Valia Allori discusses "" at the Institute for Arts and Ideas.
Prof. Mylan Engel received a to offer a new course on The Philosophy of Food in Spring 2017.
was awarded the , marking the third consecutive year that a Philosophy faculty member has received the award.
did an "Ask Me Anything" on . Check out what he had to say.
has received high praise from for his work with the open access philosophy project.
Junior philosophy major and Research Rookie David Lorenzo won Third Place Humanities Prize at the .
James "Twigz" McGuire (M.A., 2016), in his capacity as outreach coordinator for the Jerry L. Johns Literacy Clinic, to serve the children of Sycamore.
(B.A., 2006; M.A., 2010) won the for his essay "," which will appear in the July issue of Philosophical Quarterly. Matt is currently a doctoral student in philosophy at the University of Southern California.
(B.A., 1967), former Illinois Arts Council Fellow, has just published his fourth work of fiction, , with Black Rose Writing.
Tanya Kostochka (M.A., 2013) has become a cartoonist for the philosophy blog . In her day job, Tanya is a doctoral student in philosophy at the University of Southern California.
Emma Duncan (M.A., 2015) just published "Trolleys and Transplants: Derailing the Distinction Between Doing and Allowing" in . Emma is currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program in philosophy at the University of California at San Diego.
Renee Jorgensen Bolinger (M.A., 2012), who created the above picture of the Philosophy Department faculty and the series, just had her paper "The Pragmatics of Slurs" published in . Renee is currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program in philosophy at the University of Southern California.
Andrew Chapman (M.A., 2009) has become the Project Editor of , "an ever-growing set of original 1000-word essays on philosophical topics."
Andy Carson (M.A., 2012) has received coverage in for his study of . He has now published a follow-up study reporting on the .

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