2023 Philosophy Department Newsletter
Message from the Chair
Department Spotlights
Department Kudos
Alumni Class Notes
Message from the Chair
Greetings to all of our alumni from the George Washington University Department of Philosophy! The department has kept busy since our last newsletter. We are pleased to share with you a few of the exciting things happening in the department, including the achievements of our philosophy community.
I want to note that we have a new member of our community: Athena Naylor is our new senior academic department administrator. The transfer of departmental operations into Athena’s capable, conscientious hands could not have been more seamless. We are very fortunate to have Athena in the department’s most important administrative position. Thank you, Athena, for everything you do!
In other news, our last remaining tenure track faculty member, Vanessa Wills, earned tenure this past spring. Congratulations, Vanessa!
In addition, Michele Friend conducted her first ever Short-Term Abroad course in Mexico over spring break, for her Philosophy of the Environment class. By all accounts it was a tremendous success! This is our second Short-Term Abroad course; Mark Ralkowski’s Ancient Philosophy summer course in Greece continues to enroll strongly and is greatly appreciated by our students.
And thank you, alumni, so much for your support and involvement. Please stay in touch.
Sincerely,
Tadeusz Zawidzki
Department Chair
Department Spotlights
Short-Term Abroad Program in Guadalajara
Over spring break in March 2023, Professor Michele Friend led a new Short-Term Abroad (STAP) program in conjunction with her class Philosophy of the Environment. Over the course of eight days, 12 students studied and participated in efforts to clean Mexico’s most polluted waterway, the Santiago River.
The trip included visits to Zapopan, Jocotepec, and the indigenous community of Mezcala in San Pedro Itzicàn.
One of the participating students, Emily Philbrook, won the Short-Term Abroad Program photo award with two images.
In her photo of a waterfall along the Santiago River, she captured a lot of white foam, which is not just turbulence—it's mainly detergent. There is so much waste in the water from some 600 factories that Emily had to wear a mask to take the picture. The fumes from the river are noxious and highly toxic causing major health problems in the local population and ecosystem collapse.
Her second photo showed agave fields, the plant that is used to make tequila. The students learned that the tequila industry is owned by foreign investors who take short-cuts to maximize profits, leading to major pollution problems that cause health problems in children, adults and animals.
This new STAP was a unique opportunity for students to experience the complex political and environmental implications of pollution through a philosophical lens. Professor Friend looks forward to offering this program again once she returns from her 2023-24 sabbatical year.
First Year of New Peer Tutor Program a Success!
This past year, the Philosophy Department implemented the new Peer Tutor Program in which two academically accomplished majors held office hours each week to support their fellow students, particularly those in introductory courses, who needed assistance with writing, researching and studying. Our peer tutors were two seniors, Karina Ochoa Berkley and Bairavi Sundaram.
The program proved beneficial for both students and tutors. Bairavi shared the following reflection on her experience:
“My time as a peer tutor for the Philosophy Department was an incredibly valuable experience and something that I can confidently say was one of the most enjoyable parts of my senior year at GW. I really liked being able to interact with different students in the department—many of whom I hadn’t met—and help them feel more confident about the material they were learning in class. I felt like this allowed me to use the knowledge I had gained from classes in a different way than I was used to. It was also great to have conversations and learn other students’ thoughts. Overall, I felt like the program was very successful in its first year and many students expressed how much they appreciated the opportunity to have tutoring support specific to the department. I am glad to have been a part of such a meaningful project!”
At the end of the year, Karina earned the Gauss Prize for Excellence in Philosophy. Bairavi earned a prize for Excellence in Service to the Department of Philosophy. Bairavi also recently started a position with the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). She will work there as a development associate until late February before she travels to Papua, New Guinea, to teach English as a part of a Fulbright grant.
Congratulations to both of our peer tutors! We look forward to growing this initiative, and are already looking forward to welcoming our two new peer tutors for the upcoming year, Rose Ayar and Nicole Ariki.
Department Kudos
- Congratulations to Professor Vanessa Wills on achieving tenure, and to Professors Mark Ralkowski and Michele Friend for their promotions to full professor.
- Professor Friend also published the book The Institutional Compass: Method, Use and Scope (Springer, 2022) and presented her research to the European Parliament.
- Professor David DeGrazia published two journal articles, a book chapter and a book, Dialogues on Gun Control (Routledge, 2023). He has also begun writing a book about moral status. He gave five professional lectures including one at Oxford University titled “What is the Point of Moral Philosophy?” Professor DeGrazia was also the 2023 winner of the Oscar and Shoshana Trachtenberg Prize for Scholarship.
- Professor Laura Papish contributed the chapter “Duty” to the book Understanding Kant’s Groundwork, the first in a series of readers’ guides with an all women-identified list of authors.
- Visiting Professor Chris Meyers published his book Drug Legalization--A Philosophical Analysis (Springer, 2023).
- Kudos to all our philosophy faculty for their continued scholarship this year!
Alumni Class Notes
- Andrew T. Abruzzese, MA ’10, is a policy analyst in Medicaid eligibility policy at the Minnesota Department Human Services. He lives in the Twin Cities with his wife and children,
- David Hightower, BA ’69, is focusing on political commentary and spiritual eschatological ministry as a Melchizedek priest.
- Maury Landsman, BA ’65, taught philosophy at Carleton College in Minnesota. He practiced law for nine years and taught legal practice and professional responsibility at the University of Minnesota.