Curriculum Vitae

Education

Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA
Ph.D. in Philosophy (December 1999)
Master of Arts in Philosophy (December 1997)
Dissertation: The Question of Expression: Toward a Phenomenological Rhetoric

Shimer College, Waukegan, IL
Bachelor of Arts in General Studies with Distinction (May 1990)
Valedictorian
Senior thesis: A Philosophy of Dialogue

Areas of Specialization

Phenomenology (Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty)
Phenomenological method and practice
Phenomenologies of expression, media, embodiment, and lived space

Areas of Competence

History of Philosophy
Ethics
Applied Ethics (Business and Biomedical)
Introductory Logic

Professional Experience

Fall 2000 – present

University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit, MI
Professor of Philosophy (Fall 2011 – present)
Chair (August 2012 – August 2015)
Associate Professor of Philosophy (Fall 2004 – Fall 2011)
Director, The Honors Program at UDM (Fall 2001 – 2011)
Assistant Professor of Philosophy (Fall 2000 – Fall 2004)

Regular Courses:
Architecture and Phenomenology
Critical Thinking
Existentialism
Foundations of Ethics
Introduction to Philosophy
Person and Society
Philosophy, Visuality, and the New Media
Social and Political Philosophy

Directed Readings and Special Topics Courses:
Appearance and Reality
Being and Permanence
Contemporary Continental Philosophy
Dwelling: Heidegger and Norberg-Schulz
Friendship
The Good Life
Heidegger: Being and Time
Husserl
Locke and Mill
Nietzsche
Phenomenology
Phenomenology of Place
Phenomenological Practicum
Philosophy of Technology
Postmodernism

1998 – 2000

Rollins College, Winter Park, FL
Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Adjunct Instructor

Courses:
Business Ethics
Ethics
Introduction to Philosophy
Philosophy of Education
Topics in Ethics (Friendship)

1998 – 1999

University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL
Adjunct Instructor

Courses:
Introduction to Philosophy

1997 – 1998

Daytona Beach Community College (now Daytona State College), Daytona Beach, FL
Adjunct Instructor

Courses:
Philosophy I

1996 – 1997

Carlow College, Pittsburgh, PA
Adjunct Instructor

Courses:
Biomedical Ethics

1995 – 1996

Robert Morris College, Pittsburgh, PA
Adjunct Instructor

Courses:
Business Ethics

1993 – 1997

Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA
Adjunct Instructor, Teaching Assistant, Graduate Assistant

Courses:
Basic Philosophical Questions
Introductory Logic
Philosophy of Sexuality

Professional Publications

“American Higher Education, the De-Worlding of World, and the Lessons of Finitude“
Studies in Philosophy and Education (August 2022)

“Detroit Bike City and the Reconstitution of Community“
Open Philosophy 3 (November 2020)

“The Fatally Flawed Leadership of Donald J. Trump: A Platonic Analysis“
Philosophy in the Contemporary World 25/1 (Spring 2019)

“Precarious Embodiment: Unwanted Pregnancy and Bodysubject Interruptus“
Feminist Philosophy Quarterly 5/3 (2019)

“Stolen Space: The Perverse Architecture of Torture“
Contribution to Merleau-Ponty: Space, Place, Architecture. Edited by Patricia Locke and Rachel McCann. Ohio University Press, January 2016

“Here I Stand: Mediated Bodies in Dissent“
Media Tropes 2/2 (2010)

“Torture“
International Journal of Applied Philosophy 23/2 (2009)

“Aude Describere!“
PhaenEx 3/2 (Fall/Winter 2008)

“Back to the Things Themselves! (again)“
Co-author with Astrida Neimanis of the University of Sydney. PhaenEx 3/2 (Fall/Winter 2008)

“The Necessity of Communicating Phenomenological Insights–and its Difficulties“
Contribution to Meaning and Language: Phenomenological Perspectives. Phaenomenologica Series, Volume 187. Springer Academic Publishing, 2008

“The Mortal God to Which We Owe Our Peace and Defense“
Contribution to Philosophical Perspectives on the War on Terrorism. Edited by Gail M. Presbey. Editions Rodopi, 2007

“Detroit Detritus“
Dichotomy: A Student Publication of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture 16 (Fall 2006)

“Speaking to the World Through Husserl and Merleau-Ponty“
Contribution to Issues in Interpretation Theory. Edited by Pol Vandevelde. Marquette University Press, 2006

“Cellular Irruptions“
Glimpse: The Journal of the Society for Phenomenology and Media 5/1 (Fall 2004). Also published in Phenomenology and Media. An Anthology of Essays from Glimpse. Edited by Paul Majkut and Alberto J. L. Carrillo Canan. Zeta Books, 2010

“9/11/01 and the Pull of History“
Glimpse: The Journal of the Society for Phenomenology and Media 4/1 (Fall 2003)

“Dwelling in the Classroom: A Phenomenology of Distance Learning“
Primary author, with Libby Balter Blume of University of Detroit Mercy and Thomas W. Blume of Oakland University. The Journal of Teaching in Marriage and Family: Innovations in Family Science Education Volume 2, Issue 1 (July 2002)

“The Question Concerning Virtual Community“
Glimpse: The Journal of the Society for Phenomenology and Media 3/1 (Fall 2001)

“Sartre/Réage“
Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature (September 2001)

“The Rhetorical Impulse in Husserl’s Phenomenology“
Continental Philosophy Review (formerly Man and World) 34/1 (March 2001)

“Merleau-Ponty’s Reform of Saussure: Linguistic Innovation and the Practice of Phenomenology“
Southern Journal of Philosophy 38/4 (December 2000)

“Discrete Environments: Those Which Do Not Dwell“
International Studies in Philosophy 28/2 (1996)

Other Publications

“Some Remarks on Bigotry: An Open Letter to the University Community“
Published as “Bigotry has no place on campus; expel the unrepentant.” The Varsity News, (February 11, 2020)

“How to Make Students Better Thinkers“
Secondary author with Elizabeth A. Oljar of the University of Detroit Mercy. Chronicle of Higher Education, (February 3, 2019)

“The Disordered Soul and Presidency of Donald J. Trump“
Blog of the American Philosophical Association (October 10, 2017)

“A Little Corner of Shimer“
Symposium: A Publication of Shimer College (Summer 2012)

“The Dishonesty of ‘Cores Lite’: The Battle for a Truly Common Core“
Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education 39 (Spring 2011)

Essay review: “All that is solid melts into air…” The Last Professors: The Corporate University and the Fate of the Humanities. By Frank Donoghue. Bronx: Fordham University Press, 2008. Technology and Culture (January 2010)

“Logic Will Save Our Students From the Media“
Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education 32 (Fall 2007)

Review: Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics. Edited by Carl Mitcham. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005. Technology and Culture (July 2007)

Review: Living in the Labyrinth of Technology. By Willem H. Vanderburg. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005. Technology and Culture (October 2006)

Review: American Philosophy of Technology: The Empirical Turn. Edited by Hans Achterhuis. Translated by Robert P. Crease. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2001. Technology and Culture (January 2003)

Review: Bodies in Technology. By Don Ihde. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2002. Technology and Culture (October 2002)

Review: The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics: World, Finitude, Solitude. By Martin Heidegger. Translated by William McNeill and Nicholas Walker. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1995. The Review of Metaphysics (March 2002)

Review: Technology and the Good Life? Edited by Eric Higgs, Andrew Light, and David Strong. University of Chicago Press, 2000 and Holding On to Reality: The Nature of Information at the Turn of the Millenium. By Albert Borgmann. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999. Technology and Culture (October 2001)

Review: The Robot in the Garden: Telerobotics and Telepistemology in the Age of the Internet. Edited by Ken Goldberg. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000. Technology and Culture (July 2001)

Professional Presentations

“Post-Truthism and the Fragility of Sense“
Presented by video to the German Society for Phenomenological Research, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität (Jena, Germany), September 29, 2022.

“Higher Education and the Deworlding of World“
Accepted for presentation to the Society for Existential and Phenomenological Theory and Culture, Western University (London, Canada), June 1-3, 2020. Meeting canceled due to coronavirus pandemic. Presented virtually April 30, 2021.

“Teaching Phenomenology as a Heuristic Tool in Architectural Design“
Presented by video to the annual meeting of the British Society of Phenomenology, University of Exeter (Exeter, UK), September 3, 2020.

“Evocation as Method“
Accepted for presentation to the annual meeting of North American Society for Early Phenomenology, St. John’s University (New York, NY), April 22-24, 2020. Meeting canceled due to coronavirus pandemic.

“Detroit Bike City and the Reconstitution of Community“
Presented at the annual Philosophy of the City Conference, University of Detroit Mercy (Detroit, MI), October 4, 2019

“General Education as Introduction to the World and Liberation from Ignorance“
Presented at the Society for Values in Higher Education, Loyola University (Chicago, IL), July 11, 2019

“The Battle for Philosophy at the University of Detroit Mercy (and Elsewhere)“
Presented at Teaching Philosophy in the Michigan Area, Eastern Michigan University (Ypsilanti, MI), September 24, 2016

“Merleau-Ponty, Expressivity, and the Practice of Phenomenology“
Presented to the Society for Existential and Phenomenological Theory and Culture, University of Calgary (Calgary, Canada), June 1, 2016

“Phenomenology and Critical Disability Studies“
Panel commentary presented to the Society for Existential and Phenomenological Theory and Culture, University of Ottawa (Ottawa, Canada), June 2, 2015

“Why our students can’t think critically . . . and why they probably never will“
Secondary author, with Elizabeth Oljar of the University of Detroit Mercy. Presented to the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts & Letters at Andrews University (Berrien Springs, MI), March 13, 2015

“Embodied Politics in the Age of the Virtual“
Keynote presentation for “Essays of Significance: A Graduate Philosophy Conference” at the University of Windsor (Windsor, Canada), March 22, 2014

“Body (Subject) Interruptus: A Phenomenology of Unwanted Pregnancy“
Presented to the Society for Existential and Phenomenological Theory and Culture, Saint Thomas University and the University of New Brunswick (Fredricton, Canada), May 30 – June 4, 2011

“Response to Jeremy Anderson’s ‘Suicide Terrorism and the Hobbesian Sovereign’“
Presented at the Pacific Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association (San Diego, CA), April 23, 2011

“A Forgotten Front of the Core Wars: The Battle for a Truly Common Core“
Presented to the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts & Letters at Saginaw Valley State University (Saginaw, MI), March 11, 2011

“Stolen Space: The Perverse Architecture of Torture“
Presented at “Flesh and Space: Intertwining Merleau-Ponty and Architecture,” Mississippi State University (Starkville, MS), September 9, 2009

“Rubbish“
Presented to the Society for Existential and Phenomenological Theory and Culture, Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada), May 26-30, 2009

“The Exegetical Attitude“
Presented to the inaugural meeting of the Interdisciplinary Coalition of North American Phenomenologists, Romapo College (Mahwah, NJ), May 8, 2009

“Stranger in the House: A Report on Philosophy in a Jesuit University“
Presented at a summit on The Role of Philosophy in Jesuit Higher Education, Seattle University (Seattle, WA), April 17, 2009

“Mediated Bodies in Dissent“
Presented to the Society for Phenomenology and Media, (Arlington, VA), February 26, 2009

“Vox Phenomenologica“
Presented to the Society for Phenomenology and the Human Sciences, Duquesne University (Pittsburgh, PA), October 17, 2008

“Torture“
Presented to the Society for Existential and Phenomenological Theory and Culture, University of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon, Canada), May 29-31, 2007

“The Necessity of Communicating Phenomenological Insights – and its Difficulties“
Presented at the Husserl-Archives, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Leuven, Belgium), November 24, 2006

“Sartre and Sontag on the Torture of Images“
Presented to the Thirtieth Anniversary Conference of the International Association for Philosophy and Literature, Albert-Ludwigs Universitat (Freiburg, Germany), June 5-10, 2006

“Here I Stand: Spaces and Bodies in Political Dissent“
Presented to the Society for Existential and Phenomenological Theory and Culture, York University (Toronto, Canada), May 27-29, 2006

“Photography, Media and Ontological Assault“
Presented to the Society for Existential and Phenomenological Theory and Culture, University of Western Ontario (London, Canada), May 28-30, 2005

“Dwelling in the Classroom/Learning at a Distance: A Heideggerian Investigation of Distance Learning“
Presented to the Seventh Annual Conference of the Society for Phenomenology and Media, Western Oregon University (Monmouth, OR), May 12-14, 2005

“Looking at the Other at Abu Ghraib“
Presented to the Concerned Philosophers for Peace at the American Philosophical Association Eastern Division Meeting (Boston, MA), December 27, 2004

“Phenomenology is Not Just Intuition But Also Expression“
Presented to the Twenty-Ninth Annual Meeting of the International Merleau-Ponty Circle: “Expression, Language, Art,” Muhlenberg College (Allentown, PA), September 30 – October 2, 2004

“Incredulity, Stupefaction, 9/11“
Presented to the Sixth Annual Conference of the Society for Phenomenology and Media, Brigham Young University (Provo, UT), May 5-8, 2004

“Locke contra Capital!“
Presented to the Fourteenth Annual Philosophy, Interpretation and Culture Conference, Binghamton University (Binghamton, NY), April 16-17, 2004

“Master of All and Subject to None“
Presented to a conference on “Empire and Imperial Cultures,” California State University-Stanislaus (Turlock, CA), February 27-28, 2004

“The Mortal God to Which We Owe Our Peace and Defense“
Presented at the Sixteenth Annual Conference of the Concerned Philosophers for Peace, Pacific University (Forest Grove, Oregon), October 23-26, 2003

“Phenomenology, Community, and the Problem of the Mobility of Meaning“
Presented to the Society for Existential and Phenomenological Theory and Culture, Dalhousie University and University of King’s College (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada), May 28-29, 2003

“Cellular Irruptions“
Presented to the Fifth Annual Conference of the Society for Phenomenology and Media, Arcada Polytechnic (Helsinki, Finland), May 14-17, 2003

“The Death of Lockeanism and the Rise of Global Leviathanism“
Presented to the Thirteenth Annual Philosophy, Interpretation and Culture Conference, Binghamton University (Binghamton, NY), April 11-12, 2003

“Words and Things: The Problem of Constituting Phenomenological Meaning“
Presented by invitation to the Marquette University Seminar on Phenomenology and Hermeneutics (Milwaukee, WI), March 27, 2003

“The War on ‘Terrorism’ and Memory: The Violence of the Hyperreal“
Presented to the Fifteenth Annual Conference of the Concerned Philosophers for Peace, Walsh University (North Canton, OH), October 24-27, 2002

“Trash Talk: A Phenomenological Study of Litter (and Detroit)“
Presented to the Sixth Annual Meeting of the International Association for Environmental Philosophy, Loyola University (Chicago, IL), October 12-14, 2002

“Dwelling in the Classroom: An Outline for a Heideggerian Pedagogy“
Presented to the Twelfth Annual Philosophy, Interpretation and Culture Conference, Binghamton University (Binghamton, NY), April 19-20, 2002

“9/11/01 and the Pull of History“
Presented to the Fourth Annual Conference of the Society for Phenomenology and Media, Universidad Nacional Autonoma (Puebla, Mexico), February 21-24, 2002

“Why Phenomenologists Cannot Describe Essences“
Presented to the American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division Meeting (Atlanta, GA). Colloquium on “Phenomenological Reflection and Imagination,” December 30, 2001

“Post-war Assessments: Merleau-Ponty and Baudrillard“
Presented to the Twenty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the International Merleau-Ponty Circle: “The Political Implications of Merleau-Ponty’s Philosophy,” University of North Carolina (Asheville, NC), September 20-22, 2001

“What is the State of Dwelling in the Age of the Internet?“
Presented to the Third Annual Conference of the Society for Phenomenology and Media, National University (La Jolla, CA), February 22-24, 2001

“Dissolution and the New World Order“
Presented at “Borders and Frontiers: An Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference,” Duquesne University (Pittsburgh, PA), November 23, 1996

“Looking Through the Keyhole with Jean-Paul Sartre: The Ontology of Voyeurism“
Presented at the Twentieth Anniversary Conference of the International Association for Philosophy and Literature, George Mason University (Fairfax, VA), May 8-11, 1996

“Breaching the Walls from the Inside: Merleau-Ponty on Expressive Intellectual Discourse“
Presented at the Sixth annual Philosophy Interpretation Culture Conference “Private Scholars, Public Intellectuals: Institutional Constraints and Ethical Political Responsibilities,” Binghamton University (Binghamton, NY), April 19, 1996

“Rescuing the Poets: Merleau-Ponty and a Call for an Academic Poetics“
Presented at “What’s the Difference? Communities and Communication in Transition,” Duquesne University (Pittsburgh, PA), December 2, 1995

“But How is the Silence Filled? The Persistent Gap Between parole and langue in Merleau-Ponty“
Presented at the Thirty-Fourth Annual Meeting of the Society for Phenomenological and Existential Philosophy, DePaul University (Chicago, IL), October 12-14, 1995

“The Unfulfilled Silence: The Problem of Linguistic Innovation in Merleau-Ponty“
Presented at the Twentieth Annual International Conference of the Merleau-Ponty Circle “Merleau-Ponty, Language, and Contemporary Thought,” Duquesne University (Pittsburgh, PA), September 21-23, 1995

“Warriors/Shopkeepers/Voyeurs“
Presented at “Kant’s Legacy: Idealism, Romanticism, Post-Modernity,” DePaul University (Chicago, IL), May 18-20, 1995

“Discrete Environments: Those Which Do Not Dwell“
Presented at the Philosophy Interpretation Culture Conference “World, Community, Place,” State University of New York (Binghamton, NY), April 29-30, 1995

“Nietzsche: Sarcasm as Method“
Presented at the Duquesne Graduate Students in Philosophy Spring Colloquium, Duquesne University (Pittsburgh, PA), February 17, 1995

“Kant in Bosnia“
Presented at “Global (Inter)Sections: Gender, Race, and Class in (Multi)Cultural texts,” Duquesne University (Pittsburgh, PA), November 12, 1994

“Satire, Misogyny, Moral Extremes, the Idea of Violence, and Conclusive Narrative in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks“
Presented at the NEH Conference “Gender Politics in 20th Century Multicultural Texts,” Duquesne University (Pittsburgh, PA), November 13, 1993

Other Professional Activities

Panel Co-Organizer: “Back to the Things Themselves!“
A practicum on phenomenological description, Spring 2007 – present

Local Conference Co-Organizer: “Philosophy of the City“
An interdisciplinary conference on the urban, October 3-5, 2019

Member of Editorial Collective
PhaenEx, Summer 2015 – Spring 2018

External Reviewer
The Danish Council for Independent Research, Summer 2015

Secretary of the Executive Committee, Spring 2014 – Spring 2018
Member-at-Large of the Executive Committee, Spring 2010 – Spring 2014
Society for Existential and Phenomenological Theory and Culture

Member of Advisory Board
Media Tropes, 2008 – present

Book Reviewer
Technology and Culture, 2001 – 2010

Co-Editor (with Astrida Neimanis of the London School of Economics)
Special topics issue of PhaenEx (Back to the Things Themselves: Edges and the In-between), 3/2 (Fall/Winter 2008)

Program Co-Organizer: “9/11: Five Years & Beyond“
A semester-long series of memorials, lectures, films, discussion panels, speak-outs and performances at the University of Detroit Mercy (Detroit, MI), Fall 2006

Member of Editorial Board
Glimpse: The Journal of the Society for Phenomenology and Media, May 2003 – February 2006

Secretary-Treasurer
Society for Phenomenology and Media, February 2002 – February 2006

Manuscript Referee
Wadsworth Publishing Company, Spring 1999

Conference Co-Coordinator
Interdisciplinary Conference: “What’s the Difference? Communities and Communication in Transition” Duquesne University (Pittsburgh, PA), December 2, 1995

Public Lectures

“How Democracies Die: Looking for Hope in Dark Times“
A discussion with Assistant Professor of Political Science Alex Zamalin on the dangers that emerging authoritarianism pose to the constitutional order and the rule of law, at the University of Detroit Mercy (Detroit, MI), February 25, 2020

“The Disordered Soul and Presidency of Donald J. Trump: Platonic Reflections on 45“
Presented by invitation at the Shimer Great Books School of North Central College (Naperville, IL), April 25, 2018, and to the College of Liberal Arts and Education Faculty Development Colloquium, University of Detroit Mercy (Detroit, MI), April 13, 2018

Radio Interview
Detroit Today with Stephen Henderson. WDET 101.9 (Detroit, MI), February 16, 2017. Discussion on the value of a liberal arts degree in 2017.

“Torture, Indirect Phenomenology, and Doing Philosophy Backwards“
Presented to the College of Liberal Arts and Education Faculty Development Colloquium, University of Detroit Mercy (Detroit, MI), November 4, 2016

“On White Privilege and Police Brutality“
Panelist, “Race and Policing,” sponsored by the African-American Studies program at the University of Detroit Mercy (Detroit, MI), April 19, 2016

“Hands Up! Ferguson, Race, and Justice“
Panelist, Honors Symposium, sponsored by The Honors Program at the University of Detroit Mercy (Detroit, MI), October 30, 2014

“Reflections on the Debris of Detroit: a philosophical provocation“
Presented at “Defining Detroit: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Detroit,” sponsored by the Economic and Global Affairs Alliance at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI), April 12, 2014

“In Your End is the Beginning of Your Possibilities“
Presented at the Induction Ceremony and Dinner of The Honors Program at the University of Detroit Mercy, October 6, 2013

People’s Choice Juror
Detroit Architecture Awards, American Institute of Architects, September 19, 2013

“Some Remarks on Fear and Politics“
Presented to the Muslim Student Organization and the Hispanic-American Student Association at the University of Detroit Mercy, November 16, 2010

“Coming Home Again“
Shimer College Keynote Address (Chicago, IL), October 17, 2009

“Trash Talk: A Phenomenology of Litter (and Detroit)“
Presented to the College of Liberal Arts and Education Faculty Development Colloquium, University of Detroit Mercy (Detroit, MI), January 29, 2004

“Pedagogy, Technology, Authenticity“
Presented at Shimer College (Waukegan, IL), March 28, 2003

“Dwelling in the classroom/learning at a distance: a Heideggerian investigation of distance learning“
Presented to the College of Liberal Arts Faculty Development Colloquium, University of Detroit Mercy (Detroit, MI), February 8, 2001

“Locke and the Social Theory that Dares Not Speak Its Name“
Presented to the University Club (Winter Park, FL), March 14, 2000

“John Locke, the Spirit of ’76, and the Divine Right of the Corporation“
Presented to the Friends of the Volusia County Library lecture series (Daytona Beach, FL), May 13, 1999