Graduate placement

PhD program alumni

Here is a complete list of PhDs awarded by the department since 1998.

Graduates are listed by year that their degree was awarded. Updates to a graduate’s employment status are made as we receive them. Due to timing issues, no PhDs were awarded in 2017 or 2018.

To briefly summarize the outcomes from 1998 through 2014: 20 of 25 found fulltime academic jobs after graduating. 11 of 25 secured tenure-track positions.

Although it is natural to be interested in numbers like these as a prospective graduate student, it should be noted that the sample size of actual graduates is rather small. When graduates do not go on to academic work, do not find tenure-track positions, or find but leave tenure-track positions, they often do so for idiosyncratic reasons such as geographic or family preferences.

PhD job placement

1998

Brendan Lalor

Worldly Thoughts: A Theory of Embedded Cognition (chair: Ron McClamrock)

1st position: University of Central Oklahoma, tenure track

Subsequent position: Castleton State College (VT), tenure track

2000

Robert Seltzer

The Role of Intentions in Perceptual Demonstrative Utterances (chair: Ron McClamrock)

1st position: Nova University

Subsequent position: Western Illinois University, tenure track

2001

Glenn Braddock

Explaining Consciousness: Naturalizing the Phenomenological (chair: Ron McClamrock)

1st position: Hunter College, tenure track

Subsequent position: Siena College, Associate Vice President, Student Academic Success and Engagement

2002

Andrew Costa

Upward Collapses and Downward Explosions: The Emergence of the Problem of Individuation in Plato and Aristotle and the Solutions Proposed by Porphyry and Boethius (chair: Josiah Gould)

1st position: Adirondack Community College, tenure track; subsequently tenured at same

Daniel Thero

Understanding Moral Weakness (chair: John Kekes)

1st position: adjunct teaching

2nd position: The College of Saint Rose, Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy & Religious Studies (2007-2011)

Present position: Lecturer (full-time) and undergraduate program director for Philosophy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Cognitive Science Department (2012-present)

2003

Lawrence Stark

Personal Identity and Moral Responsibility (chair: Josiah Gould)

1st position: adjunct teaching

Subsequent position: Oakland Community College, Oakland County, Michigan

Alissa Hurwitz Swota

Autonomy in End-of-life Decision Making (chair: Bonnie Steinbock)

1st position: University of Toronto, post doc

Subsequent position: University of North Florida, tenured

2004

Daniel Patrone

Leaving Morality Where It Is: The Particularistic Approach to Morality and the Problems of Contingency, Happiness, and Responsibility (chair: John Kekes)

1st position: Rogers State University, tenure track

Subsequent position: East Stroudsburg University

2005

James Walker

Hegel's Response to Meta-critical Skepticism in the Phenomenology of Spirit (chair: Robert Howell)

Winner of University at Albany's 2005 Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation award

1st position: Union College

Subsequent position: Frostburg State University, tenure track

2006

Tatiana Patrone

Kant's Deduction of the Political Ideal (chair: Jon Mandle)

Winner of University at Albany's 2006 Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation award

1st position: Montclair State University, tenure track

Subsequent position: Ithaca College, tenured

2007

Klaus Ladstaetter

Paul Horwich on Truth and 'True' -- with Particular Consideration of the Generalization Problem (chair: Brad Armour-Garb)

1st position: Bennington College

Subsequent position: Washburn University

2008

John Styles

Empirically Grounded Metaphors in Science (chair: P.D. Magnus)

position: Supreme Headquarters for Allied Powers in Europe high school, Belgium; teaching chemistry and philosophy

Juliette Stevens

Mental Causation: A Nonreductivist Perspective (chair: Ron McClamrock)

1st position: College of Southern Nevada, now tenured at same

2009

Syd Johnson

Proactive Procreation: The Ethical Implications of New Genetic Technologies on Parental Obligations to Future Offspring (chair: Bonnie Steinbock)

1st position: post-doc fellowship in neuroethics at Dalhousie University

subsequent positions: Michigan Technological University, tenured; SUNY Upstate Medical University, Center for Bioethics and Humanities

2010

David Pinkowski

Resolving Incomparability (chair: Rachel Cohon)

1st position: Bryant and Stratton College

2013

Jonathan Auyer

Illusion in the Commonplace: Reinterpreting Ernst Gombrich's Concept of Illusion (chair: Robert Howell)

1st position: Burlington College, Vermont

Edward DuBois

The Case for Character: A Reply to Situationism (chair: Rachel Cohon)

Brandon Lee

Phronesis After Situationism (chair: Jason D'Cruz)

Pete Murray

Why the Basic Structure is Basic: a defense of the doctrinal autonomy of political philosophy (chair: Jon Mandle)

1st position: Siena College

2nd position: Saddleback College, tenure track

Jie Yin

The I think, Self-awareness, and Reflexivity -- a Reconstructed Kantian Model of Self-awareness (chair: Robert Howell)

1st position: Southeast University, Nanjing, China, tenure track

2nd position: Associate professor, School of Philosophy, Fudan University

2014

Elliot Cross

Motives, reasons, and morality (chair: Rachel Cohon)

Thomas Fowler

The Role of The Simple Natures and Method in Descartes' Meditations (chair: Robert Meyers)

Nicholas Partyka

Democracy, Political Externalities, & the Labour-Process (chair: Kristen Hessler)

Peter Reinisch

Locke's Theory of Justified Resistance: An Explanation and Defense (chair: Jon Mandle)

Kimberly Van Orman

Toward Explaining the Gap: How a Particular View of Explanation Underwrites the Explanatory Gap (chair: Ron McClamrock)

1st position: Institute for Teaching, Learning and Academic Leadership, University at Albany

2nd position: Visiting Assistant Professor, Bennington College

3rd position: Lecturer, Institute for Artificial Intelligence, University of Georgia

2015

David Krueger

The Self in Hume's Treatise (chair: Rachel Cohon)

John Milanese

Expecting the Unexpected: A Precautionary Principle Addressing Unconsidered Dangers (chair: Kristen Hessler)

1st position: adjunct teaching

subsequent position: full-time lecturer, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Wes McMichael

Beyond Permissibility: Traversing the many moral pitfalls of abortion (a virtue ethics approach) (chair: Bonnie Steinbock)

1st position: Pennsylvania Highlands Community College, tenure track

2nd position: Fresno City College, tenured 2019

Kevin W. Olbrys

Plato and the Sophists: Eristic Practice, Cognition, and Perception (chair Nathan Powers)

Position: Bergen Community College, tenure track

2016

Susan Parrillo-Home

Adjudicating the Simulation Theory / Theory Theory Debate (with Special Attention to the Case of Autism Spectrum Disorders) (chair: Brad Armour-Garb)

1st position: adjunct at Skidmore College and subsequently Cazanovia College

Marius Pascale

What Monsters May They Be: The Moral Status of Macabre Fascination and the Paradox of Horror (chair: Jason D'Cruz)

1st position: Raritan Valley Community College

2nd position: Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Guilford College, two-year, full-time position

Kathleen Whipple

The Concept of Human Dignity and Its Role in Bioethical Discourse (chair: Jason D'Cruz)

2020

Toan Tran

The Obligation of Promises (chair: Rachel Cohon)

Jennifer Tillman

An Extension of Social Justice: A Rawlsian Application of Justice for the Intellectually Disabled (chair: Jon Mandle)

1st position: two-year post doctoral position dually appointed in Philosophy and Women's and Gender Studies at the University of San Diego

2nd position: Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of San Diego, tenure track

Gunnar Babcock

Change and Continuity in Biology (chair: P.D. Magnus)

1st position: postdoctoral associate in the McShea Lab at Duke University, as part of the Teleology and Complexity project

2nd position: Full-time Lecturer, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, one-year position

2021

Will Kidder

The Role of Empathy in Moral Inquiry (chair: Jason D'Cruz)

Kali Milner

Partially Pretend Things: A Semantic Pretense Account of Plural Quantification (Chair: Brad Armour-Garb)

1st position: Adjunct Instructor, Wingate University

2022

Mark Brennan

Equality and Justice in Aristotle's Theory of Friendship (chair: Nathan Powers)

1st position: Northern Virginia Community College, Loudon Campus, Assistant Professor, Full-Time, Long-Term Renewable Position

Nick Jacobson

Causal Exclusion and Free Will Arguments (chair: Ron McClamrock)

Evan Malone

Genres, Communities, and Practice (chair: P.D. Magnus)

1st position: Full-time, Permanent Faculty position, Lone Star College, Houston

Raphael Moser

Interpersonal Forgiveness is the Recognition that Justice is Attained (chair: Rachel Cohon)

2023

Saleh Afroogh

Towards a Trustworthy and Responsible Artificial Intelligence (chair: Jason D'Cruz)

1st position: Senior Research Program Coordinator, Urban Information Lab, UT-Austin

2024

Jordan Corner

Prop-Oriented Make-Believe in Metaphor and Morality (chair: Brad Armour-Garb)

 

Note

Although we try to make sure this information is correct, some of it may be out of date, incomplete, or simply mistaken. If you have any corrections, changes, or suggestions, please contact the department and let us know.