Philosophy

Chancellor's Award Winner: Emily Elise Cloutier

Students Who Soar: Philosophy Major Bianca Gonzales

Chancellor's Award Winner: Carly Pershyn

Students Who Soar: Philosophy Arts and Letters Major Carly Pershyn

Pictured: Sarah Caputi, '13, All College Honors student, Hole Scholar, and Dean’s Award for Excellence in Philosophy winner, was accepted to the prestigious and competitive summer 2012 Colorado Summer Philosophy Institute, mentored by Jason Grinnell, associate professor of philosophy. Under Grinnell’s mentorship she was also awarded Buffalo State's Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship Award, 2012.

Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges 2013 Winners

Pictured (left to right): Hal D. Payne, vice president for student affairs; Who's Who award winner Carissa Handiman; Stephen Burgeson, lecturer of hospitality and tourism

Pictured (left to right): Hal D. Payne, vice president for student affairs; Who's Who award winner Jenna Tomasello; Stephen Burgeson, lecturer of hospitality and tourism

Pictured (left to right): Hal D. Payne, vice president for student affairs; Who's Who award winner Sarah Caputi; Stephen Burgeson, lecturer of hospitality and tourism

2011–2012 Student Awards Ceremony: Hosted annually by Dr. Kimberly Blessing in her home located near campus.

Nadeen Bawab, '12, All College Honors and Balowitz Scholar, is pursuing a degree in law at SUNY Buffalo Law School, accepted fall 2012.

Jason Offerman, '12, presented ''The Moral Grounds of Autonomy,'' and Ryan Harvey commented on his paper at the Second Annual Undergraduate Philosophy Conference, RIT, May 2011.

Pictured: Congratulations to our Ethics Bowl 2012 Regional Champions! Dr. Julian Cole, coach (seated).

Kevin Meindl, '11, Outstanding Philosophy Major, will be attending Cornell Graduate Program in Landscape Architecture (the third best program in country), beginning fall 2012. Kevin presented his paper, ''Is Descartes a Monster?,'' at the First Annual Undergraduate Conference, Niagara University, spring 2011.

Sandee Chappell, '09, philosophy major, was admitted into the master of arts program in psychology at Medaille College. Ms. Chappell transferred to Buffalo State from Niagara College in Canada, and earned a 3.29 in her major, Philosophy. Since graduation she has been working at Horizon Health Services, where she works as a vocational counselor, which is what got her interested in studying psychology. "I have to say that I absolutely loved my time at Buffalo State (once I switched to Philosophy). You run a great program. All of the professors I was able to work with were truly caring and always willing to help."

Collette Davenport, '09, philosophy major, was awarded a $15,000 annual scholarship for three years to UNC Chappell Hill Law School.

Darla Joyce, '09, recipient of a 2009 Victor Balowitz Prize, has been accepted into the Ph.D. program in philosophy at SUNY Buffalo where she will pursue her interests in metaphysics and ontology.

Joyce came to Buffalo State in 2006 having earned an associate’s degree from Erie County Community College; she has also studied philosophy at SUNY Brockport. Formerly an anthropology major, Darla-Jo changed her major to philosophy in 2008 and maintained a 3.83 GPA in her major. In spring 2009 she presented a paper for the Student Colloquia titled "The Possibilities of Inquiry," as well as commenting on another student paper the same session, titled "Doubt It: Skepticism as a Virtue in Science."

"I cannot say enough good things about the philosophy program at Buffalo State. The program itself is designed, not only to give one a very thorough and fundamental background in philosophy, but also to help the student advance in their studies, by giving them the opportunity to explore their personal philosophical interests. The professors and staff of the philosophy department are extremely helpful and go above and beyond to help their students achieve academic success. I couldn't have chosen a better place to begin my academic studies in philosophy."

Jacob Platt, '09, Balowitz Scholar, was accepted into the master’s program in philosophy at SUNY Buffalo, where he is pursuing interests in aesthetics, applied ontology, philosophy of law, and the metaphysical foundation of bioethics.

Platt came to Buffalo State in 2007 as a design major with an associate’s degree from Niagara Community College. At Buffalo State, Jacob earned a 3.58 in philosophy.

Yevgeny Yarmolinets, '09 came to Buffalo State in 2003 from Brooklyn, NY and earned a 3.85 in Philosophy while also pursuing a minor in Psychology.  Gene was a regular participant in our Faculty-Student Colloquia.  In Fall 2006, he served as commentator for a student paper titled "Intelligent Design 101 (with Statistics)"; in Fall 2007 Gene commented ably on a faculty paper by Jerry Nosich, Ph.D., titled "Two Short Arguments, From Science, on the Non-existence (or Non-Involvement) of God"; and in Spring 2008 Gene presented a new paper he wrote for the colloquia series, titled "Can Intellectuals Be Decent Human Beings?"

Justin Donhauser, '06, is finishing up his Ph.D. in philosophy at SUNY Buffalo, and has published several articles.

Donhauser, an outstanding philosophy major award recipient, has been extremely productive while completing the second year of his NSF research fellowship at the Ecosystem Restoration through Interdisciplinary Exchange-Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (ERIE-IGERT), for which he was awarded $60,000.

Donhauser’s recent publications include: co-authored article with John Corcoran, “Implications of implication,” abstract in Bulletin of Symbolic Logic (forthcoming); another co-authored article with Adam P. Taylor, “Grey Matters: Personal Identity in the Fringe Universe(s),” in the Philosophy of J. J. Abrams, eds. Patricia Brace and Robert Arp. Kentucky Univ. Press (forthcoming); and “If Walter White is breaking bad, maybe you are too,” in ‘Breaking Bad’ and Philosophy, ed. David Koepsell, Open Court (forthcoming). 

His recent talks include “Are all ecosystems reducible?,” Annual ERIE-IGERT Symposium: SUNY at Buffalo (August 2010); “Constraining Too Promiscuous Realism,” Instruments: Mental and Material, 6th Annual Graduate Student Association of the Institute for the Philosophy and History of Science and Technology (HAPSAT), University of Toronto (April 2010); “Promiscuous Realism and Adaptive Ecosystems Management: on Taxonomic Pluralism and the Dimensions of Integration,” ERIE-IGERT Colloquium: SUNY at Buffalo (February 2010); “Spacetime Dimensionality and Real Presentism,” University of Waterloo Philosophy Graduate Student Association 17th Annual Graduate Conference in Philosophy (March 2010); “From Mind/Body Dualism to Mind/Body Triism,” Mind, World, and the Space in Between, 3rd Annual University of South Florida Graduate Student Conference (March 2010); “Monism All the Way Up, Moral Responsibility All the Way Down,” Spirituality, Morality and Social Justice: East and West, Society of Indian Philosophy and Religion: Kolkata, India (April 2010), paper accepted but unable to attend due to unexpected funding limitations; “Applying Metaphysics to Ecosystemic Problems,” Annual ERIE-IGERT Symposium, SUNY at Buffalo (August 2009); “Dimensional and Adimensional-presentism,” The Metaphysics of Everyday Life: Themes from the work of Lynne Rudder Baker, SUNY at Buffalo Graduate Conference, Center for Inquiry, Amherst, NY (April 2009); “My Own Worst Enemy: Locke’s Memory Criterion and the Lethal Plot Hole,” 2009 National Popular Culture and American Culture Associations Conference, New Orleans, LA (April 2009).