Philosophy Department's Honors Reception
19 May 2004
Phi Sigma Tau Inauguration and
Induction:
On May 19th, 2004, the department of philosophy held its first
reception for honoring students and faculty. After opening remarks by
Prof. Frank Kirkland, chairperson of the philosophy department, Prof.
Christa Acampora, faculty advisor to the philosophy club and
departmental advisor, began the event by introducing Dr. Ralph
Acampora, professor and Phi Sigma Tau (PST) advisor at Hofstra
University, as PST's official representative in charge of opening
Hunter's new chapter of this honors society.[1] Dr.
R. Acampora read the society's mission statement and requirements for
approving departmental chapters and for inductees, as well as a letter
from a national PST official. Hunter was accepted into PST as the New
York Upsilon Chapter with Prof. C. Acampora as its faculty advisor.
Hunter established higher selection criteria than the national standard
by raising the GPA minimum to 3.5. Our inductees are particularly
distinguished. They are:
Ben
Abelson (Chapter Secretary)
|
Rachel Falkenstern
*
|
Michael Pallante
|
Tara Autovino *
|
Jonathan Fox
|
Connie Pedersen
|
Suha Bady
|
Galil Gertner
(Chapter Vice President)
|
Manuela Pizzi
|
Noam Barzilay
|
Akiva Glick (Chapter
President)
|
Allyson Pokres
|
| Ruby Bloom |
Alexandra Jeronimo
|
Jennifer Rivera
|
Celina Bragagnolo*
|
Bracha Mandel
|
Sara Susswein
|
Christina Conroy *
|
Christopher Myco *
|
Kimoon Yoon
|
Brian Crowley *
|
Laura O'Neil
|
Pauline Zalkin
|
* Graduating Seniors--more on this below.
Following this inauguration and induction, Professor Kirkland (along
with Professors Acampora and Hausman) announced the following marks of
distinction and awards for both students and faculty:
Student Awards and Distinctions:
1) Tara Autovino will enter the MA program in Film
Production at NYU in fall 2004 with fellowship and full tuition paid.
She will graduate magna cum laude.
2) Celina Bragagnolo will enter the doctoral program
in Philosophy at Duquesne University in fall 2004 with full tuition
paid. She will graduate magna cum
laude.
3) Christina Conroy will enter the doctoral program
in Logic and Philosophy of Science at the University of California,
Irvine in fall 2004 with fellowship and full tuition paid. She
graduated in January 2004 summa cum
laude and with department honors for her honors thesis “The
History of the Theory of Relations: Metaphysics’ Connection with
Logic.” She is the sole recipient of the 2003-04 William Bryar Memorial Award for
distinguished academic work in philosophy throughout an undergraduate
career. She is also one of two recipients of the 2003-04 James Gordon Clapp Award for
best paper submitted to the honors committee of the philosophy
department.
4) Brian Crowley had his paper “Index to Animals in
Nietzsche’s Corpus” published in a professional
volume, viz., Prof. Acampora’s A Nietzschean Bestiary Becoming
Animal Beyond Docile and Brutal. His paper “An Ethics of Possibility in
Heidegger” was accepted for presentation at a professional (not undergraduate or
graduate student) philosophy conference (Philosophy, Interpretation,
Culture Conference) at SUNY Binghamton. He is deferring graduate school
for a year. He is one of two recipients of the 2003-04 James Gordon Clapp Award for
best paper submitted to the honors committee of the philosophy
department.
5) Rachel Falkenstern will enter the doctoral program
in Philosophy at Temple University in fall 2004. She will graduate magna cum laude.
6) Christopher Myco will enter the law school of
either Columbia University or Fordham University in fall 2004.
7) Tanya Small will enter the MA program in
Humanities, specializing in Cinema and Media Studies, at the University
of Chicago in fall 2004 with fellowship and full tuition. She graduated
in January 2004 magna cum laude.
Full-Time Faculty Accomplishments
1) Christa Acampora’s co-edited book, A Nietzschean
Bestiary: Becoming Animal Beyond Docile and Brutal, was published this
year by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. She also has an article in
the volume and wrote the “Introduction” to it. Her article “Demos
Agonistes Redux: Reflections on the Streit of Political Agonism” has
been published in the journal Nietzsche-Studien. She has been promoted
to associate professor and has also been appointed to
the doctoral faculty of the CUNY Graduate Center.
2) Omar Dahbour received an Andrew W. Mellon
Residential Fellowship at the CUNY Humanities Center in the CUNY
Graduate Center. It goes
into effect in the 2004-05 academic year. His article “Three Models of
Global
Community” has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Ethics
and
his article “The Difference between Moral and Ethical Evaluations of
Terrorism”
has been accepted for publication in the Philosophical Forum. He has
been
appointed to the editorial board of the Journal of Social Philosophy
and
appointed editor of the American Philosophical Association (APA)
Newsletter on International Cooperation.
3) James Freeman’s article “The Pragmatic Dimensions
of Premise Acceptability” was published in Anyone Who Has a View:
Theoretical Contributions to the Study of Argumentation (Kluwer
Academic Pub., 2003). His article “Premise Acceptability and Truth” has
been accepted for publication in the volume Mistakes of Reason
(University of Toronto Press).
4) Alan Hausman’s co-authored article “Wittgenstein’s
Evil Demon” was published in Cartesian Views: Papers in Honor of
Richard
A. Watson (Brill, 2003).
5) John Lango received a NEH Summer Fellowship to
participate in the faculty seminar on “War and Morality: Re-thinking
the Just War Tradition for the 21st Century” at U.S. Naval Academy in
Annapolis, Maryland. He received a PSC-CUNY Grant for work on his
Alfred North Whitehead project, and his paper
“Preventive Wars, Just War Principles, and the United Nations” has been
accepted
for publication in the Journal of Ethics.
6) Laura Keating’s article “The Role of the Concept
of Sense in Principles IV, 189-98” was published in the British Journal
for the
History of Philosophy.
7) Frank Kirkland’s article “Modernisms In Black” was
published in The Companion to African-American Philosophy (Blackwell
Publishers,
Inc., 2004) and his article “The Problem of the Color Line: Normative
or
Empirical; Evolving or Non-Evolving” has been accepted for publication
in
the journal Philosophia Africana. He has been appointed chairperson of
the
APA Committee on the Status of Blacks in the Profession.
8) Gerald Press’ paper “What is the Subject of Meno
86d-110b?” has been accepted for presentation at the 7th Symposium
Platonicum of the International Plato Society to be held at the
University of Würzberg in Germany.
9) Steven Ross’ paper “Real Modest Moral Realism” was
presented at the CUNY Graduate Center Philosophy Colloquia and has been
accepted
for publication in Philosophical Forum.
Part-Time Faculty Accomplishments
1) Maureen Eckert (part-time instructor) received a
tenure-track position in philosophy at the University of Massachusetts,
Dartmouth. (She is a graduate of Hunter College.)
2) Fritz McDonald (part-time instructor) received a
Graduate Writing Fellowship to be used at the CUNY Law School.
3) Daniel Greenspan (part-time instructor) received a
Kierkegaard Summer Residency Fellowship at the Hong’s Kierkegaard
Library,
housed at St. Olaf’s College in Northfield, Minnesota to begin
dissertation
research.
Emeriti Faculty Accomplishments
1) Virginia Held, Distinguished Professor Emeritus,
was elected President of the American Philosophical Association (APA),
Eastern Division, in 2001. Some of her representative publications,
since retirement, are “The Ethics of Care” in the Oxford Handbook of
Ethical Theory (Oxford University Press, 2004); “Terrorism and War” in
the Journal of Ethics (2003); and “Moral Subjects: The Natural and The
Normative”—APA Presidential Address in Proceedings and Addresses of the
American Philosophical Association (2002).
2) Charles Landesman, Professor Emeritus, wrote the
book Skepticism: The Central Issues (Blackwell Publishers, 2002). He
also co-edited the volume Philosophical Skepticism: From Plato to Rorty
(Blackwell Publishers, 2003). His article “Rawls on Hiroshima: An
Inquiry into the Morality of the Use of Atomic Weapons in August 1945”
was published in Philosophical Forum (2003).
3) Charles Sherover, Professor Emeritus, wrote the
book Are We in Time: And Other Essays on Time and Temporality
(Northwestern University Press, 2002). He also wrote the book From Kant
and Royce to Heidegger: Essays in Modern Philosophy (Catholic
University Press, 2002). His book The Human Experience of Time
(Northwestern University Press) was reprinted in 2002.
A reception with cake, lemonade, and
sparkling wine (the last provided by Prof. Press) followed.
On behalf of the students, the Philosophy Club of Hunter College would
like to thank the philosophy department faculty and staff for
organizing both this event and the opening of the PST chapter. (From
the Web master, thanks go to professors Kirkland and Acampora for
supplying a full list of names and details for the PST students, the
graduating seniors, and the various faculty.)
[1] It became known in the course of the induction
ceremony that phi sigma tau stands for philountōn sophian timē, the honor
of
those who love wisdom.