Position
Academic Background
Sample Courses   
Teaching Philosophy
Research & Interests   
Notable Academic Appointments & Awards
Publication Highlights   
Selected Scholarly Presentations

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• Professor of Philosophy

Academic Background        

• Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin - Ph.D. in Philosophy, 1991
• University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming - M.A. in Philosophy, 1987
• St. John's College, Santa Fe, New Mexico - B.A. in Philosophy/Mathematics, 1978

• American Philosophy
• General Ethics
• Senior Seminar (capstone course for philosophy majors)
• Honors Colloquium: Simone Weil and Iris Murdoch
• Honors Development of Western Civilization
• Development of Western Civilization

Teaching Philosophy

The desire to learn, to pursue the truth at all costs, cannot be taught. It can only be awakened by example, shown as a living reality. That, I believe, is the greatest task of a teacher: to demonstrate, by his or her own example, the desirability and attraction, the unparalleled invigoration and joy, of being a lifetime learner and pursuer of truth.

Research & Interests

Notable Academic Appointments and Awards

• Recipient of the Joseph R. Accinno Faculty Teaching Award, Providence College, 2004-05
• Chair, Providence College Department of Philosophy, 2004-2008

Publication Highlights

• Weaving the World: Simone Weil on Science, Mathematics, and Love.  Pp. xii+237, University of Notre Dame Press (Fall 2005), ISBN 0-268-03486-9 (hdbk); 0-268-03487-7 (pbk)
• Foundations of Cartesian Ethics.  Pp. xii+237, Humanities Press (February 1994), ISBN 0-391-03804-4.
• Modern and Contemporary Philosophy in Context.  Pp. xxii+531, Hayden/McNeil Publishing (July 2001), ISBN 0-7380-0489-8.
• "Mathematics and Supernatural Friendship," Philosophy and Theology, 18:2 (2006): 318-335.
• "Simone Weil and the Divine Poetry of Mathematics," in The Christian Platonism of Simone Weil, University of Notre Dame Press (Fall 2004), ISBN 0-268-02564-9 (hdbk); 0-268-02565-7 (pbk): 95-114.
• "Humility and the Transcendent," Faith and Philosophy, 18:3 (2001): 307-22.
• "The Metaphysics of Naturalism," American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 75:3 (2001): 409-31.
• "Cognitive Science, Naturalism, and Divine Prototypes," Philosophy and Theology 11:1 (1998): 25-46.

Selected Scholarly Presentations and Activities

• "Simone Weil and Erotic Pedagogy," the 2009 American Weil Society Colloquy, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL, April 25, 2009.
• "Seeking the Absent God: Reflections of a Christian Ironist," Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research Resident Scholar lecture, St. John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota, March 12, 2009.
• "Miracles and Supernatural Physics: Simone Weil on the Relationship of Science and Religion" ("Miracles et la physique surnaturelle: relations entre la science et la religion selon Simone Weil"), Colloquy on "Simone Weil et la science," Association pour l'étude de la pensée de Simone Weil, Paris, France, November 2, 2008.
• “Grace Tangled with Violence: Looking Behind ‘Christ’s Tender Smile’”, the 2008 American Weil Society Colloquy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, April 26, 2008.
• “The King and the Maiden: Reflections on Kierkegaard, Weil, and the Moment,” the 2007 American Weil Society Colloquy, St. John’s College, Santa Fe, NM, April 27, 2007.

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