2008

University of Miami’s Department of Philosophy ranks among top 5 U.S. Ph.D. programs

Outranking universities such as Harvard, Stanford and Princeton, the University of Miami’s philosophy department has placed number five on a list of top Ph.D. programs in the country whose faculty members are frequently cited in scholarly journals. Jonathan Kvanvig, a philosophy professor at Baylor University, posted the rankings on his blog, Certain Doubts.

These rankings are based on departmental faculty Hirsch numbers. A faculty member’s Hirsch number is the number of his/her publications, x, that have been cited at least x times. (So, for example, a faculty member with 2 publications, both of which have been cited 2 times, has a Hirsch number of 2. A faculty member with 20 publications, all of which have been cited 10 times, has a Hirsch number of 10.) UM’s Department of Philosophy P.h.D. Program is ranked #5 by faculty mean, and tied for #5 by faculty median. Only NYU, Rutgers and MIT were ranked more highly on both measures.

At no. 5, this is the highest the UM Philosophy program has ever been ranked. Some of the department’s most frequently cited faculty include Colin McGinn, Harvey Siegel, Susan Haack, Keith Lehrer and Michael Slote.

“We have some highly visible, widely cited scholars in our department, and this ranking reflects that,” said Siegel, who is currently serving as chair of the department. “I think it also indicates a promising future for the department.”

Due out later in the fall is the highly anticipated Philosophical Gourmet Report (PGR), also known as the Leiter Report. Unlike the citation-based rankings posted on Certain Doubts, the PGR, the most influential ranking of PhD programs in philosophy, is a reputational survey. Many potential graduate students use the PGR and other rankings to guide their choice of doctoral programs. In 2004-2006, UM ranked 44th in the PGR, and 32nd in 2006-2008.

“We hope to continue our upward movement in the next PGR ranking,” said Siegel. “We are subject to the halo effect there. Doing well in a citation-based ranking is I think a more accurate reflection of our collective scholarly contribution than our place in a reputation-based ranking like PGR. But since PGR is so influential with potential graduate students, we will do our best to continue to improve there, too.”

UM Ethics Programs recognized by World Health Organization

The University of Miami Ethics Programs have been designated a Collaborating Center in Ethics and Global Health Policy by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva. UM’s center is only the third of its kind in the world to receive this designation and the first ever in the United States. The designation is recognition of the Ethics Programs’ nearly two decades of work in ethics education, research, and public policy in Latin America, the Caribbean, and other regions, according to Kenneth Goodman, codirector of the UM Ethics Programs and director of the University’s Bioethics Program at the Miller School of Medicine. “This recognition underscores and affirms UM’s commitment to ethically optimized international research and public policy,” he said. “It is also a mark of a great university’s dedication to collaborative research in a global context.” The UM Ethics Programs are directed by Anita Cava, an associate professor of business law, and Goodman, an associate professor of medicine at the Miller School with a secondary appointment in philosophy. The collaborating center application process is arduous and requires several layers of review. In the case of the UM Ethics Programs, center status was first endorsed by leadership of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the regional branch of the World Health Organization. The UM Ethics Programs have worked with PAHO for many years on projects around the Americas. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, from the People’s Republic of China, gave final approval of the designation.

Keith Lehrer was a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Science for the academic year 2007—2008.

 

Peter Lewis spent a year visiting the Centre for Time at the University of Sydney, and the Philosophy Department of Durham University working on issues in the foundations of quantum mechanics, especially how to understand probability in the many-worlds interpretation, which was funded in part by NSF Scholar’s Award.

 

Colin McGinn recently presented the Cooper Fellows Inaugural Cooper Lecture. He explored the role and status of the “common man” in post-war British literature and philosophy in his talk titled “The Rise of the Ordinary Bloke”.  The College of Arts and Sciences’ Cooper Fellows Lecture Series features presentations by some of the most outstanding faculty in the college.  Cooper Fellows are appointed by the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences after nomination by their departments. 

Michael Slote co-directed an NEH summer seminar on Confucianism and Western Virtue Ethics at Wesleyan University in the Summer of 2008.

 

Amie Thomasson, while on sabbatical during the 2007-2008 academic year, spent time as a visiting fellow at the Centre for Time at the University of Sydney, at the Centre for Consciousness at the Australian National University, and at the University of Durham, England. In addition to talks at each of those places, she also presented her new work on modality and existence at conferences in Sydney, St. Andrews, Geneva, and Barcelona, and gave colloquium talks at the Universities of Leeds and Sussex.

 

AWARDS

David Delgado was the recipient of the Ramon M. Lemos Excellence in Philosophy Award for Outstanding Graduating Senior in Philosophy. Navied Mahdavian was the recipient of the Phi Sigma Tau Award and Nima Sharifai received the Geritt and Edith Schipper Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Student in Philosophy. Kristin Borgwald was the recipient of the Gerritt and Edith Schipper Award for Outstanding Graduate Student in Philosophy and Brian Mondy received the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award for the Department of Philosophy. Daniel Hampikian and faculty collaborator Professor Michael Slote are recipients of the 2008 Arsht Award for Research on Ethics and Community. Their project, “Developing A Confucian Model for Moral Improvement Within a Care Ethical System,” is one of eight awards made university wide under the Arsht Initiatives.

 

RECENT GRADUATE STUDENT PresentaTions

Nicholas Wiltsher presented a paper entitled “Kornblith on Knowledge and Natural Kinds” at the Joint Session of The Aristotelian Society and The Mind Association at the University of Aberdeen, UK during the summer. He also presented a paper this month entitled “Kornblith on Knowledge and Intuition” at the Kazimierz Naturalised Epistemology Workshop, in Kazimierz, Poland.
 

Michael Hurlburt presented a paper  entitled “Empathic Autonomism” at the Philosophy of Literature Conference at the University of Sussex, London June 2008.  He also presented a paper entitled “Divorcing the Ethical Value of a Narrative Work from its Aesthetic Value” at the American Society for Aesthetics Rocky Mountain Division Annual Conference.
 

Brian Mondy presented a paper entitled “Sider and Distinguished Structure” at the University of Minnesota Graduate Philosophy Conference in February 2008.

Congratulations are extended to Corina Vaida for successfully defending her Ph.D. dissertation in the Spring of 2005.

Job Offers

• Osvil Acosta-Morales has accepted a position at the University of Toledo.
   

• Christopher Weaver has accepted a position as Assistant Professor at Lewis University.
   

• Michael Shaffer has accepted an Assistant professor Tenure track offer from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota.
   

• Ruben Rabinsky has accepted a Lectureship position at the University of Miami.
   

• Michael Veber has accepted an Assistant Professor tenure track offer at East Carolina University.
   

• Shirong Luo has accepted an offer as Assistant Professor at Simmons College.
   

• Kiriake Xerohemona has accepted an Assistant Professor position at Florida International University.