Department of Philosophy
- The first chairperson of the Department, Dr. Kenneth Kennard and his wife Marilyn, established the Kenneth and Marilyn Kennard Fund in 1998. This fund has supported a variety of student activities and recognitions. A scholarship to a promising Philosophy major has been established with funding from the Kennard Fund. In 2006, the Philosophy Department accepted a very generous donation from alumnus Scott Elliott. The income from this endowment will also be used for Philosophy scholarships and other student and faculty support.
- ISU students have delivered research papers at several conferences including the Midsouth Philosophy Conference, the Pacific University Undergraduate Philosophy Conference and the Illinois Wesleyan University Philosophy Conference, as well as ISU’s Undergraduate Research Symposium. In 2005, senior Philosophy major Tyson Mohr won the Illinois Philosophical Association undergraduate philosophy essay prize and presented his paper on Locke’s politics at the annual IPA meeting, the only undergraduate student on the program.
- Dr. David Anderson is the Director of the Mind Project, which unites students and faculty from a wide range of disciplines and institutions to explore the nature of the mind, to build "artificial persons," and to create web-based cognitive science curricula. His research is in philosophy of language and epistemology. The Mind Project has been awarded $1/2M from the National Science Foundation and $1.3M from National Institutes of Health.
- Dr. Alison Bailey is Director of the Women’s Studies Program and the winner of the 2006 Strand Diversity Achievement Award. Her research is in applied ethics and feminism. Her latest book is a co-edited volume, The Feminist Philosophy Reader.
- Dr. Chris Horvath won the 2004 Strand Diversity Achievement Award and the 2005 University Service Award. His research is in philosophy of biology and he is a contributing author to the Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Biology.
- Emeritus Professor Kenton Machina held the Andes Endowed Chair in General Education from 2001 – 2004, ISU’s first endowed professorship, working to enhance the university’s General Education program and the first year experience. He was a co-principal investigator on a National Science Foundation grant to increase women students participation in science, math, engineering, and technology programs. Dr. Machina’s research is in the area of logic, language and moral responsibility. His latest work is on the possibility of giving up moral evaluations.
- Dr. Mark Siderits was awarded a Leverhulme Trust grant and Professorship for 2003 – 2005 to develop England’s first graduate program in South Asian Philosophy, at the University of Liverpool. He also taught Buddhist Philosophy at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland during the Spring 2004. His research area is comparative philosophy of language and metaphysics and his latest book is Buddhism as Philosophy.
- Dr. Thomas Simon won a second Fulbright Fellowship to work with local scholars on Islamic Law at the University of Malaya in 2005-2006. He has served as invited scholar for the United Nations Working Group on the Protection of Minorities. In 2002 – 2003, he held the Schulze Distinguished Professor Chair of Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Northern Colorado. His research is in philosophy of law. His latest book is Justice and Genocide.
