Lately he has been very interested an Honors interdisciplinary course, “Myth and Rhetoric: The Construction of Culture,” team-taught three times with Prof. Larry Williamson, a rhetorical theorist, and expecting to teach it again. Attending a conference in April, 2009, with his friend, Carole Huston, Director of Assessment, has led to some rethinking of various ideas on the appropriate ways to approach undergraduate teaching, including both Core and major courses, which began with rethinking how to teach epistemology.  As Chair of the Department, he relies on the wisdom of colleagues (who prefer not to be named) and the wide-ranging abilities of his Executive Assistant.  Having served twice on the Executive Committee of Academic Assembly of the College of Arts and Sciences, he is preparing to return to that committee for a third time.  He thinks the Senate Task Force on Academic Freedom has done a magnificent job; he is optimistic about the future of the College and is looking forward to seeing new ideas implemented at the College and Department level, especially those targeting student learning.  He is respectful of his mother, kind to animals and the occasional administrator.  Oh, yes: he has recently taught his dog to play Cheerios golf.

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Harriet Baber, Ph.D., has been a member of the faculty since 1982. She offers undergraduate courses on logic and contemporary analytic philosophy. Her research interests are in analytic metaphysics, philosophical theology, feminism and philosophy of economics. Baber’s interests include computers, Byzantine history, and knitting.

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Brian R. Clack, Ph.D.,  came to USD in September 2007, having previously taught in Oxford, England.  Clack’s research interests lie in the study of Wittgenstein, psychoanalysis and the philosophy of religion.

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John Donnelly has been a member of the faculty since 1976.  He has served as Chair of the Philosophy Department, and currently is a coordinator of the Catholic Studies minor.  He initiated the multiple offerings of interdisciplinary value courses at USD.  Professor Donnelly is a past President of the Soren Kierkegaard Society.  He has a broad range of philosophical interests, and has published in several areas of philosophy, including logic, epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, and ethics.  At USD, he has team-taught courses with colleagues in biology, theology, and nursing, as well as some cluster preceptorial classes.

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Michelle Grier, Ph.D., has been a member of the philosophy department since 1993. In addition to lower division introductory courses, she routinely teaches courses in the history of modern philosophy, German idealism (especially Kant), and post-Kantian (20th Century) continental philosophy.

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Peter Gratton, Ph.D., joined the faculty in 2007. He offers classes in contemporary European philosophy, critical race theory, the philosophy of human nature, philosophy and literature, and Africana philosophy. His research focus has been on modern democratic theory, especially as it takes shape in critiquing nationalist forms of racial identity and sovereignty. He also works on contemporary issues in Africana philosophy and the continued salience of racial and ethnic histories for engaging contemporary political problems. In both these areas of work,  Gratton sets out to rethink traditional notions of power that think power only in terms of state-based action. He is also working on traditional conceptions of the world, especially as it relates to recent currents in “realist” philosophies that try to think the world as it is outside its relationship to human existence.

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Lawrence M. Hinman, Ph.D., has been a member of the faculty since 1975.  He i currently serves as the co-director of the Center for Ethics in Science & Technology (http://ethicscenter.net). Hinman offers undergraduate courses on ethics, including ethical theory, applied ethics, and ethics and contemporary science.  His research focuses on ethical issues in emerging science and technology, including search engines, privacy and surveillance, stem cell research and therapy, neuroscience, and robotics. He has been very active in bring ethics-related resources to the Web, founding Ethics Updates in 1994 and Ethics Videos in 2000.  He has also done extensive work in academic integrity and ethics across the curriculum.

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Gary E. Jones, Ph.D., has been a member of the faculty since 1981.  He has taught a variety of courses over the years relating to ethics and health care.  His main area of research is health care policy, with an emphasis on the problem of the medically uninsured.

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Rodney G. Peffer, Ph.D., is a philosopher specializing in moral, social, and political philosophy as well as a published poet, an electronic percussionist (who plays with avant-garde jazz and “new music” musicians), and a life-long activist for progressive political causes. He has taught at USD since 1986.  He has lectured in most parts of North America and Europe as well as in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean – including Cuba.  He has prominently participated in the last four World Congresses of Philosophy, which occur only once every five years.

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Linda L. Peterson, Ph.D., has been a member of the faculty since 1985.  She routinely teaches classes in thehHistory of medieval philosophy and the philosophy of human nature.  Her research area of specialization is in the history of medieval philosophy with particular emphasis on the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas. Her research focus also includes philosophy of religion and metaphysics.

Peterson enjoys traveling and has traveled extensively including trips to Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, the Arctic Circle and Antarctica.  She particularly enjoys visiting cites of interest to the history of medieval philosophy.  She has traveled throughout Italy, visiting the birthplace of St. Thomas Aquinas and the monastery where he died. 

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Ann Pirruccello has been teaching at USD since 1992 and is professor of philosophy.  She offers courses in Introduction to Philosophy, Asian Philosophy, Critical Comparative Philosophy, and special topics courses in Asian and contemporary continental philosophy. Her research embraces philosophies of liberation in continental and Asian thought, metaphilosophical problems related to globalization, and comparative philosophy.

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Philosophy is about knowing yourself.  I’m still learning. History is indispensable; without it I cannot understand either myself or the world. In the meantime, I dream, I doubt, I wonder, therefore, despite all my faults, I am. I enjoy reading, writing, teaching and thinking—in short, living, not just existing.

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Michael F. Wagner, Ph.D., has been a member of the faculty since 1980.  His administrative appointments have included chair of the Philosophy Department (1988-1998) and director of the Interdisciplinary Humanities major (1987-1993, 2001-2007).  His research interests include several topic areas in Ancient and Hellenistic philosophy, in the classical Neoplatonic tradition, in the philosophy of time and science, and in Platonistic conceptions of eros and their cultural influences.

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Lori Watson, Ph.D., joined the USD faculty in 2007.  She is currently assistant professor of philosophy and director of the Gender Studies Program.

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Mark Wood, Ph.D., has been teaching at USD since 1997.  In addition to teaching undergraduate philosophy courses, he has been an affiliated faculty member of the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies since the inception of the Master’s Program in Peace and Justice Studies in 2002.  He is also an affiliate of USD’s Ethnic Studies Program and co-chaired USD’s Gender Studies Program for four years.  Currently he is the secretary of the International Society for Environmental Ethics.  Originally from North Dakota, Professor Woods discovered philosophy while serving in the United States Marine Corps.

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Matt Zwolinski, Ph.D., specializes in Political Philosophy and Normative Ethics.  He is a co-director of USD’s Institute for Law and Philosophy, and serves on the editorial board of Business Ethics Quarterly.  He regularly teaches courses in ethics, business ethics, political philosophy, and the philosophy of law.  His areas of research expertise are political philosophy and normative ethics, with a special focus on the intersection of ethics, law, and economics.

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