PhD Placement Information

Since 1996, the following thirty-five graduates earned a Ph.D. from the UNM Department of Philosophy. Thirty of our thirty-five graduates sought academic employment, and among these thirty, sixteen have secured full-time, tenure-track (TT) positions; nine have secured full-time, non tenure-track positions; and five are currently teaching part-time (PT), either as an adjunct or on a part-time appointment.  

NOTE: This page was last updated in September 2024 and is accurate to the best of our knowledge.  We will continue to update the current positions of our graduates as information becomes available to us. 

Our Graduates

Jason Barton

Spring , 2024

Dissertation:

"A Hegelian Theory of Divine Revelation"

Advisor:
Adrian Johnston

Current Position

Part-Time Instructor

University of New Mexico

Cara Greene

Fall, 2023

Dissertation:

"Bloody Rationality: The Dialectic of Modern Reason and Sacrifice in Hegel, Adorno, and Horkheimer"

Advisor:
Adrian Johnston

Current Position

Visiting Assistant Professor

Colorado College

Idris Robinson

Summer, 2023

Dissertation:

"Paradigms and Logical Morphology in Wittgenstein's Philosophy"

Advisor:
Paul Livingston

Current Position

Assistant Professor- Tenure Track

Texas State University

Mariah Partida

Spring, 2022

Dissertation:

"Vulnerability, Invulnerability, and the Mechanism of Disavowal"

Advisor:
Ann Murphy

Current Position

Assistant Professor of Instruction

Texas State University

David Liakos

Spring, 2019

Dissertation:

From Deconstruction to Rehabilitation: Heidegger, Gadamer, and Modernity

Advisor:
Iain Thomson

Current Position

Instructor of Philosophy

Houston Community College

Daniel Briggs

Fall, 2018

Dissertation:

Body and Time: The Temporality of Human Embodiment

Advisor:
Iain Thomson

Current Position


Krupa Patel

Fall, 2018

Dissertation:

Epistemological Disjunctivism: An Analysis and A Critique.

Advisor:
Kelly Becker

Current Position

Lecturer

San Jose State University

William Barnes

Spring, 2018

Dissertation:

Liberal Cynicism, Its Dangers, & a Cure

Advisor:
Ann V. Murphy

Current Position

Adjunct Instructor

Department of English, University of New Mexico

Formerly: Lecturer, Philosophy & Religion

Curry College

Dimitry Shevchenko

Spring, 2018

Dissertation:

Theories of Reflection in Indian Philosophy and Jacques Lacan

Advisor:
John Taber

Current Position

Research Postdoc Fellow

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Kaitlyn Creasy

Summer, 2017

Dissertation:

Thinking Differently, Feeling Differently: Nietzsche on Nihilism and Radical Openness

Advisor:
Iain Thomson

Current Position

Assistant Professor (TT) of Philosophy

California State University (San Bernardino)

Formerly: Assistant Professor (TT) of Philosophy

Butler University

Gino Signoracci

Summer, 2017

Dissertation:

Hegel on Indian Philosophy: Spinozism, Romanticism, Eurocentrism

Advisor:
Adrian Johnston

Current Position


Jaime Denison

Summer, 2016.

Dissertation:

Finding the Self in Tension: The Importance of Play for Embodied Consciousness in Post-Kantian Philosophical Anthropology and Psychology

Advisor:
Adrian Johnston

Current Position

Adjunct Instructor in Humanities

Philosophy & Religious Studies, Central New Mexico Community College

Tuto - Mathematics

TRIO Student Support Services - JMMC, Central New Mexico Community College

Philip Schoenberg

Spring , 2016

Dissertation:

Transcendence as Transformation: Charles Taylor and the Promise of Inclusive Humanism in a Secular Age

Advisor:
Iain Thomson

Current Position

Associate Professor (TT)

English and Philosophy, Western New Mexico University

Formerly: Adjunct Instructor

Department of Philosophy, University of New Mexico

Joseph Spencer

Spring , 2015

Dissertation:

Formalism and the Notion of Truth

Advisor:
Paul Livingston

Current Position

Assistant Professor (TT)

Department of Ancient Scripture, Brigham Young University

Visiting Assistant Professor

Department of Ancient Scripture, Brigham Young University

Formerly: Adjunct Instructor

Department of Ancient Scripture, Brigham Young University

Carolyn  Thomas

Fall, 2015

Dissertation:

Heidegger's Contributions to Education

Advisor:
Iain Thomson

Current Position

President

Board of Governors, Santa Fe Girls School

Lecturer III

Department of Philosophy, University of New Mexico


Susanne Claxton

Spring, 2015

Dissertation:

Heidegger's Gods: An Ecofeminist Perspective

Advisor:
Iain Thomson

Current Position

Adjunct Philosophy Instructor

Southern New Hampshire University COCE

Formerly: Adjunct Philosophy Instructor

Green Mountain College

Stephen Harris

Spring, 2014

Dissertation:

Demandingness, Self-Interest and Benevolence in Śāntideva’s Introduction to the Practice of Awakening (Bodhicaryāvatāra)

Advisor:
Richard Hayes

Current Position

Assistant Professor (TT), Comparative Philosophy

Leiden University

Tara Kennedy

Spring , 2014

Dissertation:

Heidegger and the Ethics of the Earth: Eco-Phenomenology in the Age of Technology

Advisor:
Iain Thomson

Current Position


Kristian Simcox

Fall, 2013

Dissertation:

Idealism and Education: Continuities and Transformations of Schelling's Philosophy and the Implications for a Philosophy of Education

Advisor:
Adrian Johnston

Current Position

Assistant Professor (TT)

University of New Mexico, Gallup Branch

Tanya Whitehouse

Fall, 2013

Dissertation:

The Projection of Language

Advisor:
Paul Livingston

Current Position

Assistant Professor (TT), Philosophy

Riverland Community College

Laura Guerrero

Summer, 2013

Dissertation:

Truth for the Rest of Us: Conventional Truth in the Work of Dharmakīrti

Advisor:
John Taber

Current Position

Assistant Professor (TT), Philosophy

William and Mary

Formerly: Assistant Professor (TT), Philosophy

Utah Valley University

Ethan Mills

Spring, 2013

Dissertation:

The Dependent Origination of Skepticism in Classical India: An Experiment in Cross-Cultural Philosophy

Advisor:
John Taber

Current Position

Associate Professor (TT), Philosophy & Religion

The University of Tennessee - Chattanooga

Formerly: Lecturer, Philosophy

The University of Arizona

Siobhan McLoughlin

Spring, 2012

Dissertation:

The Freedom of the Good: A Study of Plato's Ethical Concept of Freedom

Advisor:
John Bussanich

Current Position


Formerly: Adjunct Instructor (PT), Philosophy

Saint Xavier University

Teresa Blankmeyer Burke

Spring, 2011

Dissertation:

Quest For a Deaf Child: Ethics and Genetics

Advisor:
Barbara Hannan Cooke

Current Position

Professor (TT), Philosophy

Gallaudet University

Christian Wood

Summer, 2010

Dissertation:

Levinas's Symbiotic Phenomenology of Infinity and Totality

Advisor:
Iain Thomson

Current Position

Assistant Professor of French

Centre College

Formerly: PhD Candidate and Part Time Instructor, French

University of New Mexico

Allison Hagerman

Spring, 2010

Dissertation:

An Uncanny Nature: Taking a Side Road to Aesthetic Appreciation of Environment

Advisor:
Brent Kalar

Current Position

Director of Learning and Operations

McCune Charitable Foundation

Formerly: Grants Coordinator, ARTS Lab

University of New Mexico

Mark Ralkowski

Spring, 2008

Dissertation:

Heidegger's Platonism

Advisor:
John Bussanich

Current Position

Assistant Professor, Philosophy and Honors

George Washington University

Formerly: Adjunct Instructor, Philosophy

University of New Mexico

Carlos Sanchez

Summer, 2006

Dissertation:

From Epistemic Justification to Philosophical Authenticity: A Study in Husserl's Phenomenological Epistemology

Advisor:
Iain Thomson

Current Position

Professor (TT), Philosophy

San Jose State University

Chris Framarin

Summer, 2005

Dissertation:

Motivation with Renunciation: The Discarding of Desire in Indian Philosophy

Advisor:
G. F. Schueler

Current Position

Professor (TT), Philosophy

University of Calgary

Jessica Posniak

Fall, 2004

Dissertation:

Seven Spears in My Heart: Passion and Renunciation in the Philosophy of Bhartrhari

Advisor:
John Taber

Current Position


Formerly: Instructor, Philosophy, Religion, and Humanities

Central New Mexico Community College

Amy Lund

Fall, 2003

Dissertation:

Reflective Judgement and Non-Discursive Intelligibility in Kant's Third Critique

Advisor:
G. F. Schueler and Sergio Tenenbaum

Current Position

Professor (TT), Arts and Philosophy

Miami Dade College, Kendall Campus

Bryan Benham

Summer, 2002

Dissertation:

Reasons and Causes: A Critical Approach to the Causal View of Reasons

Advisor:
Barbara Hannan

Current Position

Assistant Professor, Philosophy

University of Utah

Stephen Scholz

Summer, 2000

Dissertation:

Forgiveness as Absolution: A New Model of Forgiveness

Advisor:
Sergio Tenenbaum

Current Position

Chair (TT), Philosophy & Religion

St. Augustine's University

Dan Zupan

Summer, 2000

Dissertation:

Autonomy and Noncombatant Immunity:An Investigation in Just War Theory

Advisor:
Sergio Tenenbaum

Current Position

Professor (TT), Philosophy

United States Air Force Academy

Lisa Gerber

Fall, 1999

Dissertation:

Environmental Virtues and Vices

Advisor:
G. F. Schueler

Current Position

Principal Lecturer, Philosophy & Religious Studies

University of New Mexico

Stephen Leach

Spring, 1999

Dissertation:

Kierkegaard, Adler and the Communication of Revelation

Advisor:
Andrew Burgess

Current Position

Associate Professor (TT), Philosophy

University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley

Kevin Boileau

Spring, 1998

Dissertation:

Genuine Reciprocity and Group Authenticity: Foucauldean Developments of Sartre's Social Ontology

Advisor:
John Taber

Current Position

Professor & Chair

Dept of Psychoanalysis & Philosophy

Executive Director

Existential Psychoanalytic Institute of Seattle

Formerly: Professor (TT), Philosophy & Psychology

Northwest College of Art

Dan Wolne

Fall, 1997

Dissertation:

The Boundaries of Identity: Postmodern and Mystical Models of Self and Self-Transformaion

Advisor:
John Taber

Current Position

Principal Lecturer, Religious Studies

University of New Mexico

Jerry Sherman

Spring, 1996

Dissertation:

Fallen Reason and Value-Free Thought: A Christian-Platonist Account of Nieztschean Thought and Nihilism

Advisor:
Russell Goodman

Current Position

Chair, Humanities / Philosophy / Religion

Central New Mexico Community College