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 May 2019 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
David Liakos
Spring, 2019
Dissertation:
Advisor:
Iain Thomson
Current Position
Instructor of Philosophy
Houston Community College
Daniel Briggs
Fall, 2018
Dissertation:
Advisor:
Iain Thomson
Current Position
Krupa Patel
Fall, 2018
Dissertation:
Advisor:
Kelly Becker
Current Position
Lecturer
San Jose State University
William Barnes
Spring, 2018
Dissertation:
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:
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
Adjunct Instructor
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
