In What Ways Can I Help?

          Philosophy

Support for the Philosophy at WVU aids deserving students and faculty members in a program that is at the heart of a liberal arts education in the Eberly College. Faculty members in Philosophy are committed, successful teachers and researchers who focus all their teaching efforts on the education undergraduates. The philosophy students they teach and advise leave WVU with two notable qualities. The first is a knack for thinking both deeply and critically, for asking and answering hard, basic questions. The second is a knack for succeeding in a variety of different real world endeavors after they leave WVU, which includes gaining admission to notable graduate and professional schools after they complete their degrees.

We are pleased to report that Philosophy graduates who return to WVU for our yearly Careers Panel repeatedly tell us that the skills in critical thinking that they have acquired in philosophy serve them well in diverse areas.

All our majors study logic, ethics, the history of philosophy and basic issues either in metaphysics or the theory of knowledge. They also study in a variety of subfields in philosophy tailored to their own interests. Some of them choose the pre-law area of emphasis within the major because they are bound for law school or interested in issues related to law and ethics. Philosophy is an inherently interdisciplinary field, in which students can study the foundations of a wide variety of human practices and institutions in course such as social and political philosophy, biomedical ethics, philosophy of law, philosophy of science, and philosophy of religion. Support for a prestigious professorship in Philosophy would have an enormous impact on the program and its students.

In Philosophy, a little goes a long way. Assistance in small amounts for students awards, student travel, or faculty teaching development stipends, can have a major effect on the program. The Philosophy department currently does not have a significant source of funds beyond its operating budget.

PHILOSOPHY PRIORITIES

• Funds for purchase of journal subscriptions and books for our Departmental Library
• Student enrichment endowment to support funds for student awards, for student travel to academic conferences, for the Philosophy Club, and for the Philosophy In-House Conference for undergraduates
• An endowment to organize a major yearly conference that would bring several prominent philosophers to campus each year or to support visiting speakers, especially those whose work is being read and studied by majors in our courses
• A faculty development endowment to provide summer stipends for research or teaching projects. We are especially interested in summer support for faculty members who wish to gain teaching competence in a new area
• An endowment to support Ethics Research Day. This activity involves bringing a prominent applied ethicist to campus to interact with students and faculty in some area of applied ethics such as biomedical ethics, engineering ethics, business ethics, or environmental ethics
• Funds to support the Philosophy Department’s Reunion for alumni