Recent PhD Placements
Baylor's Philosophy Department has a strong history of job placement, both inside and outside academia. In fact, according to a recent report, our department ranks 5th for permanent academic job placement out of 123 PhD-granting programs! Recent surveys of program graduates also showed that Baylor’s program ranked 4th out of 143 programs for teaching preparedness and received top overall and climate ratings.”
Here are all of our university appointments to date (non-university appointments listed below):
| Name | Graduation | Dissertation Title and Director | Position | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caitlin Maples | 2025 | Socrates's Pedagogy: Education and Learning in the Symposium (Schultz) | Clinical Ethics Fellow | Albany Medical College (Albany, NY) |
| Rich Eva | 2024 | The Ethics Of Politicization (Beckwith) | Director, Character Forward Initiative | Duke University (Durham, NC) |
| David Skowronski | 2024 | Assistant Professor (2024-) | College of Southern Nevada (NV) | |
| Brandon Johnson | 2024 | Resurrecting Platonism : God, Abstract Objects and the Forms (Ward) | Post Doc (2024-) | Baylor University (Waco, TX) |
| Michael Willenborg | 2024 | A Defense of the Fetal Position : The Ethics, Metaphysics, and Politics of Life (Pruss) | Post Doc (2024-) | Baylor University (Waco, TX) |
| Harrison Lee | 2024 | Second Thoughts About Double Effect (Pruss) | Visiting Assistant Professor (2024-) | University of Mississippi (University, MS) |
| Dan Kemp | 2023 | The Good and Other Values : In Defense of Neo-Platonic Ethical Non-Naturalism (Evans) | Instructor (2023-) | Grand Canyon University (Phoenix, AZ) |
| Fr. Robert Verrill | 2023 | The EPR-Bohm Paradox and Kent’s One-World Solution (Pruss) | Philosophy Teacher (2023-) | Blackfriars Hall (Oxford, England) |
| Burke Rea | 2022 | On the Metaphysics and Ethics of Omissions (Haldane) | Assistant Professor (2022-) | Eastern University (St Davids, PA) |
| Benjamin Rusch Gomez | 2022 | A Politics for Human Flourishing (Haldane) | Assistant Professor (2022-) | The University of Mary (Bismarck, ND) |
| Benjamin Rusch Gomez | 2022 | A Politics for Human Flourishing (Haldane) | Lecturer | The University of Mary (Bismarck, ND) |
| Lieutenant Colonel Kathryn Toms | 2021 | Virtue Ethics And Character Development At The United States Air Force Academy (Beckwith) | (2021-) | USA Air Force Academy (Air Force Academy, CO) |
| Christopher Tomaszewski | 2021 | Et in Pulverem Reverteris : A Defense of Thomistic Hylemorphic Anthropology (Pruss) | Assistant Professor | Belmont Abbey College (Belmont, NC) |
| Yunus Prasetya | 2020 | Pragmatism and the Theory-Dependence of Explanatory Judgments in Science (Pruss) | Assistant Professor (2022-) | Yale-NUS College (Singapore) |
| Yunus Prasetya | 2020 | Pragmatism and the Theory-Dependence of Explanatory Judgments in Science (Pruss) | Assistant Professor (2020-) | Universitas Pelita Harapan (Tangerang, Indonesia) |
| Sabrina Little | 2020 | Aretaic Exemplars : A Mixed-methods Approach To Character Education (Evans) | Assistant Professor (2022-) | Christopher Newport University (Newport News, VA) |
| Sabrina Little | 2020 | Aretaic Exemplars : A Mixed-methods Approach To Character Education (Evans) | Lecturer (2020-2022) | Morehead State University (Morehead, KY) |
| Derek McAllister | 2020 | Fallow Season : Depression And Its Forebears (Evans) | Lecturer (2022-) | Towson University (Towson, MD) |
| Derek McAllister | 2020 | Fallow Season : Depression And Its Forebears (Evans) | Lecturer (2022-2022 ) | Loyola University Maryland (Baltimore, MD) |
| Derek McAllister | 2020 | Fallow Season : Depression And Its Forebears (Evans) | Lecturer (2020-2022) | Dixie State (George, UT) |
| Brandon Rickabaugh | 2020 | The Conscious Mind Unified (Pruss) | Assistant Professor (2021-) | Palm Beach Atlantic University (West Palm Beach, FL) |
| Adam Myers | 2019 | The Fate Of Nature : Ethical Naturalism In Historical And Critical Context (Haldane) | Assistant Professor (2021-) | Mount Mercy University (Cedar Rapids, IA) |
| Nicholas Colgrove | 2019 | Resistance: Its Nature, Virtues, and Application to Matters of Faith (Pruss) | Assistant Professor (2020-) | Augusta University (Augusta, GA) |
| Nicholas Colgrove | 2019 | Resistance: Its Nature, Virtues, and Application to Matters of Faith (Pruss) | Postdoctoral Fellow (2019 – 2021) | Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, NC) |
| Alina Beary | 2018 | A Thomistic Principle of Virtue Individuation | Assistant Professor (2018-) | Biola University (La Mirada, CA) |
| Nathan Cartagena | 2018 | Thomas Aquinas' Psychology of Fear (Miner) | Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy (2018-) | Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL) |
| Allison Krile Thornton | 2018 | Animals, Now and Then (Pruss) | Assistant Professor (2018-) | University of South Alabama (Mobile, AL) |
| Jared Brandt | 2018 | Growth of Infused Virtue in the Work of Thomas Aquinas (Miner) | Assistant Professor of Philosophy (2018-) | Dallas Baptist University (Dallas, TX) |
| Matt Wilson | 2018 | The Virtue of Taking Ownership (Evans) | Director of Academic Programs and Research Associate (2018-) | Harvard University (Cambridge, MA) |
| Christopher Tweedt | 2017 | Starting With the Obvious (And Where to Go After That) (Kvanvig) | Adjunct Professor (2017- ) | Christopher Newport University (Newport News, VA) |
| John Giannini | 2017 | Quantifier Variance and Interpretive Charity (Pruss) | Assistant Professor (2018- ) | Houghton College (Houghton, NY) |
| Pete Younger | 2017 | Civic Friendship and A Value of Assumptions in Rawls (Beckwith) | Temporary Lecturer (2017- ) | Baylor University (Waco, TX) |
| Brandon Dahm | 2016 | Knowing the Transcendent: Analogous Properties and Speaking about God (Hibbs) | Assistant Professor of Philosophy (2016-) | Franciscan University (Steubenville, OH) |
| Daniel Padgett | 2016 | A Relational View of Time (Pruss) | Full-Time Instructor (2016-) | Humanities Department, Northwest Vista College (San Antonio, TX) |
| James Clifton Bryant | 2016 | Epistemic Blame: Its Nature and its Norms (Dougherty) | Full-Time Adjunct (2017- ) | Northeast Vista College (San Antonio, TX) |
| Karl Aho | 2016 | Living, Like the Lily, In the Present: Kierkegaard's Philosophy of Time (Evans) | Assistant Professor of Philosophy (2017- ) | Tarleton State (Stephenville, TX) |
| Blake McAllister | 2016 | Common Sense Epistemology: A Defense of Seemings as Evidence (Kvanvig) | Assistant Professor of Philosophy (2016-) | Hillsdale College (Hillsdale, MI) |
| Ryan West | 2016 | Cultivating Character: Spiritual Exercises, Remedial Virtues and the Formation of the Heart (Roberts) | Assistant Professor of Philosophy (2016-) | Grove City College (Grove City, PA) |
| Emily Glass | 2015 | Socrates' Pedagogical Use of Shame in Plato's Symposium (Schultz) | Temp. FT Lecturer BIC Honors College (2015- ) | Baylor Interdisciplinary Core program, Baylor University (Waco, TX) |
| Matt Douglass | 2015 | All Creation Groans: A Theodicy for Suffering Animals (Kvanvig) | Assistant to VP of Academic Affairs (2015- ) | Ouachita Baptist University (Arkadelphia, AR) |
| Nate Jackson | 2015 | Unprincipled Moral Learning: Dewey's Pragmatism and Dancy's Particularism (Rosenbaum) | Instructor (2015-2016); Assistant Professor Tenure Track (2016-) | Capital University (Bexley, OH) |
| David Echelbarger | 2014 | Moral Particularism, Aquinas, and the Problem of Context-Dependence: A Formal Solution to a Material Puzzle (Hibbs and Davis) | Assistant Professor of Philosophy (2014-) | University of Mary (Bismarck, ND) |
| Heidi Giannini | 2014 | Neo-Kantian Wickedness: Constructivist and Realist Responses to Moral Skepticism (Roberts) | Assistant Professor (2018- ) | Houghton College (Houghton, NY) |
| Kraig Martin | 2014 | Closure of Inquiry: A Non-Reductive Account (Kvanvig) | Assistant Professor Philosophy (2014-) | Harding University (Searcy, AR) |
| Logan Gage | 2014 | Objectivity and Subjectivity in Epistemology: A Defense of the Phenomenal Conception of Evidence (Dougherty) | Assistant Professor of Philosophy (2014-) | Franciscan University of Steubenville (Steubenville, OH) |
| Ross Parker | 2014 | The Argument from Divine Hiddenness: An Assessment (Dougherty) | Dean of the School of Christian Studies (2017- ) | Charleston Southern University (North Charleston, SC) |
| William (Scott) Cleveland | 2014 | Courageous Activity and the Virtue of Courage (Roberts) | Assistant Professor of Philosophy (2015 - ) | University of Mary (Bismarck, ND) |
| Gregory Poore | 2013 | Theism and the Justification of First Principles in Thomas Reid's Epistemology (Buras) | Assistant Professor of Liberal Arts (2013 -) | Shorter University (Rome, GA) |
| Christopher Shrock | 2013 | Thomas Reid and the Problem of Secondary Qualities (Buras) | Dean of Arts & Sciences College (2017- ) | Ohio Valley University (Vienna, WV) |
| John Spano | 2013 | Augustine Against the Academic Doctrine, Way of Life, and Use of Text (Foley) | Associate Professor of Philosophy (2012- ) | McLennan Community College (Waco, TX) |
| Nathan Carson | 2013 | Appreciation: Its Nature and Role in Virtue Ethical Moral Psychology and Dialectical Moral Agency (Roberts) | Lecturer in Humanities and Philosophy (2012 -2013 ) | Valparaiso University - Christ College (Interdisciplinary Honors College) (Valparaiso, IN) |
| Travis Coblentz | 2012 | Tragic Philosophy and Human Desire: Bringing Nietzsche and Plato into Conversation with Contemporary Ethics (Schultz) | Assistant Professor of Philosophy (2012- ) | Southeast Bible College (Birmingham, AL) |
| Joel Schwartz | 2012 | Toward a Richer Account of Human Rights in Christian Moral Theory (Kruschwitz) | Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy (2012 -2014 ) | Berry College (Mount Berry, GA) |
| Ryan Byerly | 2012 | The Evidential Support Relation (Kvanvig) | Lecturer of Philosophy of Religion/SIIBS (2015- ) | University of Sheffield (Sheffield, England) |
| Adam Pelser | 2011 | Emotion, Evaluative Perception, and Epistemic Goods (Roberts) | Assistant Professor of Philosophy (2013- ) | United States Air Force Academy (Colorado Springs, CO) |
| Daniel Johnson | 2011 | Explanation in Metaphysics (Alexander Pruss) | Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Tenure-Track (2011 - ) | Shawnee State University (Portsmouth, OH) |
| Janelle Klapauszak | 2011 | The Middle Ground of Hope: A Reconstruction of Pascal's Epistemology (Hibbs) | Assistant Professor, Tenure-Track (2011 - ) | Torrey Honors Institute, Biola University (La Mirada, CA) |
| Paul Carron | 2011 | Taking Responsibility for Ourselves: A Kierkegaardian Account of the Freedom-Relevant Conditions Necessary for the Cultivation of Character (Roberts) | Asst. Professor BIC Honors College (2013- ) | Baylor Interdisciplinary Core program, Baylor University (Waco, TX) |
| Russell Hemati | 2010 | Augustine's Solution to the Problem of Theological Fatalism (Beaty) | Chair, Department of Philosophy | Houston Baptist University (Houston, TX) |
| Mark Boone | 2010 | The Conversion & Therapy of Desire in Augustine's Cassiciacum Dialogues (Michael Foley and Thomas Hibbs) | Assistant Professor, Dept. of Religion and Philosophy (2018 -) | Hong Kong Baptist University (Hong Kong) |
| Amy Antoninka | 2009 | Without Measure: Marion's Apophatic - Virtue Phenomenology of Iconic Love (Hibbs) | Assistant Professor of Philosophy (2012 - ) | McLennan Community College (Waco, TX) |
| Andrew Nam | 2009 | Kierkegaard's Dialectic of the One & the Many: A Platonic Quest for Existential Unity (Evans) | Adjunct Instructor (2009 - ) | University of Missouri (Kansas City, MO) |
| Jay Howell | 2009 | Forgiveness in Kierkegaard's Ethic of Neighborly Love (Roberts) | Chair, Ethics in Philosophy Division (2010-2011) | Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (Ft. Worth, TX) |
| Lewis Pearson | 2009 | Force and Persuasion in Plato's Republic (Anne-Marie Schultz) | Director of the Undergraduate Program (2010- ) (2016 tenure) | University of St. Francis (Fort Wayne, IN) |
| Christina Williams (Hemati) | 2009 | The Concept of Eternity in Kierkegaard's Philosophic Anthropology (Evans) | Part Time Instructor of Philosophy (2012 - ) | Southwest; Houston Community College (Houston, TX) |
| Jonathan Sands Wise | 2009 | Like the Green Bay Tree: The Necessity of Virtue for Happiness (Roberts) | Assistant Professor, Tenure-Track (2009 - ) | Georgetown College (Georgetown, KY) |
| David Alexander | 2008 | Teleological Moral Realism: An Explication and Defense (Michael Beaty) | Associate Professor of Philosophy (2016-) | Huntington University (Huntington, IN) |
| James (Jay) Bruce | 2008 | Divine Choice and Natural Law: The Eudokian Ethics of Francis Turretin (Thomas Hibbs) | Assistant Professor of Philosophy (2009 - ) | John Brown University (Siloam Springs, AR) |
| Jessy Jordan | 2008 | Iris Murdoch: Genealogist of the Modern Self (Scott Moore) | Associate Professor (2017-) | Mount St. Mary's University (Emmitsburg, MD) |
| John Wolfe | 2008 | Transcending the Garden: The Role of the Sign of the Garden in Augustine's Confessions (Hibbs) | Assistant Professor (2017-) | Dixie State University (St. George, UT) |
| Taryn Whittington | 2008 | Where is Socrates Going? The Philosophy of Conversion in Plato's Euthydemus (Anne-Marie Bowery) | Associate Pastor (2016-) | House of Formation, Christ the King Church (Little Rock, AK) |
| Albert (Randy) Spencer | 2007 | Reconstructing the Republic: Dewey's Back to Plato Movement (Stuart Rosenbaum) | Senior Instructor of Philosophy (2015-) | Portland State University (Portland, OR) |
| Zach Manis | 2006 | Virtues, Divine Commands, and the Debt of Creation: Towards a Kierkegaardian Christian Ethic (C. Stephen Evans) | Professor (2014-) | Southwest Baptist University (Bolivar, MO) |
| Erin Cline | 2006 | Kongzi, Rawls, and the Sense of Justice in Analects (Robert M. Baird) | Associate Professor of Theology (2011-) | Georgetown University (Washington D.C.) |
| Glenn Gentry | 2005 | Beyond Augustine: The Ethical Structure of Community (Carl G. Vaught) | Dir. of Humanities, Resident Faculty | Columbia International University (Columbia, SC) |
And here's our list of non-university appointments:
| Name | Graduation | Dissertation Title and Director | Position | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caroline Paddock | 2022 | Aristotelianism and Liberalism: Toward a Rapprochement | Upper School Teacher, Humane Letters/Ancient Greek History | Great Hearts Northern Oaks (San Antonio, TX) |
| Sean Riley | 2011 | Saints and Moral Philosophy (Beaty) | Academic Dean (2014-) | Stony Brook School (Elite HS) (Stony Brook, NY) |
| Tom (Jing) Tong | 2011 | Modeling Divine Deliberation (Jonathan Kvanvig) | Associate of Capital Markets and Mergers & Acquisitions (2014-) | Vinson & Elkins (Houston, TX) |
| Michael Cantrell | 2009 | Kierkegaard and Modern Moral Philosophy: Conceptual Unintelligibility, Moral Obligations and Divine Commands (Evans) | Assistant Solicitor General (2018) | Office of the Arkansas Attorney General |
| Mark Tietjen | 2006 | Kierkegaard's Practice of Edification: Indirect Communication, the Virtues, and Christianity (Robert C. Roberts) | Chaplain (2011-) | Stony Brook School (Elite HS) (Stony Brook, NY) |