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 #5 for placement out of 190 PhD-granting programs! (It's also ranked 15th by PhDs who would recommend their program to prospective philosophy students.)
This last academic year continued the trend with five solid placements:
- Alina Beary at Biola University
- Allison Krile Thornton at University of South Alabama
- Jared Brandt at the University of Dallas
- Nathan Cartagena at Wheaton College (IL)
- Matthew Wilson at Harvard University
Here are all of our university appointments to date (non-university appointments listed below):
| Name | Graduation | Dissertation Title and Director | Position | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicholas Colgrove | 2019-May | Resistance: Its Nature, Virtues, and Application to Matters of Faith (Pruss) | Postdoctoral Fellow (2019 – 2021) | Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, NC) |
| Alina Beary | 2018-Dec | A Thomistic Principle of Virtue Individuation | Assistant Professor (2018-) | Biola University (La Mirada, CA) |
| Nathan Cartagena | 2018-Aug | Thomas Aquinas' Psychology of Fear (Miner) | Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy (2018-) | Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL) |
| Allison Krile Thornton | 2018-May | Animals, Now and Then (Pruss) | Assistant Professor (2018-) | University of South Alabama (Mobile, AL) |
| Jared Brandt | 2018-May | Growth of Infused Virtue in the Work of Thomas Aquinas (Miner) | Assistant Professor of Philosophy (2018-) | Dallas Baptist University (Dallas, TX) |
| Matt Wilson | 2018-May | The Virtue of Taking Ownership (Evans) | Director of Academic Programs and Research Associate (2018-) | Harvard University (Cambridge, MA) |
| Christopher Tweedt | 2017-May | Starting With the Obvious (And Where to Go After That) (Kvanvig) | Adjunct Professor (2017- ) | Christopher Newport University (Newport News, Virginia) |
| John Giannini | 2017-May | Quantifier Variance and Interpretive Charity (Pruss) | Assistant Professor (2018- ) | Houghton College (Houghton, NY) |
| Pete Younger | 2017-May | Civic Friendship and A Value of Assumptions in Rawls (Beckwith) | Temporary Lecturer (2017- ) | Baylor University (Waco, TX) |
| Brandon Dahm | 2016-Aug | Knowing the Transcendent: Analogous Properties and Speaking about God (Hibbs) | Assistant Professor of Philosophy (2016-) | Franciscan University (Steubenville, OH) |
| Daniel Padgett | 2016-Aug | A Relational View of Time (Pruss) | Full-Time Instructor (2016-) | Humanities Department, Northwest Vista College (San Antonio, TX) |
| James Clifton Bryant | 2016-Aug | Epistemic Blame: Its Nature and its Norms (Dougherty) | Full-Time Adjunct (2017- ) | Northeast Vista College (San Antonio, TX) |
| Karl Aho | 2016-Aug | 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-May | Common Sense Epistemology: A Defense of Seemings as Evidence (Kvanvig) | Assistant Professor of Philosophy (2016-) | Hillsdale College (Hillsdale, MI) |
| Ryan West | 2016-May | 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-Aug | 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-May | All Creation Groans: A Theodicy for Suffering Animals (Kvanvig) | Assistant to VP of Academic Affairs (2015- ) | Ouachita Baptist University, (Arkadelphia, AR) |
| Nate Jackson | 2015-May | 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-Aug | 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-Aug | Neo-Kantian Wickedness: Constructivist and Realist Responses to Moral Skepticism (Roberts) | Assistant Professor (2018- ) | Houghton College (Houghton, NY) |
| Kraig Martin | 2014-Aug | Closure of Inquiry: A Non-Reductive Account (Kvanvig) | Assistant Professor Philosophy (2014-) | Harding University (Searcy, AR) |
| Logan Gage | 2014-Aug | 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-Aug | 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-Aug | Courageous Activity and the Virtue of Courage (Roberts) | Assistant Professor of Philosophy (2015 - ) | University of Mary (Bismarck, ND) |
| Gregory Poore | 2013-Aug | 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-May | Thomas Reid and the Problem of Secondary Qualities (Buras) | Dean of Arts & Sciences College (2017- ) | Ohio Valley University (Vienna, WV) |
| John Spano | 2013-May | 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-May | 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-Dec | 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-May | 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-May | The Evidential Support Relation (Kvanvig) | Lecturer of Philosophy of Religion/SIIBS (2015- ) | University of Sheffield (Sheffield, England) |
| Adam Pelser | 2011-Aug | Emotion, Evaluative Perception, and Epistemic Goods (Roberts) | Assistant Professor of Philosophy (2013- ) | United States Air Force Academy (Colorado Springs, CO) |
| Daniel Johnson | 2011-Aug | Explanation in Metaphysics (Alexander Pruss) | Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Tenure-Track (2011 - ) | Shawnee State University (Portsmouth, OH) |
| Janelle Klapauszak | 2011-Aug | 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-Aug | 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-Dec | Augustine's Solution to the Problem of Theological Fatalism (Beaty) | Chair, Department of Philosophy | Houston Baptist University (Houston, TX) |
| Mark Boone | 2010-May | 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-Dec | Without Measure: Marion's Apophatic - Virtue Phenomenology of Iconic Love (Hibbs) | Assistant Professor of Philosophy (2012 - ) | McLennan Community College (Waco, TX) |
| Andrew Nam | 2009-Aug | 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-Aug | 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-Aug | 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-May | 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-May | Like the Green Bay Tree: The Necessity of Virtue for Happiness (Roberts) | Assistant Professor, Tenure-Track (2009 - ) | Georgetown College (Georgetown, KY) |
| David Alexander | 2008-Aug | Teleological Moral Realism: An Explication and Defense (Michael Beaty) | Associate Professor of Philosophy (2016-) | Huntington University (Huntington, IN) |
| James (Jay) Bruce | 2008-Aug | 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-Aug | Iris Murdoch: Genealogist of the Modern Self (Scott Moore) | Associate Professor (2017-) | Mount St. Mary's University (Emmitsburg, MD) |
| John Wolfe | 2008-Aug | 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-Aug | 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-May | Reconstructing the Republic: Dewey's Back to Plato Movement (Stuart Rosenbaum) | Senior Instructor of Philosophy (2015-) | Portland State University (Portland, OR) |
| Zach Manis | 2006-Dec | 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-May | 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-May | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sean Riley | 2011-Aug | Saints and Moral Philosophy (Beaty) | Academic Dean (2014-) | Stony Brook School (Elite HS) (Stony Brook, NY) |
| Tom (Jing) Tong | 2011-Aug | Modeling Divine Deliberation (Jonathan Kvanvig) | Associate of Capital Markets and Mergers & Acquisitions (2014-) | Vinson & Elkins (Houston, TX) |
| Michael Cantrell | 2009-May | 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-Aug | Kierkegaard's Practice of Edification: Indirect Communication, the Virtues, and Christianity (Robert C. Roberts) | Chaplain (2011-) | Stony Brook School (Elite HS) (Stony Brook, NY) |