2008 Participant Biographies

ABLONDI, FRED. Fred Ablondi is Associate Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas. His chief area of research is 17th century philosophy, and he has published articles on Descartes, Spinoza, and Malebranche, among others. His book on the Cartesian Gerauld de Cordemoy appeared in 2005.

AMATO, ANDY. Andy Amato is a graduate student in the History of Ideas program at the University of Texas at Dallas and a recent participant in the DASEIN group.

BATSON, JORDAN. Jordan Batson is a graduate student in the Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies at the University of North Texas. His philosophical interests include examinations on the meaning of Absence and Homelessness. After completing his MA, he plans to continue his studies in phenomenology and continental thought while working toward his Ph.D.

BAUER, WILLIAM. William Bauer is a third-year doctoral student in philosophy at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He earned an M.A. in philosophy from Miami University (Ohio) in 2005, and a B.A. in biology from Illinois Institute of Technology in 1996. His main areas of interest lie in metaphysics and philosophy of mind. In metaphysics he is particularly concerned with the relationship between dispositional properties and their causal grounds. In philosophy of mind he is especially interested in the constitution and content of mental states, as well as questions concerning the nature of the self.

BECK, MARTHA. Martha Beck is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Lyon College in Arkansas, specializing in Plato, Aristotle, ethics, and political philosophy. She received her PhD from Bryn Mawr College. In 2006 she published a trilogy of books written as a response to Martha Nussbaum’s interpretation of Plato in the book, The Fragility of Goodness: luck and ethics in Greek philosophy and tragedy. Volume I is on the Protagoras, Volume II on the Republic, and Volume III on both the Phaedrus and Symposium. This year she plans to publish a book on “Growing Up Liberal in St. Cloud, Minnesota in the Sixties,” a book that applies Aristotle’s social and political perspective to Sophocles’ Philoctetes, and a book that applies Carl Jung’s psychology to Plato’s dialogues.

BELL, NATHAN. Nathan Bell is currently a Master's student in Philosophy at the University of North Texas. He holds a B.S. in Philosophy (with concentration in Environmental Ethics) from the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point. His current research interests include environmental ethics and philosophy, deep ecology, hermeneutics, and nature literature.

BERNASCONI, ROBERT. Robert Bernasconi is Moss Professor of Philosophy at the University of Memphis. He has written extensively in Continental Philosophy, Hegel, and Political Philosophy, as well as in Critical Philosophy of Race. He has edited numerous books and written scores of articles interpreting philosophers such as Levinas, Heidegger, Derrida, Sartre, Kant, Hegel, and others. Bernasconi’s major works include The Question of Language in Heidegger's History of Being (1985), Heidegger in Question: The Art of Existing (1993), and, more recently, How to Read Sartre. He has edited (or co-edited) texts such as The Cambridge Companion to Levinas (2002), Re-Reading Levinas (1991), and Derrida and Différance (1985). In the early 1990s, Bernasconi began investigating problems related to race and racism from historical and philosophical perspectives, editing (or co-editing) studies such as The Idea of Race (2000), Concepts of Race in the Eighteenth Century (2001), and Race and Racism in Continental Philosophy (2003). Bernasconi holds a PhD from Sussex University and has taught at the University of Essex. In the Fall of 2009 he will join the philosophy department at Penn State.

BLY, JARED. Jared Bly is a student at the University of North Texas, working on a double major in French Language and Philosophy. His intellectual interests include French post-modern thought as well as the phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty. He is also interested in the works of Martin Heidegger, Giorgio Agamben, and Alain Badiou. He is a founding member of the North Texas Karl Jaspers Circle.

BOUSKA, PHIL. Phil Bouska is a first year MA student in philosophy at Stony Brook University at Manhattan. He received a BA in philosophy with a minor in women's studies from Wichita State University. His philosophical interests include deconstruction, semiology, phenomenology and critical theory.

BRADSHAW, DENNY. Denny Bradshaw is Associate Professor and Chair of Philosophy at the University of Texas-Arlington. His research interests include Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Mind, Metaphysics, and 20th Century Analytic Philosophy, with teaching interest also in epistemology, history of modern philosophy, philosophy of science and logic. He has published numerous articles on issues related to metaphysics, ontology and language. He holds a PhD in philosophy from the University of Iowa (1988).

BRYANT, LEVI. Levi R. Bryant is a professor of philosophy at Collin College. He has written widely on contemporary French philosophy (Badiou, Deleuze), Lacanian psychoanalysis, and German Idealism (Kant and Hegel). His work focuses on questions of individuation or those processes by which entities (physical, biological, psychological, sociological) are produced and develops a critique of the form/matter binary that underlies so much Western thought. His study of Deleuze, Difference and Givenness: Deleuze's Transcendental Empiricism and the Ontology of Immanence, will be published by Northwestern University Press in Spring of 2008.

BUTLER, ANNEMARIE. Annemarie Butler is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Iowa State University. She specializes in Early Modern philosophy and metaphysics. Her current research focuses on the metaphysics and epistemology of David Hume.

BYERLY, RYAN. Ryan Byerly is a graduate student at Baylor University.

CUNNINGHAM, NANCE. Nance Cunningham is a doctoral student in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Oklahoma. She received a master’s degree in education at the University of Colorado and in applied philosophy from Bowling Green State University. She is interested in 1) epistemological and ethical issues in pain research and clinical practice and 2) philosophical, historical, and cultural influences on pain education and policy.

DAVIDSON, SCOTT. Scott Davidson is Chair of the Department of Philosophy at Oklahoma City University. His current projects include translations of Michel Henry, Material Phenomenology (Fordham, 2008) and Seeing the Invisible (Continuum, forthcoming). He is also editor of Ricoeur Across the Disciplines (forthcoming) in addition to a double-issue on Paul Ricoeur recently published in the Journal of French Philosophy (2006).

ELKHOLY, SHARIN N. Sharin N. Elkholy has a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the New School for Social Research in New York. Her research interests are in the intersections of Phenomenology, Ontology and inter-subjective dialogue across cultural differences. Her upcoming book, Heidegger and a Metaphysics of Feeling: Angst and the Finitude of Being (Continuum Press) establishes a framework for understanding the ontological dimensions of a pre-reflective mode of communal belonging and inter-subjective recognition rooted in mood and world feeling. She has published on Romantic Idealism, Love and Gender in German Romanticism; and produced radio programs on LA Gangs and race relations in the United States. The most recent Janus Head includes her article on “Friendship Across Differences: Heidegger and Richard Wright’s Native Son.” Dr. Elkholy teaches Philosophy at the University of Houston—Downtown.

FOX, CHRISTOPHER. Since 2004, Chris Fox has been an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Newman University in Wichita, KS. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Memphis, where he wrote his dissertation on Hegel and Levinas. Since graduating, he has published a number of articles in journals such as Philosophy and Social Criticism, Epoché, International Studies in Philosophy, and The Journal of Cultural and Religious Theory. His interests are contemporary Continental philosophy, the philosophy of religion, and political theory.

FRANK, LUANNE. Luanne Frank (Ph. D., University of Michigan) is Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington. She teaches Heidegger ongoingly, also semiotics, hermeneutics, continental philosophy, continental literature, and literary and cultural criticism and theory. She has published on Hamann, Herder, Kant, Kleist, Hofmannsthal, Rilke, and Foucault; chaired two international literary conferences (“Literature and the Occult” and “The Female Principle”); edited the essay volumes Harvesting the Golden Grain (German literary studies), and Literature and the Occult; and co-translated and provided the extended introduction to, Emil Staiger’s Grundbegriffe der Poetik, a Heideggerian reconceptualization of genre theory via Being and Time. Current interests include Heidegger, Kleist, and the life and work of Mexican painter, Olga Dondé.

FRENCH, R. HEATH. R. Heath French is a graduate student in Environmental Philosophy at the University of North Texas where he earned a B.A. in both Philosophy and Music.

FRODEMAN, ROBERT. Robert Frodeman is chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies at the University of North Texas. He specializes in environmental philosophy, science policy, and questions concerning interdisciplinarity. Frodeman is Director of the New Directions Initiative, which seeks to develop the theory and practice of wide interdisciplinarity, integrating the values-dimensions of our societal challenges with on-going scientific research and education (http://www.ndsciencehumanitiespolicy.org). He is author of Geo-Logic: Breaking Ground between Philosophy and the Earth Sciences (SUNY, 2003). And is currently editing the forthcoming Oxford Handbook on Interdisciplinarity (Oxford, 2009) and co-Editing (with Baird Callicott) the Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy (McMillan, 2008).

GAO, SHAN. Shan Gao is a third year doctoral student in philosophy at the University of North Texas. She also teaches undergraduate courses on a variety of topics including Eastern philosophy (Confucianism, Daoism and Chan Buddhism) and Western philosophy. Her research interests include Confucianism and Daoism, traditional Chinese environmental aesthetics and comparative environmental aesthetics. She is currently working on a dissertation on comparative environmental aesthetics.

GARZA, GILBERT. Gilbert is Associate Professor of psychology at the University of Dallas. A recentaddition to DASEIN, his interest in psychological research rooted in the phenomenological philosophy of Husserl, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty was decisive in pursuing first his MA (1989) and ultimately his PhD (1996) in phenomenological psychology at Duquesne University. Gilbert has authored several articles on phenomenological research methods in psychology and on technology and its impacts on human experience within a Heideggerian framework, and has presented papers in these areas at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, the Southwestern Psychological Association, the International Human Science Research Conference, and the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry. His writings have appeared in American Psychologist, The Journal of Constructivist Psychology, The Humanistic Psychologist, and Qualitative Research in Psychology.

GOGGINS, RORY. Rory Goggins is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Dallas. Hespecializes in History of Ancient Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, and Ethics. Currently, his research focuses on the logical and theological foundations of Stoic moral theory.

GUNTER, PETE Y. Prof. Pete .Y. Gunter is Regents' Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Texas. A graduate of Cambridge University and Yale University (Ph.D. 1963) he has written widely on the philosophies of Henri Bergson and Alfred North Whitehead, on environmental issues, and on issues common to philosophy and environmentalism. Among his books are Bergson and the Evolution of Physics (1969), Bergson and Modern Thought (1987), George Herbert Mead and Creativity (1991), Hernri Bergson: A Bibliography (1974, 2nd Ed.1987), Texas Land Ethics (1997). Prof. Gunter was instrumental in the establishment and subsequent enlarging of the Big Thicket National Preserve in Southeast Texas.

HALL, JOSHUA M. Joshua Hall is a first-year doctoral student in philosophy at Vanderbilt University, with an M.A. in philosophy from the Pennsylvania State University. His research interests include non-Western thought and philosophies of psychology, dance and literature.

HARDCASTLE, ASHLEY. Ashley Hardcastle is a graduate student in Philosophy at the University of North Texas, where she also teaches Introductory to Philosophy courses. She holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts from the University of North Texas with concentration in psychology, marketing, and philosophy. Her philosophical interests include Philosophy of Mind, Classical Philosophy, Philosophy of Education, and character development.

HARDING, BRIAN. Brian Harding is an assistant professor of philosophy at Texas Woman's University. He earned his BA in philosophy from the University of Dallas in 1999 and his Ph.D. from FordhamUniversity in 2005 with a dissertation on Augustine's City of God. He has published on Augustine, Boethius, Husserl and Levinas among others; his first book, Augustine and Roman Virtue, is scheduled to be published in the fall of 2008 by Continuum.

HINKLEY, AARON. Aaron E. Hinkley is a fourth year doctoral student in philosophy at Rice University. In May 2004 he received his B.A. summa cum laude in philosophy with a minor in Russian history from the University of Nevada, Reno. He is writing his dissertation on the role played by divine revelation in Kierkegaard's account of Christian ethics. His philosophical interests include Existentialism (esp. Kierkegaard), Phenomenology (esp. Heidegger, Levinas, and Marion), Philosophy of Religion, and Ethics. He currently serves as the senior managing editor of the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy and of Christian Bioethics.

HOTZ, FREDERICK. Frederick Hotz is the Founding History Teacher at Parish Episcopal School in Dallas, Texas. His degrees include a Ph.D. in the History of Ideas from the University of Texas at Dallas, a M.A. in the Humanities from the University of Texas at Dallas, and a M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Dallas. His dissertation, "Nietzsche's Unmodern History of Philosophy," examined Nietzsche's early works. He is a long-standing member of DASEIN and the 2007-2008 President of the North Texas Philosophical Association. He has also served as the NTPA’s Secretary.

HUSSAIN, HAMMAD A. Hammad Hussain is a graduate student in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Oklahoma.

JAMES, JOHN. John James is a graduate student in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Dallas.

JOHNSON, DANIEL. Daniel Johnson is currently a graduate student at Baylor University, workingtoward a PhD in philosophy. He received his B.A. in philosophy and religious studies at the University of Oregon. His primary areas of interest are metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of religion, while he also works on Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Asian philosophy. He has an article on ontological and cosmological arguments forthcoming in Faith and Philosophy.

JOHNSON, RYAN. Ryan Johnson is a graduate student in the Philosophy progam at Kent State University. His philosophical interests focuses on the impications of compexity theory as it is depicted in Deleuze and Guattari, re-readings of the history of philosophy in a Deleuzian style, Foucauldian histories, and applications of other postmodern and poststructuralist thinkers. After he completes his M.A., he plans to continue his studies of continental philosophy, contemporary science, and aestheticsin general while working towards his PhD.

JONES, MICHAEL. Michael Jones is a third year doctoral student in philosophy at University of Dallas. His interests include philosophy of religion, ethics, and how they are tied to philosophies of being and man.

KIRK, JAMES. James Kirk teaches philosophy in the Collin and Dallas County Community College Districts. He holds a PhD from the University of Texas at Dallas and currently serves as Treasurer of the North Texas Philosophical Association.

KLAVER, IRENE. Irene Klaver is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Texas, where she serves as Director of the Philosophy of Water Issues Project. She also heads WaterWays, an interdisciplinary program bringing together scientists, philosophers, politicians, artists, managers and specialists from both the public and private sector, encouraging dialogue across traditional boundaries. She holds a PhD in Philosophy from SUNY, Stony Brook.

KRAJEWSKI, BRUCE. Bruce Krajewski is Professor and Chair of the Department of English, Speech, and Foreign Languages at Texas Woman's University. He is the author of Traveling with Hermes: Hermeneutics and Rhetoric, co-editor and co-translator of Gadamer on Celan, which won the MLA's Scaglione Prize for translation, and editor of Gadamer's Repercussions: Reconsidering Philosophical Hermeneutics. With Doug Parker, he co-edited A Brefe Dialoge bitwene a Christen Father and his Stobborne Son: The First Protestant Catechism Published in English.

KUHLKEN, JULIE. Julie Kuhlken received her PhD in Philosophy in 2004 from Middlesex University in ondon, UK. After several years working in the UK first at University of Greenwich and then Goldsmiths College, University of London, she returned to the US to teach at Concordia University (Austin). Starting in Fall 2008 she will move to Pennsylvania to take up a position as assistant professor in the department of philosophy at Misericordia University. She specializes in 19th and 20th century Continental Philosophy with particular interests in political philosophy, aesthetics, and the philosophy of technology.

LAKSHMIPATHY, VINOD. Vinod Lakshmipathy is a Ph.D. student in the Philosophy Department at Rice University. He received an M.A. in philosophy from Northern Illinois University (2004). His main areas of interest are 19th and 20th century Continental philosophy. Currently, he is working on a dissertation on Nietzsche.

MCCULLOUGH, NATHAN. Nathan Poole-McCullough is a philosophy graduate student at Kent State University. He received his B.A. is philosophy from Salisbury University in 2002. His main interests are currently in hermeneutics, phenomenology, and contemporary continental philosophy. He is currently working on a thesis addressing the role of attunements in Heidegger's analytic of Dasein.

MCLOUGHLIN, SIOBHAN. Siobhán McLoughlin is a doctoral candidate at the University of New Mexico. Her dissertation explores the themes of freedom, death and divinization in Plato. Prior to studying in New Mexico, Siobhán received an MA in philosophy from the University of Ottawa and an honors BA with a specialization in philosophy from the University of Toronto. Aside from Ancient Philosophy, her philosophical interests include metaphysics and aesthetics.

MILLER, ADAM S. Adam S. Miller is a professor of philosophy at Collin College in McKinney, Texas. He received his PhD in philosophy from Villanova University and his areas of specialization include contemporary French philosophy and philosophy of religion. He is the founder of The Journal of Philosophy and Scripture and the author of the book Badiou, Marion and St Paul: Immanent Grace forthcoming with Continuum in the summer of 2008.

MYSAK, MARK. Mark Mysak is a doctoral candidate in the Philosophy and Religion Studies department at the University of North Texas. He completed a B.Sc. in Biology at the University of Ottawa (Ottawa, ON), and a Master of Environmental Studies (MES) at Dalhousie University (Halifax, NS). Current research interests include environmental justice, social ecology, feminist philosophy, critical theory, and evolutionary theory.

PARKER, JONATHAN. Jonathan Parker is a first year doctoral student and research assistant in the Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies at the University of North Texas. He holds a BA from Loyola College of Maryland, and an MA from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. His research interests include Environmental Philosophy, Continental Philosophy, and the History of Philosophy.

PAUKEN, MARY ANN. Mary Ann Pauken is a graduate student in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Dallas.

PAVELICH, ANDREW. Andrew Pavelich is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Houston-Downtown. He received a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Tulane University in 1999. He has two main areas of research interest. The first is Early Modern metaphysics, focusing particularly on Descartes and his understanding of God's relationship to the scientific and mathematical world that we inhabit. The second area of interest is in the Philosophy of Religion, focusing again on metaphysical issues of the relationship between the divine and the natural.

PELSER, ADAM C. Adam C. Pelser is a doctoral student in philosophy at Baylor University. He holds a B.A. in philosophy from Biola University (2003) and a M.A. in religion from Wake Forest University (2007). His areas of research interest include epistemology, ethics, philosophy of religion and philosophical theology.

POOLE, ALEXANDRIA. Alexandria Poole is a Master's Student in the Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies at the University of North Texas. She graduated from St. John’s College (2003) with a BA in Liberal Arts and a dual minor in the history of mathematics and science. Her main interests include philosophical and practical problem solving, education and natural history, energy and transportation infrastructure, philosophy of ecology and policy, US urban cultural values and economics, the disciplinization and theorization of knowledge, and international laws and management of the global commons.

POPPA, FRANCESCA DI. Francesca di Poppa is currently assistant professor of philosophy at Texas Tech. She received her PhD from the History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh in 2006. Her interests include issues in early modern philosophy (epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of religion, philosophical anthropology) and history of modern science. She has a paper on Spinoza's concept of divine attribute forthcoming in British Journal of the History of Philosophy and she is working on papers on Descartes, Spinoza and Hume.

ROBERTS, WADE. Wade Roberts is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Oklahoma City University. He received his PhD from Duquesne University in 2007 and has published articles on indefinite detention in the work of Agamben and Butler and Habermas's discussion of genetic engineering. His research interests include social contract theory, the problem of exclusion in liberalism and Foucault's work on biopower, and he is currently working on an article which examines the relationship between liberalism and biopolitics in Foucault's recently published lectures.

SACHS, CARL. Carl Sachs is a lecturer in the Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies at the University of North Texas. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California at San Diego and wrote on Nietzsche's so-called "Middle Period" or "Free Spirit series." His research interests include 19th-century German philosophy, 20th-century Continental philosophy, and American pragmatism, with particular interests in theories of experience and philosophical responses to a naturalisticunderstanding of human beings. His Nietzsche's "Daybreak": Towards a Naturalized Theory of Autonomy is forthcoming from Epoche.

SADRI, FARSHAD. Farshad Sadri is an independent scholar from Iran, having taught philosophy at numerous institutions in the US. He holds a PhD in History of Ideas from the University of Texas at Dallas, where he also worked as a Research Assistant for the journal Common Knowledge.

SHELTON, JIM. Jim Shelton is professor of philosophy at the University of Central Arkansas, having received the PhD from the University of Kansas. He was editor of the Southwest Philosophy Review in its earliest years. Specialization areas include the history and philosophy of science, epistemology and logical positivism, especially the philosophy of Moritz Schlick.

SHOLTZ, ANDREA JANAE. Janae Sholtz is a philosophy graduate student at the University of Memphis. She received her M.A. in Philosophy from New School For Social Research in New York. She is currently writing her dissertation on the subject of The Future of Thought in Heidegger and Deleuze: Ontological Frameworks Revealing Different Ways of Being Towards Art and the Political. Her interests include contemporary French philosophy, continental philosophy, feminist theory and aesthetics.

SIMMONS, J. AARON. J. Aaron Simmons (Ph.D., Vanderbilt 2006) is visiting assistant professor of philosophy at Hendrix College. Simmons works primarily at the intersection of continental philosophy of religion and political philosophy. He is the co-editor (with David Wood) of Kierkegaard and Levinas: Ethics, Politics, and Religion (forthcoming from Indiana University Press) and has published in such journals as Philosophy Today, Journal of Religious Ethics, Symposium, Philosophy in the Contemporary World, and Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory. Currently, Simmons is working on a manuscript dealing with deconstructive epistemology entitled God and the Other.

SIMUS, JASON. Jason Simus is a Ph D candidate in philosophy at the University of North Texas. He holds an M.A. in philosophy from the University of Colorado at Boulder (2003). His research interests include environmental aesthetics, philosophy and aesthetics of science, and philosophy of art. Jason is currently working on his dissertation, Disturbing Nature's Beauty: Environmental Aesthetics and the New Ecology.

STEWART, CANDACE. Candace Stewart, M.S., is a graduate student in the Environmental Science Department at the University of North Texas.

STRIBY, STEPHEN. Stephen Striby teaches philosophy at St. Mary's University in San Antonio. He received a PhD in philosophy from the Center for Thomistic Studies in Houston in 2007. His primary research interests are in epistemology, virtue ethics, and the relationship of faith and reason.

TILLMAN, JEFF. Jeff Tillman is professor of philosophy and religion at Wayland Baptist University, Wichita Falls Campus. He received an MA in philosophy and a Ph.D. in religion and ethics from Baylor University. His research interests include American higher education, political theory, evolutionary ethics, and narrative theory.

TUTUSKA, JOHN. John Tutuska is a fourth year doctoral student in philosophy at the University of Dallas. His interests include Plato, Aristotle, ethical and political philosophy, and the relation of philosophy and poetry.

WAITE, GEOFF. Geoff Waite is Associate Professor of German Studies at Cornell University. His book, Nietzsche's Corps/e: Aesthetics, Politics, Prophecy, or, the Spectacular Technoculture of Everyday Life (1996), argues for taking a decidedly political approach to interpreting Nietzsche, particularly at the historical moment when communism is alleged to have failed. He has published articles on figures such as Spinoza, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Lenin, Gramsci, and a host of others. His research interest also includes premodern philosophy, Spinoza reception, postmodern culture, and communist cultural and political theory.

WILKERSON, DALE. Dale Wilkerson lectures in the Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies at the University of North Texas. Specializing in the history of ideas, continental philosophy, and ethical theory, he has published articles on Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, and pre-Socratic philosophy. His book, Nietzsche and the Greeks (Continuum, 2006), examines early Nietzsche’s work on the pre-Socratic philosophers, Greek culture, and ancient socio-political diagrams. He holds a PhD in the History of Ideas from the University of Texas at Dallas (2002) and is a long-standing member of DASEIN. In 2003-2004 he was President of the North Texas Philosophical Association and has served as the organization’s Secretary since 2007 and Conference Coordinator since 2006.

WOOD, ROBERT E. Robert E. Wood is professor of philosophy at the University of Dallas since 1979, where he has served as head of the philosophy department, director of the Master of Humanities program, head of the Institute of Philosophic Studies (an interdisciplinary doctoral program), Graduate Dean, and both Acting and Interim Provost. He is author of Martin Buber’s Ontology, A Path into Metaphysics, and Placing Aesthetics. The last book received a Choice Outstanding Academic Titles award. He translated and wrote the introduction to Stephan Strasser’s Phenomenology of Feeling, and was co-translator, editor, and author of the introduction to Gabriel Marcel’s Music and Philosophy. He edited The Future of Metaphysics and, with Jude Dougherty, co edited the Horizons in Philosophy Series in six volumes. He has written over sixty articles, including "Self reflexivity in the Theaetetus: On the Life world of a Platonic Dialogue," "Kant’s ‘Antinomic’Aesthetics," and "Individuals, Universals, and Capacity." Since 1989 he has been editor of the American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, and he is a long-standing member of DASEIN.

YAFFE, MARTIN D. Martin D. Yaffe (B.A., University of Toronto; Ph.D., Claremont Graduate University) is Professor of Philosophy and Religion Studies, University of North Texas. His interests include political philosophy and Jewish thought. He is author of Shylock and the Jewish
Question (1997), translator of Spinoza’s Theologico-Political Treatise (2004), editor of Judaism and Environmental Ethics: A Reader (2001), co-translator of Thomas Aquinas’ Literal Exposition on the Book of Job (1989), and co-editor of Emil L. Fackenheim: Philosopher, Theologian, Jew (2008). He is currently completing a translation from the German of Leo Strauss’s essays on Moses Mendelssohn (1729-86), originally contained in the Jubilee Edition of Mendelssohn’s writings (27 vols. in 35; 1929ff.; reprinted and resumed 1971ff.), of which Strauss (1899-1973) was among the original co-editors.

YANG, ERIC T. Eric T. Yang is a graduate student at the University of Oklahoma where he is currently working towards a Ph.D. His main area of research is in various issues in metaphysics (causation, personal identity, agency, free will), epistemology (rational disagreement, value problem), and philosophy of religion.