Alumni News
These are our most recent updates from Philosophy alumni. Older updates are archived by year on the left. We'd love to hear from you. Please send us your news!
C. Daryl Cameron (’06): This past spring I received tenure in the Psychology Department at Penn State University (at University Park). I'm additionally jointly appointed in the Rock Ethics Institute, and interdisciplinary research institute that brings together faculty and students from philosophy, psychology, and many other fields in the social sciences and humanities. With my promotion to associate professor in psychology, I was also promoted to senior research associate in the Rock Ethics Institute. (Fall 2021)
Devin DeBacker (’08) returned to the Department of Justice as Chief of the Foreign Investment Review Section in the National Security Division. He leads DOJ's work to protect national security in foreign investments and transactions, telecommunications, the information and communications technology and services global supply chain, and related aspects of cybersecurity, data privacy, and supply chain security. Previously, Devin was Deputy Assistant Attorney General in DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel, Associate Counsel and Special Assistant to the President in the White House Counsel's Office, and a litigation partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. He lives with his wife Rachel Florek DeBacker (W&M '08) and their five children in Maryland. (Spring 2022)
James C. Klagge (‘76) published Wittgenstein’s Artillery: Philosophy as Poetry (MIT Press) and Tractatus in Context (Routledge), the latter of which coincides with the 100th anniversary of the publication of Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and is 46 years after Prof. Klagge first read the Tractatus in a seminar at W&M, taught by Prof. Bohl. Click here for a photo of three alumni of the W&M Philosophy Department (L to R)--William H. Williams ('56), Joseph C. Pitt ('66) and James C. Klagge ('76). All went on to teach Philosophy at Virginia Tech. Photo c. 1993. Bill passed away in 1994; Joe just retired from VT after teaching here 50 years; Jim is in his 37th year at VT. (Fall 2021)
Sabrina Little (’09) completed her PhD in Philosophy at Baylor University in 2020 and is an assistant professor in the Department of Leadership and American Studies at Christopher Newport University. (Fall 2021)
Rubén Rosario Rodríguez (’91) was named Steber Chair in the Department of Theological Studies at Saint Louis University. (Summer 2022)
Jason Smartwood (’06): My colleague, Ian Stoner, and I published a textbook for practical ethics courses: Doing Practical Ethics (Oxford UP). Doing Practical Ethics is a skills-focused textbook suitable for a variety of Ethics courses. Much as Logic textbooks teach argument skills by demonstrating and then giving students exercises to develop their skills, Doing Practical Ethics provides carefully scaffolded demonstrations and practice opportunities for many of the component argument skills required for engaging in practical ethics. (Fall 2021)
Marvi Ali '17: Marvi graduated in May 2020 with a law degree and a Masters in Sustainability from Wake Forest University. She published an article in the school's Journal of Law and Policy in Volume 10:1 and passed the Virginia Bar Exam this past fall. She has many fond memories of the philosophy department and wishes to express her gratitude to professors who inspired her as a student. (Spring 2021)
Michael P. Hodges '63: I continue to teach at Vanderbilt for 5 decades now and may retire this year or next, and I still enjoy discussions with John Lachs with whom I wrote my honors thesis at W&M in 1963. (Spring 2021)
Gregory Pence '70: Published (1) Overcoming Addiction: Seven Imperfect Solutions and the End of America's Greatest Epidemic (2020, Rowman & Littlefield). (2) Pandemic Bioethics (forthcoming, Broadview Press, Spring 2021). (Spring 2021)
Emily Schulz '12: This summer I moved “home” to North Carolina after 8 years in NYC. I adopted a puppy on New Years Day and I’m starting as an associate at Robinson Bradshaw in Chapel Hill, NC, in January 2021. (Spring 2021)
Ben Glass '80: In 2020, I celebrated 25 years of running my own law firm and 37 years in the law altogether. I have authored several book for the solo and small firm market, the most recent being "Play Left Fullback, How Challenging the Status Quo Will Help America’s Solo and Small Firm Lawyers Build Better Practices, Be Heroes to their Families, and Restore America’s Trust in Lawyers." The book includes some stories from my days at W&M, where I played soccer. I also run a second company, Great Legal Marketing, which is a coaching company for those running solo and small law firms. I also coach and mentor other small business owners here in Northern Virginia.
It would be cool to "go back to school," particularly in philosophy, because it looks so different now with years and years of real world experience then it did when I was sitting in class in the 70's, with basically no good way to conceptualize what was being taught. (Spring 2021)
Alex Patico '68: Alex is currently a member of the advisory board of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), which he co-founded in 2002. Alex served in the U. S. Peace Corps in Iran in the late 1960’s, and was an advisor to Iranians for International Cooperation. Prior to co-founding the NIAC, he had worked for over thirty years in international education and international development, most of it with the Institute of International Education (IIE), and served on the boards of the National Religious Coalition against Torture and Churches for Middle East Peace. He was also a 2006 peace delegate to Iran with the Fellowship of Reconciliation. He and his wife now live in Columbia, MD. (Fall 2020)
David Rutledge '68: David retired as the Pitts Professor of Religion at Furman University, where he had taught for thirty-four years. He has now moved to Chapel Hill, NC – closer to Williamsburg! (Fall 2020)
William Harpine '73: William retired after a long career teaching communication at William and Mary, University of Akron, and University of South Carolina Aiken. William earned a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and published four articles about informal logic and the philosophy of communication in major philosophy journals. He is married to psychologist Elaine Clanton Harpine, and lives in south Texas near the beach. (Fall 2020)
Rubén Rosario Rodríguez '91: Rubén has been a professor at St. Louis University since 2004, and recently edited the T&T Clark Handbook of Political Theology, a 300,000-word, 36-chapter, 39-author collection that delivers a complex mosaic of the current scene in political theology in the three major Abrahamic religions. (Fall 2020)
Erin Bennett 2013: Erin completed her law degree and Masters in public health from UNC Law and UNC Gillings School of Public Health this past May. Her research, heavily influenced by ethics and philosophy, explores the concept of an international right to health and political obstacles to meaningful and equitable health reform. (Fall 2020)
