Alex Sager, asager@pdx.edu
Education
Ph.D. in Philosophy, University of Calgary, Calgary 2009
Masters of Arts in Philosophy, Columbia University, New York, 2001
Bachelor of Arts in Honours Philosophy, Concordia University, Montreal 1999
Employment
Portland State University, University Studies and Philosophy, Portland, Oregon
- Philosophy Department Chair, September 2017-
- Professor, 2021
- Associate Professor, 2015-2021
- Assistant Professor, 2009-2015
Refereed Publications
Books: Monographs
- Against Borders: Why the People of the World Need Free Movement (Off the Fence Series: Rowman & Littlefield International, 2020)
- Toward a Cosmopolitan Ethics of Mobility: The Migrant’s Eye View (Palgrave Pivot, 2018)
Books: Edited
- The Humean Mind (Routledge, 2018, co-edited with Angela Coventry)
- The Ethics and Politics of Migration: Core Issues and Emerging Trends (Rowman & Littlefield International, 2016)
- Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will: Kai Nielsen’s Selected Political Philosophy (with David Rondel and Kai Nielsen) (University of Calgary Press, 2012)
Journal: Edited
- Essays in Philosophy: Migration and Mobility (Special Issue to appear in Winter 2021)
Articles
- “Political Philosophy Beyond Methodological Nationalism,” Philosophy Compass (forthcoming)
- “Immigration Enforcement and Domination: An Indirect Argument for Much More Open Borders” Political Research Quarterly, 70(1), 2017.
- “Liberation Pragmatism: Dussel and Dewey in Dialogue” (co-authored with Albert Spencer), Contemporary Pragmatism, 13(4), 2016.
- “Methodological Nationalism, Migration, and Political Theory,” Political Studies, 64(1), 2016.
- “Productive Justice and Compulsory Service,” (commentary on Gillian Brock and Michael Blake, Debating Brain Drain), Ethics and Global Politics, 9, 2016.
- “Ghoshal’s Ghost: Financialization and the End of Management Theory” (co-authored with Gregory Daneke) Philosophy of Management, 14(1), 2015.
- “Immigration, Ethics, and the Hermeneutics of Suspicion: Methodological Reflections on Joseph Carens’ The Ethics of Immigration,” Ethical Perspectives, 21(4) 2014.
- “Normative Ethics after Pragmatic Naturalism” Metaphilosophy, 45(3), 2014.
- “Reframing the Brain Drain,” Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 17(5), 2014 [reprinted in Akakpo, Crispino E. G., and Patti Tamara Lenard, eds. 2015. New Challenges in Immigration Theory. Abingdon: Routledge.]
- “Political Rights, Republican Freedom, and Temporary Workers,” Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 17(2), 2014
- “The Hanford Advisory Board: Participatory Democracy, Technology, and Representation,” (co-authored with Alex Zakaras), Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 4(2), 2014
- “Hume and Contemporary Political Philosophy,” (co-authored with Angela Coventry), European Legacy, 5, 2013
- “The Implications of Migration Theory for Distributive Justice,” Global Justice: Theory, Practice, and Rhetoric, 5, 2012
- “Agricultural Workers in Mexico and the United States” (with Florencio Posadas Segura (principal author) and Maria Sager), Journal of Workplace Rights, Vol. 14, No. 4, 2009.
- “Culture and Immigration: A Case for Exclusion?” in John R. Rowan, ed., Social Philosophy Today: International Law and Justice, Volume 23, 2008.
Chapters
- “The Uses and Abuses of ‘Migrant Crisis’” Theodoros Fouskas, ed. Immigrants and Refugees in Times of Crisis, European Public Law Organization (Expected publication date 2020)
- “Humanity and Mobility,” in Johanna Gördemann, Andreas Niederberger, and Uchenna Okeya, Handbook of Migration Ethics, Dordrecht: Springer, (Expected publication date 2020)
- “Reclaiming Cosmopolitanism through Migrant Protests.” In Migration, Protest Movements and the Politics of Resistance. A Radical Political Philosophy of Cosmopolitanism, edited by Tamara Caraus and Elena Paris. Routledge, 2018.
- “Ethics and Migration Crises.” In The Oxford Handbook of Migration Crises, by Alex Sager, edited by Cecilia Menjívar, Marie Ruiz, and Immanuel Ness. Oxford University Press, 2018.
- “A Humean Social Ontology” (co-authored with Angela Coventry and Tom Seppalainen) in The Humean Mind, 2018.
- “Introduction to the Ethics of Migration,” in The Ethics and Politics of Immigration: Core Issues and Emerging Trends, 2016
- “Methodological Nationalism and the ‘Brain Drain’,” in The Ethics and Politics of Immigration: Core Issues and Emerging Trends, 2016
- “Student Designed Deliberative Forums as a Pedagogical Method,” in Laker et al., eds., Civic Pedagogies in Higher Education: Teaching for Democracy in Europe, Canada and the U.S., Palgrave Macmillan, 2014
- “Philosophy of Leisure,” The Routledge International Handbook of Leisure Studies, Tony Blackshaw, ed., Routledge, 2013.
- “Immigration, Class, and Global Justice: Some Moral Considerations/Implications” in Micheline Labelle, Jocelyne Couture and Frank Remiggi eds. La communauté politique en question. Regards croisés sur l’immigration, la citoyenneté, la diversité et le pouvoir, UQAM Press, 2012
- “Kai Nielsen’s Political Philosophy: A Critical Introduction,” co-authored with David Rondel in Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will (University of Calgary Press, 2012)
- “Brain Drain, Health, and Global Justice,” in Rebecca Shah, ed., The International Migration of Health Workers: Ethics, Rights, and Justice, Palgrave-McMillan Ltd. 2010, pp.103-117.
Non-Refereed Publications
Books: Edited
- Business Cases in Ethical Focus (Broadview Press, 2019, co-edited with Fritz Allhoff)
- Broadview Anthology of Social and Political Thought: From Machiavelli To Nietzsche, Broadview Press, 2018 (General Editor with Andrew Bailey, Samantha Brennan, Will Kymlicka, Jacob Levy, and Clark Wolf)
- Business in Ethical Focus, Second Edition (Broadview Press, co-edited with Fritz Allhoff and Anand Vaidya, 2016)
- Broadview Anthology of Social and Political Thought: Essential Readings, Broadview Press, 2012 (General Editor with Andrew Bailey, Samantha Brennan, Will Kymlicka, Jacob Levy, and Clark Wolf)
- Broadview Anthology of Social and Political Thought, Volume 1: From Plato to Nietzsche, Broadview Press, 2008. (Editorial Coordinator and General Editor with Andrew Bailey, Samantha Brennan, Will Kymlicka, Jacob Levy, and Clark Wolf)
- Broadview Anthology of Social and Political Thought, Volume 2: The 20th Century and Beyond, Broadview Press, 2008. (Editorial Coordinator and General Editor with Andrew Bailey, Samantha Brennan, Will Kymlicka, Jacob Levy, and Clark Wolf)
Articles
- “Private Contractors, Foreign Troops, and Offshore Detention Centers: The Ethics of Externalizing Immigration Controls.” APANewsletter on Hispanic/Latino Issues in Philosophy, Spring 2018.
Book Chapters
- “A Brief Guide to Thinking about Business Ethics,” in Business in an Ethical Perspective, Second Edition, 2016 (Adopted and expanded as “A Brief Guide to Business Ethics and Case Study Analysis for Business Cases in Ethical Focus, 2019)
- “The Humean Elements of Rawls’ Political Philosophy” (co-authored with Angela Coventry), in Ilya Kasavin, ed. David Hume and Contemporary Philosophy, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012.
- “An Introduction to Rights-Based Liberalism,” co-authored with Will Kymlicka, in Volume 2 of the Broadview Anthology of Social and Political Thought, 2008.
- “The Rana Plaza Collapse (Case Study),” Business in Ethical Focus, Second Edition (2016)
- “Interview with Kai Nielsen on Political Philosophy,” (with David Rondel) in Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will
- Short introductions to “Leon Trotsky”; “John Dewey”; “Max Weber”; “Frantz Fanon”; “G.A. Cohen”; “Charles Taylor”; “Michael Walzer”; “Will Kymlicka”; “Jürgen Habermas”; “Michel Foucault”; “Amartya Sen”; “Thomas Pogge”, “Harry Brighouse and Adam Swift” in Volume 2 of the Broadview Anthology of Social and Political Thought
Book Reviews
- Review of Katrina Forrester, In the Shadow of Justice. Princeton University Press 2019. American Political Thought. Summer 2020.
- Martha C. Nussbaum, The Cosmopolitan Tradition: A Noble but Flawed Ideal. Harvard University Press. 2019, in LSE Review of Books Blog
- José Jorge Mendoza, The Moral and Political Philosophy of Immigration, Lexington Books, 2017, in Radical Philosophy Review 22 (1): 165–70. https://doi.org/10.5840/radphilrev201922199.
- Manlio Graziano, What is a Border? Stanford, 2018, in H-Diplo, November 2018.
- Bryan W. Van Norden, Taking Back Philosophy: A Multicultural Manifesto., Columbia University Press 2017, in LSE Review of Books Blog
- Bernardo Zacka, When the State Meets the Street: Public Service and Moral Agency, Harvard University Press, 2018, in LSE Review of Books Blog
- Rose, Julie, L., Free Time. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2016. Ethics 128 (3): 657–62. https://doi.org/10.1086/695995.
- James C. Scott, Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States, Yale University Press, 2017, in LSE Review of Books Blog
- William Maley, What Is a Refugee?, Oxford University Press, 2016, in EuropeNow, 2017
- Amy Allen, The End of Progress: Decolonizing the Normative Foundations of Critical Theory, Columbia University Press, 2016, in LSE Review of Books Blog
- Thomas Nail, Theory of the Border, Oxford University Press, 2016, in LSE Review of Books Blog
- Reece Jones, Violent Borders, Verso Books, 2016, in LSE Review of Books Blog
- David Miller, Strangers in Our Midst, Harvard University Press, 2016, in LSE Review of Books Blog
- Ian Shapiro, Politics against Domination, Harvard University Press, 2016 in LSE Review of Books Blog
- Ryu Susato, Hume’s Sceptical Enlightenment, Oxford, 2015, in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (co-authored with Angela Coventry)
- James Hampshire, The Politics of Migration. Cambridge, 2013 in Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Vol. 20, No.4, 2012
- Jason Brennan, Why Not Capitalism? Routledge, London and New York, 2014, in Marx and the Review of Books
- Luis Martínez Andrade, Religion without Redemption: Social Contradictions and Awakened Dreams in Latin America, Pluto Press, London, 2015, in Marx and the Review of Books
- Vivek Chibbers, Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital. Verso, London and New York, 2013 in Marx and the Review of Books.
- Raymond Geuss, A World Without Why. Princeton, NJ, 2014 in Marx and the Review of Books
- Gerard Casey, Libertarian Anarchy: Against the State. Continuum, London, 2012 and David Graeber, Revolutions in Reverse: Minor Compositions. London and New York, 2011 in Marx and the Review of Books.
- Enrique Dussel, Ethics of Liberation in the Age of Globalization and Exclusion. Durham: Duke University Press, 2014 in Marx and the Review of Books
- Henry A. Giroux, America’s Education Deficit and the War on Youth. New York: Monthly Review Press, 2013 in Marx and the Review of Books
- Ryan Pevnick, Immigration and the Constraints of Justice. Cambridge, 2011 in Journal of Politics, Vol. 74, No.3, 2012.
- Jeffrey Edward Green, The Eyes of the People. Oxford, 2010 in Essays in Philosophy, Vol. 13, No.2, 2012.
- William D. Casebeer, Natural Ethical Facts: Evolution, Connectionism, and Moral Cognition. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003 in Dialogue, 44, 2005
Encyclopedia Articles
- “Migration” in The Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics, editor-in-chief, Ruth Chadwick, Elsevier, 2012
- “Rights” in Encyclopedia of Global Justice, editor-in-chief, Deen Chatterjee, Springer, 2011
- “Equality,” ” in Encyclopedia of Global Justice, editor-in-chief, Deen Chatterjee, Springer, 2011
- “Multiculturalism” ” in Encyclopedia of Global Justice, editor-in-chief, Deen Chatterjee, Springer, 2011
General Audience
- Philosophy for Children, APA Syllabus Showcase, September 2020
- Open Borders, 2050. New Internationalist, January 29, 2020.
- State of Nature blog, One Question: What is the Left Case for Open Borders?
- The Only Reasonable Philosophy of Immigration is a Radical Philosophy of Migration, Radical Philosophy Magazine, July 2, 2018.
- The Perversity of External Immigration Enforcement, crImmigration Blog, June 12, 2018.
- Focusing on Migration’s ‘good’ or ‘bad’ Influences on Your Country Alone Can Be a Harmful Oversimplification. LSE US Center. January 13, 2017.
- Bureaucracy and Domination: An Indirect Argument for Open Borders. Open Borders, December 12, 2016.
- “The Refugee Crisis & The Responsibility Of Intellectuals.” The Critique, September 13, 2016.
- “Better critical thinking through philosophy: Guest opinion,” The Oregonian, September 16, 2014.
- “A Plea for (the Philosophy of) Leisure”, Philosophy Now (October/November 2010)
Presentations at Professional Meetings
Peer-Reviewed
- “Author-Meets-Critics session on Ayelet Shachar’s The Shifting Border,” American Political Science Association, San Francisco, CA, September 2020
- “Resisting Migration Injustice Across Borders,” American Political Science Association, Washington, D.C., August 2019
- “Author-Meets-Critics session on Candice Delmas’ A Duty to Resist,” American Political Science Association, Washington, D.C., August 2019.
- “The Migrant’s Eye-View: Some Remarks” American Political Science Association, Boston, 2018
- “Private Contractors, Foreign Troops, and Offshore Detention Centers: The Ethics of Externalizing Immigration Controls,” American Philosophical Association, Seattle, WA, 2017
- “Eurocentrism and the Political Philosophy of Migration,” Pacific Northwest Political Science Association, Portland, Oregon, 2016, Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, 2017
- “Migration Enforcement and Bureaucratic Domination,” European Consortium for Political Research, Montreal, 2015
- “Ghoshal’s Ghost: Financialization and the End of Management Theory,” co-authored with Gregory Daneke, Philosophy of Management 2014, Chicago, IL.
- “Liberation Pragmatism: Dussel and Dewey in Dialogue,” co-authored with Albert Spencer, 31st International Social Philosophy Conference, Ashland, Oregon, July 2014.
- “A Humean Social Ontology,” Co-authored with Angela Coventry and Tom Seppalainen, Third Conference of the European Network on Social Ontology, Helsinki, Finland, November 2013
- “Methodological Nationalism, Migration, and Political Theory,” Pacific Northwest Political Science Association conference, Portland, OR, November 2012, revised version presented to American Political Science Association, August 2013, Association for Political Theory, October 2013
- “Kitcher’s Ethical Project: Naturalism, Pragmatism, and Progress,” Northwest Philosophy Conference, Corvallis, OR, October 2012
- “The Hanford Nuclear Site Cleanup: A Case Study in Democracy, Technology, and Representation,” (Co-authored with Alex Zakaras), Dallas, Science-Policy Interactions, April 2012; American Political Science Association, New Orleans, August 2012
- “World systems, emigration and compensatory justice,” Société québécoise de science politique, May 2012
- “Gender and Migration,” Western Political Science Association, March 2012
- “Rawls’ Humean Roots,” (Co-authored with Angela Coventry), Pacific Northwest Political Science Association, October 2011
- “Political Rights, Republican Freedom, and Temporary Workers,” Western Political Science Association, April 2011; Challenging Citizenship, University of Coimbra June 2011; Congrès de l’Association française de science politique, Immigration Policies: Between Justice and Democracy, Strasbourg, France, September 2011, American Political Science Association, September 2011
- “Hume and Contemporary Political Philosophy” (Co-authored with Angela Coventry), Western Political Science Association, April 2011, David Hume and Modern Philosophy, Moscow, Russia, November 2011
- “Immigration and Equality,” Territory and Justice, Dublin, UK, July 2010, Association for Political Theory, Portland, Oregon, October 2010
- “Migration and Domination,” American Political Science Association, Washington, D.C. (September 2010) [poster]
- “Migration and Class,” Society for Socialist Studies, Montreal, Quebec, May 2010
- “Amartya Sen and the Future State of Political Philosophy,” Society for Practical Ethics, Montreal, May 2010
- “Temporary Migration and Political Rights,” Democracy and Space, University of Oregon, April 2010
- “Biting the Bullet: A Case for Leveling Down”, Lewis & Clark Philosophy Department, December 2010)
- “Part Time and Temporary Work: Exploitation, Injustice, and Autonomy,” North American Society for Social and Political Philosophy, August 2009, Northwest Philosophy Conference, October 2009, Western Canadian Philosophical Association October 2010
- “Life, Dignity and Leisure,” Western Canadian Philosophical Association, Edmonton, 2008
- “What Immigrants Owe Society,” Canadian Philosophical Association, Vancouver, 2008
- “Brain Drain, Global Health, and Rights,” Global Health, Justice, and “Brain Drain” conference, Keele University, UK, September 2007
- “The Case for Leveling Down,” Western Canadian Philosophical Association, Vancouver, 2006
- “The Moral Status of Guest Workers,” Canadian Philosophical Association, Toronto, 2006
- “Immigration, Discrimination, and Just Admission,” North American Association for Social and Political Philosophy, 2006
Invited
- “Immigration and Abolitionism,” Humanities Society, Brighton University, December 2020.
- Invited Speaker on “Care and Migration”, Philosophical Perspectives on Giving, Receiving, and Conceiving Care, NEH Summer Institute, Directors: Elizabeth Brake and Tamara Metz, Summer 2021
- Department Chairs Network: Supporting and Advocating for Contingent Faculty on Your Campus, American Philosophical Association, Central Division, Chicago, February 2020
- “Tools for a Radical Political Philosophy of Migration,” Imagining Migration After Populism, Immigration Theory Workshop, University of Houston Law School, February 2020
- “Ethics of Refuge,”, Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften, Bad Homburg, Germany, February 2020
- “Modeling Migration and Development (or Why Distributive Justice Needs the Philosophy of the Social Sciences)”, PDXPhiSciNow, Portland State University, September 2019.
- “Immigrant Detention and the Moral Logic of Abolitionism,” De-Carceral Futures: Bridging Prison and Immigration Justice, Queen’s University, Kingston, May 2019.
- “Radicalizing José Jorge Mendoza’s The Moral and Political Philosophy of Immigration.” Author-Meets-Critics on The Moral and Political Philosophy of Immigration, Radical Philosophy Conference, Lowell, MA, 2018.
- “Three Ways in which Methodological Nationalism Leads Us Astray,” Migration Cluster Lightning Conference, Portland State University, June 9, 2018.
- “Reclaiming Radical Cosmopolitanism through Border Studies and the Mobility Turn,” Transnational Migration: Borders and Global Justice, Prague, Czech Republic, May 30, 2018.
- Author-Meets Critics Session on Toward a Cosmopolitan Ethics of Mobility: The Migrant’s-Eye View of the World, Society for Mexican American Philosophy (Critics: José Jorge Mendoza and Carlos Alberto Sánchez), 2018.
- Crossing Borders: A Panel Discussion on Latinx Immigration and US Immigration Policy, APA Committee on Public Philosophy (with Kai Draper, José Jorge Mendoza, Shelley Wilcox, Steve Tammelleo), 2018.
- “Migration and Development: Charting the Waters between Methodological Nationalism and Methodological Individualism,” Colloque international Migration irrégulière & développement humain, Paris, November 2017.
- “Immigration Enforcement in the Shadow of Forcible Relocation in the US,” Great Lakes Philosophy Conference, Adrian, MI, 2017.
- “Methodological Nationalism and ‘Brain Drain,’” Beyond Brain Drain: Skills and Mobility without Methodological Nationalism, Paris, France, 2015; American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division, Vancouver, 2015
- “What is the Point in Thinking about the Ideal State?” Philosopher’s Café, Calgary, March 2008
Invited Commentaries and Responses
- Commentator on Michael T. Ball-Blakely, “Transnational Capital and Feudal Privilege: Open Borders as a Tool for Non-Domination,” PNW Philosophy Conference, October 2019.
- Discussant, Pacific Northwest Political Science Association, Portland, Oregon, 2016:
- Sammy Basu, “Homo Ignorans in Political Life”
- William M. Curtis, “Rorty as Hayekian Classical Liberal”
- Spencer McKay, “The Democratic Benefits of the Commons”
- James M. Okapal, “In Space No One Can Hear You Scream: Problematic Bases for Being a Subject of Justice”.
- Commentary, Arash Abizadeh, Mathias Risse, Patti Lenard, Panel on Immigration, American Philosophical Association, San Francisco 2013
- Patrick Taylor Smith, “Vertical Coercion, Sovereignty, and the International Property Regime,”, PNW Philosophy Conference, October 2012
- Discussant, Pacific Northwest Political Science Association, , Portland, Oregon, 2011:
- Daniel Andersen, University of Oregon, “Rational Debate or Personal Relation? An Argument for a Dialogic Foundation for Deliberative Democracy.”
- Ruth Arnell, Brigham Young University-Idaho, “Sufficiency, Priority, and the Most Affected Principle.”
- Samuel Bernofsky, University of Oregon, “The Unlikely Zionist, Louis D. Brandeis: An Examination of the Theoretical Foundations and Attraction of Zionist Nationalism.”
- Brian Thomas, Simon Fraser University, “Irregular Migration and the Right to Stay.”
- Commentary on Trudy Govier, “Public Forgiveness: Countering Some Objections,” Western Canadian Philosophical Association, October 2010
- Commentary on Jeffrey Gauthier, “Just Bargains: When is Consent Coerced?” Northwest Philosophy Conference, October 2010
- Respondent to Cary Wolfe, “Animal Studies, Biopolitics, and Species,” Understanding Sustainability, Portland State University, May 2010
- Commentary on Walter Lammi, “Thinking Anew About Ideology,” Northwest Philosophy Conference, 2009
- Commentary on Anna Frammartino Wilks, “Kant and Parfit on Persons and Morality,” Canadian Philosophical Association, Toronto, 2006
Honors, Grants, and Fellowships
- National Endowment for the Humanities, “Mobility, Borders, and Place Summer Institute” – ($175,000) Applied for 2019 and 2020, Summer Institute was not funded
- American Philosophical Association, Berry Fund for Political Philosophy (in support of Art Gallery – Borders: Representation and Reality) (2018) ($700)
- PhD dissertation Immigration, Rights, and Equality nominated for 2009 CGS/UMI Distinguished Dissertation Award in Humanities and Fine Arts
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Scholarship (May 2007-May 2008) ($20,000)
- Columbia University Fellowship (Doctoral Program) (Completed MA)
- Faculty Enhancement Grant, Portland State University, Fall 2010, Fall 2011 $3,790, Fall to Spring 2014-15, $8922
- Faculty Development Award, Portland State University, Winter 2010, 2011, 2012, $1000
- FRINQ Internationalization Grant, Portland State University, Summer 2011, $500, 2014, $1500
- Course Development Grant, Portland State University, Summer 2010 (New FRINQ theme: Globalization), $1500
- Travel Grant, Portland State University, Winter 2010, Winter 2011, 2014, $1500
- Hybrid Course Development Grant, Portland State University, Winter/Spring 2011, $1,500
Teaching, Mentoring and Curricular Achievements
- John Eliot Allen Outstanding Teaching Award, 2014-15
- Chair for Dana Hathaway’s Interdisciplinary Studies MA
- Committee Member for Samantha Hamlin (PhD, School of the Environment) and Nichole Winges-Yanez (PhD, Social Work)
- Honors Seminar Mentor: Ben Kenofer, Sarah Hassouneh, Richard van Barriger, Gabriel Espinosa, Jayc Izso, James Funston, Dan Pelley, Lindsay Cooley, Kainai Shade, Chelsea Pine
- Honors Thesis Advisor: Erin Bangs, Nicholas Johnson
- Cluster Development: Member of committee that developed new cluster, “Knowledge, Rationality, and Value,” that combines “Morality” and “Knowledge, Rationality, and Understanding” clusters to better fulfill PSU’s general education goals.
- Individual Course Proposals
- Topics in Social and Political Philosophy: Fills a gap in the Philosophy Department’s advanced curriculum and develops department strength in political philosophy (Fall 2009)
- Philosophy of Education: A popular course that contributes to PSU’s education minor and fulfills requirements in the Morality and Knowledge, Rationality, and Understanding clusters, thus contributing to general education (Fall 2010)
- Freshman Inquiry, “Globalization” (Summer 2010): New Freshman Inquiry course that replaced “On Democracy,” offering incoming students the opportunity to pursue studies that meet PSU’s internationalization goals.
- Philosophy of Work and Leisure: A new course that will fulfill requirements in the new Knowledge, Rationality, and Value UNST cluster (Fall 2011)
Courses Taught
- Topics in Social and Political Philosophy: Utopia, Spring 2019
- Computer Ethics, Winter 2021
- Philosophical Writing, Winter 2019
- Seminar: Critique of Pure Reason, Spring 2016
- Seminar: German Aesthetics, Winter 2016
- Advanced Ethics: Aristotle to Williams, Fall 2015
- Science, Values, and Politics, Spring 2015 (Environmental Management Sciences, co-taught with Elise Granek)
- Philosophy and the City, Spring 2015
- Seminar: Capital and Power, Spring 2015
- Science and Society, Winter 2014, Winter 2016, Winter 2018
- University Studies Capstone: Philosophy for Children, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Spring 2016 , Fall 2017 , Fall 2018 , Fall 2019, Fall 2020
- Seminar: Philosophy in the Schools, Fall 2013, Winter 2014, Spring 2014
- Advanced Ethics, Ethical Naturalism, Fall 2013
- Philosophy of Life and Death, Summer 2013-2017
- Business Ethics, Summer 2013-2017&
- Philosophy of Work and Leisure, Spring 2013
- Topics in Social and Political Philosophy, The Marxian Tradition, Fall 2012
- Advanced Ethics, Philip Kitcher’s Ethical Project, Winter 2012
- University Studies, Freshman Inquiry, Globalization, Summer 2011 (three term class), Fall 2011, Winter 2012, Spring, 2012, Fall 2012, Winter 2013, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Winter 2014, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Winter 2015, Spring 2015
- Topics in Social and Political Philosophy, Migration, Winter 2011, Winter 2015, Spring 2018
- University Studies, Sophomore Inquiry, Morality, Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Spring 2011
- University Studies, Freshman Inquiry, Democracy, Fall 2009, Winter 2010, Spring 2010
- Philosophy of Education, Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Summer 2012, Summer 2013, Spring 2014
- Topics in Ethics: Philosophy of Education, Spring 2010
- Social and Political Philosophy, Winter 2010, Spring 2013
- Topics in Ethics: Social and Political Philosophy, Power, Fall 2009
Significant Professional Development Activities
- Faculty Fellow For Partnerships, Portland State University, Winter 2010, 2011, 2014
Governance Activities for the University, College, Department
- Interinstitutional Faculty Senate (January 2021)
- Faculty Senate Ad Hoc Summer Research Committee on Academic Program Examination/ Reorganization (Summer 2020)
- Digital Course Evaluation Committee (Fall 2019-)
- Portland State University, Education Policy Committee (Fall 2017-)
- Co-Chair, Education Policy Committee (Fall 2019-)
- Portland State University, Budget Committee (Fall 2015-Spring 2016)
- Portland State University, College of the Liberal Arts & Sciences, Migration Cluster Lead (Summer 2017-Fall 2018)
- Philosophy Department By-Law Committee, Chair (Fall 2015-Spring 2016, Fall 2017-)
- External Review Committee (Fall 2014-Spring 2016)
- Philosophy Department Curriculum Committee, Member (Fall 2009-Fall 2012), Chair (Fall 2012-Spring 2016)
- Philosophy Department Merit Pay Committee, Member (Fall 2012)
- Philosophy Department Assessment Committee, Member (Fall 2012-Spring 2016)
- Philosophy Department Fixed-Term Promotion Committee, Member (Fall 2012- Fall 2013)
- Application reviewer for UNST Mentor Program (2012)
- Advisory Board, Portland Center for the Public Humanities (September 2010-September 2011)
Professionally-related Service
- American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division, Executive Committee (Winter 2020-)
- American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division, Program Committee (Spring 2019-)
- Section Editor, Immigration, Philpapers (September 2015-)
- Application Reviewer for NEH Summer Institute, David Hume in the 21st Century, Directors: Angela Coventry and Elizabeth Radcliffe (Summer 2020)
- Series Editor, Broadview Guides to Business and Professional Ethics (2009-2013)
- UNST Pathways Design Group (Spring/Summer 2014)
- Morality Cluster Coordinator (Fall 2010 to Fall 2012)
- Retention Committee, Portland State University (Summer 2010)
- Portfolio Review Committee, Portland State University (June 2010, 2011)
- Library liaison for Philosophy Department, Portland State University (Fall 2009-present)
- UNST Working Group on Writing (Winter, Spring 2012)
- Conference Coordinator for Fall 2007 University of Calgary Philosophy Department Graduate Conference
- Graduate student representative to faculty, Columbia University Philosophy Department, 2000-1
- Referee for African Identities; American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division; American Political Science Review; Athabasca University Press; Cambridge University Press; Canadian Philosophical Association; Cengage Learning; Contemporary Political Theory; Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy; De Ethica; Developing World Bioethics; Ethical Theory and Moral Practice; European Journal of Political Theory; Glocality; International Journal of Migration and Borders Studies; International Theory; Journal of Applied Philosophy; Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies; Journal of Environment Values; Hume Studies; Journal of Politics; Journal of International Political Theory; Journal of Leisure Research; Journal of Social Philosophy; Kennedy Institute of Ethics; Law and Philosophy; Moral Philosophy and Politics; Oxford University Press; Pacific Northwest Philosophy Conference; Perspectives on Politics; Philosophy and Social Criticism; Philosophy and Technology; Political Geography; Political Research Quarterly; Political Studies; Politics, Groups, and Identities; Polity; Res Publica; Routledge; Rowman & Littlefield; Rowman & Littlefield International; Social Philosophy Today; Social Theory and Practice; Socialist Studies; Taylor and Francis; Topoi; University of Arizona Press; University of Georgia Press; Western Canadian Philosophical Association; World Leisure Studies
Community Outreach
- Founder and Conference Organization, Oregon High School Ethics Bowl, 2015-
- ArtsLink Assembly 2020: No Borders / Post-Nationalism (panel with Thomas Nail and Nandita Sharma)
- Oregon Humanities, Virtual Think & Drink: What Are Schools For?, August 18, 2020
- Inequities and Opportunities, @This Moment Webinar Series, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Panels, June 2020
- Long Live Leisure! It’s Time to Make Space for What We Value in Life. CBC Ideas, February 20, 2020.
- “The Case for Making Immigration Boring Again,” Tag, You’re It: Voices on Immigration, Portland State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, February 2020.
- “Opening Borders, Tearing Down Walls,” Public Lecture: Pacific Northwest College of the Arts, April 2019
- Prescription for Justice, Immigration: Ethics and Philosophy, https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=6QEuC4MlUX4.
- “How Conceiving Migration as a Crisis Harms Migrants and Undermines Global Justice,” CLAS Faculty Research Brown Bag Series, December 7, 2017
- “The Trump Presidency and the Ethics of Resistance,” Portland State University, Provost’s Lecture Series, February 23, 2017
- Oregon Humanities, Conversation Project leader, 2014-16: What Is Education for?
- Advisor and seminar leader for assistant coaches for 2014 Regional Ethics Bowl teams from Columbia River High and Jesuit High School
- Advisor, PSU Coordinator, LEP High School Philosophy Club
- Advisor, PSU Coordinator, Childpeace Montessori K-5 Philosophy Curriculum
- Presentation for Socratic Society, “Kitcher’s Ethical Project: Naturalism, Pragmatism, and Progress,” Socratic Society, February 2013
- Presentation for Socratic Society, Portland State University, OR, “Amartya Sen and the Future State of Political Philosophy” February 2010
- “Whatever Happened to Leisure, the Mother of Philosophy?” Philosophy Café, Powell’s Books, Portland, OR, November 2010
Membership in Professional Societies
- American Philosophical Association
- Association for Political Theory
- American Political Science Association