Mission
As a scholar, teacher, and citizen, I aim to use the tools of philosophical inquiry and clear, persuasive communication for the advancement of freedom, opportunity, and justice in a number of areas. These include quality public education and life opportunities for disadvantaged, under-resourced, and disabled persons. I study ethics, leadership, and public policy with a background in American philosophy in order to write, teach, and engage the public on pressing moral challenges.
About Me
I am Associate Professor of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation at the University of Kentucky. I am also a Contributing Columnist for The Clarion Ledger of Jackson, MS, the state’s major newspaper. In 2015, I began writing also for The Prindle Post. From 2007 to 2016, I was assistant (’07-’13) and then associate professor (’13-’16) of Public Policy Leadership and affiliated faculty member in the School of Law and in the department of Philosophy at the University of Mississippi. I have authored four books that you can learn about on this Web site, including Democracy and Leadership and Uniting Mississippi, and I have edited a volume of John Dewey’s public writings, titled America’s Public Philosopher: Essays on Social Justice, Economics, Education, and the Future of Democracy (Columbia University Press, 2021). I earned my Ph.D. in Philosophy in 2007 at Southern Illinois University, my M.A. in Philosophy from Ohio University, and my B.S. in Philosophy and Communication Studies from Vanderbilt University. I began teaching in 2002 at O.U. in Athens, Ohio.
I serve as Executive Director and as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA). From 2011 to 2014, I served as Chair of the American Philosophical Association’s Committee on Public Philosophy. Since 2013, I have been a member of the Advisory Board for the Public Philosophy Network and chaired the Program Committee for the group’s 2015 conference. Finally, I chaired the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy’s Committee on Public Philosophy from 2013-2017.
I am the divorced father of three wonderful children, Helen, Sam, and Elliott, who live with me half the time in Lexington, KY, where I started out as Visiting Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Kentucky, before I accepted the position of Associate Professor of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation in the College of Education in June of 2018.