Graduate placement
PhD program alumni
Here is a complete list of PhDs awarded by the department since 1998.
Graduates are listed by year that their degree was awarded. Updates to a graduate’s employment status are made as we receive them. Due to timing issues, no PhDs were awarded in 2017 or 2018.
To briefly summarize the outcomes from 1998 through 2014: 20 of 25 found fulltime academic jobs after graduating. 11 of 25 secured tenure-track positions.
Although it is natural to be interested in numbers like these as a prospective graduate student, it should be noted that the sample size of actual graduates is rather small. When graduates do not go on to academic work, do not find tenure-track positions, or find but leave tenure-track positions, they often do so for idiosyncratic reasons such as geographic or family preferences.
PhD job placement
1998
Brendan Lalor
Worldly Thoughts: A Theory of Embedded Cognition (chair: Ron McClamrock)
1st position: University of Central Oklahoma, tenure track
Subsequent position: Castleton State College (VT), tenure track
2000
Robert Seltzer
The Role of Intentions in Perceptual Demonstrative Utterances (chair: Ron McClamrock)
1st position: Nova University
Subsequent position: Western Illinois University, tenure track
2001
Glenn Braddock
Explaining Consciousness: Naturalizing the Phenomenological (chair: Ron McClamrock)
1st position: Hunter College, tenure track
Subsequent position: Siena College, Associate Vice President, Student Academic Success and Engagement
2002
Andrew Costa
Upward Collapses and Downward Explosions: The Emergence of the Problem of Individuation in Plato and Aristotle and the Solutions Proposed by Porphyry and Boethius (chair: Josiah Gould)
1st position: Adirondack Community College, tenure track; subsequently tenured at same
Daniel Thero
Understanding Moral Weakness (chair: John Kekes)
1st position: adjunct teaching
2nd position: The College of Saint Rose, Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy & Religious Studies (2007-2011)
Present position: Lecturer (full-time) and undergraduate program director for Philosophy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Cognitive Science Department (2012-present)
2003
Lawrence Stark
Personal Identity and Moral Responsibility (chair: Josiah Gould)
1st position: adjunct teaching
Subsequent position: Oakland Community College, Oakland County, Michigan
Alissa Hurwitz Swota
Autonomy in End-of-life Decision Making (chair: Bonnie Steinbock)
1st position: University of Toronto, post doc
Subsequent position: University of North Florida, tenured
2004
Daniel Patrone
Leaving Morality Where It Is: The Particularistic Approach to Morality and the Problems of Contingency, Happiness, and Responsibility (chair: John Kekes)
1st position: Rogers State University, tenure track
Subsequent position: East Stroudsburg University
2005
James Walker
Hegel's Response to Meta-critical Skepticism in the Phenomenology of Spirit (chair: Robert Howell)
Winner of University at Albany's 2005 Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation award
1st position: Union College
Subsequent position: Frostburg State University, tenure track
2006
Tatiana Patrone
Kant's Deduction of the Political Ideal (chair: Jon Mandle)
Winner of University at Albany's 2006 Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation award
1st position: Montclair State University, tenure track
Subsequent position: Ithaca College, tenured
2007
Klaus Ladstaetter
Paul Horwich on Truth and 'True' -- with Particular Consideration of the Generalization Problem (chair: Brad Armour-Garb)
1st position: Bennington College
Subsequent position: Washburn University
2008
John Styles
Empirically Grounded Metaphors in Science (chair: P.D. Magnus)
position: Supreme Headquarters for Allied Powers in Europe high school, Belgium; teaching chemistry and philosophy
Juliette Stevens
Mental Causation: A Nonreductivist Perspective (chair: Ron McClamrock)
1st position: College of Southern Nevada, now tenured at same
2009
Syd Johnson
Proactive Procreation: The Ethical Implications of New Genetic Technologies on Parental Obligations to Future Offspring (chair: Bonnie Steinbock)
1st position: post-doc fellowship in neuroethics at Dalhousie University
subsequent positions: Michigan Technological University, tenured; SUNY Upstate Medical University, Center for Bioethics and Humanities
2010
David Pinkowski
Resolving Incomparability (chair: Rachel Cohon)
1st position: Bryant and Stratton College
2013
Jonathan Auyer
Illusion in the Commonplace: Reinterpreting Ernst Gombrich's Concept of Illusion (chair: Robert Howell)
1st position: Burlington College, Vermont
Edward DuBois
The Case for Character: A Reply to Situationism (chair: Rachel Cohon)
Brandon Lee
Phronesis After Situationism (chair: Jason D'Cruz)
Pete Murray
Why the Basic Structure is Basic: a defense of the doctrinal autonomy of political philosophy (chair: Jon Mandle)
1st position: Siena College
2nd position: Saddleback College, tenure track
Jie Yin
The I think, Self-awareness, and Reflexivity -- a Reconstructed Kantian Model of Self-awareness (chair: Robert Howell)
1st position: Southeast University, Nanjing, China, tenure track
2nd position: Associate professor, School of Philosophy, Fudan University
2014
Elliot Cross
Motives, reasons, and morality (chair: Rachel Cohon)
Thomas Fowler
The Role of The Simple Natures and Method in Descartes' Meditations (chair: Robert Meyers)
Nicholas Partyka
Democracy, Political Externalities, & the Labour-Process (chair: Kristen Hessler)
Peter Reinisch
Locke's Theory of Justified Resistance: An Explanation and Defense (chair: Jon Mandle)
Kimberly Van Orman
Toward Explaining the Gap: How a Particular View of Explanation Underwrites the Explanatory Gap (chair: Ron McClamrock)
1st position: Institute for Teaching, Learning and Academic Leadership, University at Albany
2nd position: Visiting Assistant Professor, Bennington College
3rd position: Lecturer, Institute for Artificial Intelligence, University of Georgia
2015
David Krueger
The Self in Hume's Treatise (chair: Rachel Cohon)
John Milanese
Expecting the Unexpected: A Precautionary Principle Addressing Unconsidered Dangers (chair: Kristen Hessler)
1st position: adjunct teaching
subsequent position: full-time lecturer, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Wes McMichael
Beyond Permissibility: Traversing the many moral pitfalls of abortion (a virtue ethics approach) (chair: Bonnie Steinbock)
1st position: Pennsylvania Highlands Community College, tenure track
2nd position: Fresno City College, tenured 2019
Kevin W. Olbrys
Plato and the Sophists: Eristic Practice, Cognition, and Perception (chair Nathan Powers)
Position: Bergen Community College, tenure track
2016
Susan Parrillo-Home
Adjudicating the Simulation Theory / Theory Theory Debate (with Special Attention to the Case of Autism Spectrum Disorders) (chair: Brad Armour-Garb)
1st position: adjunct at Skidmore College and subsequently Cazanovia College
Marius Pascale
What Monsters May They Be: The Moral Status of Macabre Fascination and the Paradox of Horror (chair: Jason D'Cruz)
1st position: Raritan Valley Community College
2nd position: Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Guilford College, two-year, full-time position
Kathleen Whipple
The Concept of Human Dignity and Its Role in Bioethical Discourse (chair: Jason D'Cruz)
2020
Toan Tran
The Obligation of Promises (chair: Rachel Cohon)
Jennifer Tillman
An Extension of Social Justice: A Rawlsian Application of Justice for the Intellectually Disabled (chair: Jon Mandle)
1st position: two-year post doctoral position dually appointed in Philosophy and Women's and Gender Studies at the University of San Diego
2nd position: Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of San Diego, tenure track
Gunnar Babcock
Change and Continuity in Biology (chair: P.D. Magnus)
1st position: postdoctoral associate in the McShea Lab at Duke University, as part of the Teleology and Complexity project
2nd position: Full-time Lecturer, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, one-year position
Current position: Lecturer, Cornell University, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Full-Time, Long-Term Renewable Position
2021
Will Kidder
The Role of Empathy in Moral Inquiry (chair: Jason D'Cruz)
Kali Milner
Partially Pretend Things: A Semantic Pretense Account of Plural Quantification (Chair: Brad Armour-Garb)
1st position: Adjunct Instructor, Wingate University
2022
Mark Brennan
Equality and Justice in Aristotle's Theory of Friendship (chair: Nathan Powers)
1st position: Assistant Professor, Northern Virginia Community College, Loudon Campus, Full-Time, Long-Term Renewable Position
Nick Jacobson
Causal Exclusion and Free Will Arguments (chair: Ron McClamrock)
Emmie Malone
Genres, Communities, and Practice (chair: P.D. Magnus)
1st position: Full-time, Permanent Faculty position, Lone Star College, Houston
Raphael Moser
Interpersonal Forgiveness is the Recognition that Justice is Attained (chair: Rachel Cohon)
2023
Saleh Afroogh
Towards a Trustworthy and Responsible Artificial Intelligence (chair: Jason D'Cruz)
1st position: Senior Research Program Coordinator, Urban Information Lab, UT-Austin
2024
Jordan Corner
Prop-Oriented Make-Believe in Metaphor and Morality (chair: Brad Armour-Garb)
Note
Although we try to make sure this information is correct, some of it may be out of date, incomplete, or simply mistaken. If you have any corrections, changes, or suggestions, please contact the department and let us know.