James Fanciullo, BA ’15

I graduated from UAlbany in 2015. The area of philosophy I enjoyed most was ethics, and specifically normative ethics. My favorite classes were all those I took with Prof. Cohon and Prof. Armour-Garb. It's hard to choose just one or two! I suppose my favorites were the 17th+18th century ethical theory graduate seminar taught by Prof. Cohon, and the many logic courses I took with Prof. Armour-Garb.

I'm an academic philosopher. As of January 2025, I'm an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Lingnan University in Hong Kong. Ethics is still the topic I enjoy thinking about the most, and it's my area of specialization.

I began studying philosophy at UAlbany because I wanted to become a lawyer. The philosophy courses at UAlbany were wonderful preparation for that, as I imagine they would be for a wide variety of rewarding careers. In fact, some of my fellow philosophy students at UAlbany went on to top law and business schools – I just happened to continue with philosophy. Outside of my career path, though, my education in philosophy changed the way I thought about and related to the world. It made me a much better thinker and reasoner. I also like to think it made me a better person. As a bonus, it was also the most enjoyable topic I've ever studied! In general, I could not recommend majoring or minoring in philosophy at UAlbany more.

Profile Information from January 2025.