Department of Philosophy
College of Arts & Sciences
Graduate Placement
The department actively assists graduates from the M.A. program in their search for employment or further education. Many of our graduates have elected to pursue the Ph.D. in philosophy (in boldface below). A healthy percentage of these students have been admitted with full funding to “top-50” programs or programs with specialties in particular areas. Other graduates have elected not to pursue the Ph.D. in philosophy. Such students have gone on to use their philosophical skills in a variety of academic and non-academic professions (e.g., psychology, law, medicine, social work, business, and education).
As our placement record suggests, while many of our students come to the University of Wyoming intending to pursue the Ph.D. in philosophy, many come simply because they love philosophy or desire to advance their careers. Here are some statistics on what our graduates have done since 1995 (List reflects all students who completed their MA at UW):
| Total graduates |
35 |
| Ph.D. in Philosophy |
14 |
| Graduate work in another field |
8 |
| Law |
4 |
| Teaching |
5 |
| Unknown/TBA |
4 |
Year
Name
- Thesis Title
- Graduate School / Professional Institution (Discipline)
2016
Samuel Shook
- A Proper Handling of a Moral Scenario: Under Aristotelean
- Temporary instructor at University of Wyoming
2015
Elizabeth Bell
- Revising Revision: Multiple Entrenchment Orderings in the AGM Model of Belief Revision
- University of Wisconsin Ph.D. program
Elizabeth Cantalamessa
- The Limits of Models: Model Schemata In Disability Studies
- Adjunct instructor at the University of Houston-Downtown and applying to Ph.D. programs
Anna Day-Marshall
2014
Richard Foland
- Bayesian Cognitive Modeling: A Failed Attempt To Refute the PotS
- Studying in New York to be a Police Officer
Nicholas Webster
- Aristotelian Justice and Environmental Ethics
- Adjunct Instructor of Philosophy at Utah Valley University
2013
John Poland
- Understanding Nature: Towards a More Inclusive Approach to Aesthetic Appreciation
- Working as an itinerant philosophy instructor and applying to Ph.D. programs
Jeremy Troy
- Learning as Recollection in Plato's Phaedo
- Accepted to Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
2012
Jennifer Lamborn
- Two Standpoints and the Transcendental Distinction: An Analysis of Kant's Conception of Freedom
- Secondary English Language Arts Instructor
Glen Nesse
- Arbitrary Things
- Ph.D. candidate at University of Illinois
Pablo Zavala
- "A Defense of Ontological Deflationism"
- University of Wyoming (M.A. Spanish Literature), now Ph.D student in Spanish Literature Washington University in St. Louis
2011
Casey Hart
- "Truth and Abstract"
- University of Wisconsin - Madison (full funding)
2010
Ian Harmon
- "Specified Ways of Knowing How"
- University of Illinois - Urbana/Champaign (full funding)
2008
Erik Hoversten
- "Faultless Disagreement and the Semantics of Personal Taste"
- Rutgers University (full funding)
T. Scott Dixon
- "Problems with Presentism"
- University of California Davis (full funding)
Jeremy Weiss
- "Wants and Reasons"
- Ohio State University (full funding)
2007
Allison Fritz
- "Analysis of Nature-Human Conflicts in Light of Just War Theory"
- University of Nebraska
R. Jason Williams
- "Spinoza on the Relation between Substance and Attribute"
- Practicing Law
Adam Thompson
- "Groundwork for a Concept-based Theory of Confirmation"
- University of Nebraska (full funding)
2006
Jennifer Lyn Cole Wright
- "The Problem(s) with Principles: Towards a skill-based account of mature moral agency"
- University of Wyoming (Ph.D, Psychology), now Assistant Professor of Psychology, College of Charleston
2005
Bruce Buchanan
- "Deep Ecology and Authenticity"
- Southern Illinois University - Carbondale
Christopher Gaffney
- "The Problem of Prior Probabilities in Bayesian Confirmation Theory"
- University of Nevada, Reno (M.Sc., Mathematics); Ph.D. candidate at the Center for Operations Research at Rutgers University and a Senior Analyst for PHH Mortgage
2004
John Bengson
- "From Inner Perception to Direct Attention"
- University of Texas, Austin (Ph.D, Philosophy), now Assistant Professor of Philosophy University of Wisconsin - Madison
2003
Ben Whiting
- "Functionalism as a Reductive Explanation"
- University of Chicago Law School (J.D., with High Honors), now Associate at Bartlit, Beck, Herman, Palenchar & Scott, L.L.P.
Luke Glowacki
- "Establishing a Foundation for Environmental Rights"
- University of Wisconsin, Madison (Law), studied at University of Utah (Philosophy and Law), now at Harvard University (Anthropology Ph.D. program)
2002
Crystal McLeod (nee Primeau)
- "Species as Individuals: A Critical Analysis"
- Appalachian State University (M.A., Clinical Psychology), now Clinical Counselor, Michigan Technological University
2001
William Devlin
- "Science without the Independent World"
- Boston University (Philosophy), Associate Professor at Bridgewater State College.
Jonathan Foltz
- "The Epistemic Limits of a Semantic Theory of Indexicals and Demonstratives"
- Wake Forest (MBA)
Robert Wolverton
- "Aristotle and Nietzsche: A Comparison of Virtue"
- University of Wyoming (Ed.D., Education), now Program Manager, CRHRE, University of Wyoming
2000
Mark Bauer
- "Consciousness and Reducibility"
- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (Philosophy), now Visiting Assistant Professor University of Colorado-Denver
1999
Karson Kovakovich
- "Deflationism"
- Rutgers University - State University of New Jersey (ABD, Philosophy), now District Manager, McGraw-Hill Higher Education
Scott O'Brien
- "Tensegrity and Biological Laws"
- University of Indiana (Philosophy)
Peter Stoval
- "The Limits of Biocentric Individualism"
- University of Wyoming (Ph.D., Education), now Academic Services Coordinator, University of Wisconsin - LaCrosse
Ethan Keyes
- "Nietzsche and the Truth in Language"
- Unknown
1998
Ronald Hustwit
- "Investigating the Philosophical Investigations: An analysis of some basic concepts of the beginning sections"
- University of Arkansas (Ph.D., Philosophy), now United States Air Force
Alec Muthig
- "Zarathustra's Descent: Of Art and Mountains"
- UW Information Technology, Trainer/Program Manager; Director, Human Projects Initiative; Co-Coordinator, Wyoming Pathways from Prison; Advisory Board, Social Justice Research Center at UW; Adjunct Faculty (Philosophy), multiple institutions.
Elizabeth Anne Franklin
- "Nietzsche's Changing Aesthetic"
- University of Wyoming (Law)
Joseph P. Johnson
- "Berkeley's Archetypes"
- University of Wyoming (Law)
Douglas Sullivan
- "Wittgenstein on Certainty: Action and Justification"
- Unknown
Jason Landry
- "A Pragmatic Theory for the Speaking and Listening of a Parable"
- Unknown
1996
Jason Goltz
- "Toward an Alternative Interpretation of Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling"
- University of Utah (Ph.D., Philosophy), now Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Westminster College (UT)
Kenith Sobel
- "Assertion Hunting in Forrester's New Deontic Logic"
- Vanderbilt (Ph.D., Psychology), now Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Central Arkansas
1995
Matthew Heitmann
- "Wittgenstein on Logical Necessity"
- Temple University (Ph.D, Philosophy), now Head of Marketing, BMC Switzerland
Sharron Connor
- "Leviathan, Chapter 16 and Gauthierian Authorization"
- University of Nebraska, Lincoln (Ph.D, Philosophy), now Lecturer, Central Washington University
Scott Daley
- "A Little Something About Old Evidence"
- Unknown
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