Appointment of Head for Department of Philosophy

To:           Executive Vice Presidents, Chancellors, Vice Presidents, Vice Chancellors, Vice Provosts, Deans, Directors and Heads of Schools, Divisions, and Offices

From:       David A. Reingold, Justin S. Morrill Dean of the College of Liberal Arts

Re:           Appointment of Head for Department of Philosophy

Date:        January 10, 2017

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Christopher Yeomans, professor of Philosophy at Purdue University as Head of the Department of Philosophy in the College of Liberal Arts. His accomplishments as an outstanding scholar and educator will advance the department and build on our considerable strengths.

Chris will begin his appointment on September 1, 2017. He succeeds Rod Bertolet who has served as interim head and will return to the faculty in September. Rod’s service has been outstanding, and the department has benefited greatly from his leadership and willingness to step in as interim head during this time of transition.

Chris received his A.B. in Linguistics from the University of California-Berkeley, his M.A. in Philosophy from San Diego State University, and his Ph.D. from the University of California-Riverside. He joined the faculty at Purdue in 2009 and was promoted to full professor in 2016. Previously, he taught at Kenyon College.

During the 2016-17 academic year, he is the Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. He is the recipient of two Purdue Liberal Arts Innovate Awards, one of which supported a collaboration to establish a new minor in Human Rights within the College, and a National Endowment for the Humanities stipend for a summer seminar on Philosophical Perspectives on Law, Democracy, and Human Rights.

Chris has been published in top journals in his field such as Journal of the History of Philosophy and European Journal of Philosophy. He is the author of The Expansion of Autonomy: Hegel’s Pluralistic Philosophy of Action and Freedom and Reflection: Hegel and the Logic of Agency, both from Oxford University Press.

The Department of Philosophy is one of ten academic units in the College of Liberal Arts. It offers courses of study leading to the B.A, M.A. and Ph.D. In addition to research specializations from across the field of contemporary analytic philosophy, the department’s faculty also exhibit particular strengths in the history of philosophy and in continental European philosophy.

I want to express gratitude to the members of the search committee: Ellen Gruenbaum (chair), William McBride, Mark Bernstein, Patrick Kain, Dana Tulodziecki, Jacqueline Marina, Leonard Harris, Taylor Davis and Lacey Davidson.

Please join me in thanking the search committee and welcoming Dr. Christopher Yeomans to his new role.