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History and Philosophy Directory

Mike Austin

Professor and Coordinator for Philosophy and Religious Studies

Mike AustinContact Information

Department: History, Philosophy and Relig Studies
Office: Keith 308
Mailing Address: Keith 323
Email: Mike.Austin@eku.edu
Phone: 859-622-1022

Courses

Subject   Title Dates Location Term
HON 308W Guns and Culture of Violence MWF 10:10am-11:00am  University Building 139 Spring 2024
HON 320W Guns and Culture of Violence MWF 10:10am-11:00am  University Building 139 Spring 2024
PHI 130 Beginning Ethics TR 9:30am-10:45am  Wallace Bldg 433 Spring 2024
PHI 130 Beginning Ethics TR 11:00am-12:15pm  Wallace Bldg 433 Spring 2024
PHI 130 Beginning Ethics TR 2:00pm-3:15pm  Wallace Bldg 433 Spring 2024
PHI 499 Senior Project     Spring 2024

Teena Blackburn

Lecturer

Teena BlackburnContact Information

Department: History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies
Office: Keith 131
Mailing Address: Keith 323
Email: Teena.Blackburn@eku.edu
Phone: 859-622-7285

Courses

Subject   Title Dates Location Term
PHI 110 Beginning Philosophy MWF 9:05am-9:55am  Wallace Bldg 332 Spring 2024
PHI 110 Beginning Philosophy MWF 10:10am-11:00am  Wallace Bldg 332 Spring 2024
PHI 110 Beginning Philosophy MWF 11:15am-12:05pm  Wallace Bldg 332 Spring 2024
REL 301 World Religions MWF 12:20pm-1:10pm  Wallace Bldg 332 Spring 2024
REL 301 World Religions MWF 1:25pm-2:15pm  Wallace Bldg 332 Spring 2024
REL 301 World Religions    Internet Classes Spring 2024

David Blaylock

Associate Professor Ph.D., Ohio State, 1992

David BlaylockContact Information

Department: History, Philosophy and Relig Studies
Office: Keith 336
Mailing Address: Keith 323
Email: david.blaylock@eku.edu
Phone: 859-622-1290
Research Interests: Japan, East Asia

Courses

Subject   Title Dates Location Term
HIS 100 Ruling the Ancient World MWF 10:10am-11:00am  University Building 230 Spring 2024
HIS 100 Ruling the Ancient World MWF 11:15am-12:05pm  University Building 230 Spring 2024
HIS 376 Japan – Samurai to Superpower MWF 12:20pm-1:10pm  University Building 230 Spring 2024

John Patrick Bowes

Professor; Associate Dean of the College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences; Ph.D., UCLA, 2003

John Patrick BowesContact Information

Department: Dean – Letters, Arts and Soc Sciences
Office: Roark 103A
Mailing Address: Roark 103
Email: john.bowes@eku.edu
Phone: 859-622-2222
Research Interests: Native American, American West, 19th Century United States

David Coleman

Professor / Honors Program Director; Ph.D. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1996

David ColemanContact Information

Department: History, Philosophy, and Relig Studies
Office: University Building 137
Mailing Address: EKU Honors Program, University Building 137
Email: david.coleman@eku.edu
Phone: 859-622-2924
Research Interests: Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe, Spain, Honors Education

Courses

Subject   Title Dates Location Term
HON 302 Honors Option    Internet Classes Spring 2024
HON 390 Directed Topics in Honors     Spring 2024
HON 420 Thesis Project and Seminar T 12:30pm-1:45pm  New Martin Residence Hall 118 Spring 2024
HON 420 Thesis Project and Seminar T 2:00pm-3:15pm  New Martin Residence Hall 120 Spring 2024

Carolyn Dupont

Professor; Ph.D., Kentucky, 2003

Carolyn DupontContact Information

Department: History, Philosophy, and Relig Studies
Office: Keith 307
Mailing Address: Keith 323
Email: carolyn.dupont@eku.edu
Phone: 859-622-1374
Research Interests: United States, Religion, Race

Courses

Subject   Title Dates Location Term
HIS 102 American Civilization to 1877 TR 9:30am-10:45am  Combs Building 105 Spring 2024
HIS 102 American Civilization to 1877 TR 11:00am-12:15pm  Combs Building 105 Spring 2024
HIS 302A Religion in American History TR 2:00pm-3:15pm  Combs Building 105 Spring 2024
HIS 435 U.S. Civil Rights Movement TR 3:30pm-4:45pm  Combs Building 105 Spring 2024

Todd Gooch

Professor

Todd GoochContact Information

Department: History, Philosophy and Religous Studies
Office: Keith 333
Mailing Address: Keith 323
Email: Todd.Gooch@eku.edu
Phone: 859-622-2955

Bio

I was born and raised in southern California but spent several summers as a boy on a farm in Lincoln County, Kentucky, that’s been in my family for seven generations, and which it has fallen to me to take care of since coming to EKU in 1999. Since that time, I have taught 25 different courses here, mostly in the areas of philosophy and religious studies. These have included courses on world religions, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, as well as beginning philosophy, Greek and Roman philosophy, and modern philosophy, not to mention upper division electives on Hume and Kant, on Nietzsche, Marx, and Freud, and on the thought of Charles Taylor. Over the years I have also co-taught, together with faculty from several different departments on campus, interdisciplinary seminars in the EKU Honors Program on topics as diverse as The Rediscovery of Antiquity in the Modern Age and Search for Self.

I am a historian of modern religious thought, which I conceive broadly to include powerful critiques of religion that have emerged since the Enlightenment; challenges to religious belief posed by the astounding growth of scientific and historical knowledge in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and by social dislocations resulting from industrialization, democratization, colonialism and globalization; as well as attempts on the part of major philosophers, theologians and social theorists to respond to these challenges, either by re-conceptualizing traditional religious categories, or else by proposing alternatives to them.

I earned a BA in religious studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1990. After attending an Episcopal seminary affiliated with the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, for three semesters, and serving for one year as an intern at a parish in Inglewood, California, I received my MA (1997) and PhD (2000) in philosophy of religion and theology from Claremont Graduate School in southern California.

Just prior to my arrival at EKU, I spent two academic years (from 1997-1999) as a Fulbright scholar conducting doctoral research at the University of Marburg in Germany on an important figure in the newly emergent discipline of religious studies in the twentieth century named Rudolf Otto (1869-1937). Otto, who was trained as a Protestant theologian, but also wrote books on Hinduism and travelled several times through Asia, is best remembered as the author of a classic book called The Idea of the Holy (1917). In it, he coined the term “numinous” to refer to the sort of experience of awe-inspiring mystery that he considered to be the essence of religion, and which he found expressed in a variety of forms in a wide and multicultural range of religious texts. Since the publication of my monograph, The Numinous and Modernity: An Interpretation of Rudolf Otto’s Philosophy of Religion (de Gruyter, 2000), I have on three occasions been invited to participate in academic conferences on Otto in both Germany and Italy and have published several book chapters on various aspects of his thought.

Over the past decade I have also published several book chapters and journal articles on the nineteenth-century philosophical critic of religion, Ludwig Feuerbach, and several related nineteenth-century figures, including Hegel, the Young Hegelians, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche. These publications have appeared (or are forthcoming) in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (online), The Oxford History of Nineteenth-Century Germany Philosophy (2015), the Blackwell Companion to Nineteenth-Century Philosophy (2019), The Oxford History of Modern German Theology (forthcoming), and The Journal for the History of Modern Theology (de Gruyter).

From 2013-2018 I served as chair (or co-chair) of the Nineteenth-Century Theology Unit of the American Academy of Religion.

Courses

Subject   Title Dates Location Term
REL 301 World Religions TR 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.  Wallace Bldg 332 Spring 2024
REL 301 World Religions    Internet Classes Spring 2024
REL 301 World Religions    Internet Classes Spring 2024
REL 301 World Religions    Internet Classes Spring 2024

Martha Groppo

Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Princeton University, 2019

Martha GroppoContact Information

Department: History, Philosophy and Relig Studies
Office: Keith 323
Mailing Address: Keith 323
Email: Martha.Groppo@eku.edu
Research Interests: History of Medicine, Modern Europe, British History, Imperial History, Women’s History, and Rural History

Courses

Subject   Title Dates Location Term
HIS 101 Monarchs and Revolutionaries    Internet Classes Spring 2024
HIS 101 Monarchs and Revolutionaries    Internet Classes Spring 2024
HIS 302B Discovery and Disaster TR 12:30pm-1:45pm  University Building 230 Spring 2024
HIS 359 World War One TR 11:00am-12:15pm  University Building 230 Spring 2024

Todd Hartch

Professor; Ph.D., Yale, 2000

Todd HartchContact Information

Department: History, Philosophy and Relig Studies
Office: Keith 303
Mailing Address: Keith 323
Email: todd.hartch@eku.edu
Phone: 859-622-1367
Research Interests: Latin America, Mexico, Religion in Latin America

Courses

Subject   Title Dates Location Term
HIS 103 American Civ Since 1877 TR 12:30pm-1:45pm  University Building 232 Spring 2024
HIS 103 American Civ Since 1877 TR 2:00pm-3:15pm  University Building 232 Spring 2024
HIS 103 American Civ Since 1877    Internet Classes Spring 2024
HIS 802C Modern Mexico T 6:00pm-8:45pm  University Building 230 Spring 2024

Jacqueline E. Jay

Professor; Ph.D., University of Chicago, 2008

Jacqueline E. JayContact Information

Department: History, Philosophy and Relig Studies
Office: Keith 326
Mailing Address: Keith 323
Email: jackie.jay@eku.edu
Phone: 859-622-1371
Research Interests: Ancient Egyptian language and literature

Joshua Lynn

Associate Professor; Graduate Program Coordinator

Joshua LynnContact Information

Department: History, Philosophy, and Relig Studies
Office: Keith 309
Mailing Address: Keith 323
Email: joshua.lynn@eku.edu
Research Interests: 19th-Century U.S, Antebellum and Civil War America, Politics and Culture, History of Monsters and Horror

Courses

Subject   Title Dates Location Term
HIS 102 American Civilization to 1877    Internet Classes Spring 2024
HIS 103 American Civ Since 1877 MWF 1:25pm-2:15pm  Powell Building 203 Spring 2024
HIS 838 Practicum in Applied History     Spring 2024
HIS 860 Slavery, Civil War, Reconstruc R 6:00pm-8:45pm  University Building 233 Spring 2024
HIS 899C Thesis Continuation     Spring 2024
HIS 899 Thesis     Spring 2024
HIS 899 Thesis     Spring 2024

Dr. Laura Newhart

Professor

Dr. Laura NewhartContact Information

Department: History, Philosophy and Relig Studies
Office: Keith 324
Mailing Address: Keith 323
Email: Laura.Newhart@eku.edu
Phone: 859-622-2574

Courses

Subject   Title Dates Location Term
PHI 110 Beginning Philosophy TR 12:30pm-1:45pm  Wallace Bldg 334 Spring 2024
PHI 110 Beginning Philosophy TR 2:00pm-3:15pm  Wallace Bldg 334 Spring 2024
PHI 383 Health and Biomedical Ethics    Internet Classes Spring 2024
REL 301 World Religions    Internet Classes Spring 2024

Steve Parchment

Assoc Professor

EKU Power E LogoContact Information

Department: History, Philosophy and Relig Studies
Office: Keith 330
Mailing Address: Keith 323
Email: Steve.Parchment@eku.edu
Phone: 859-622-2698

Courses

Subject   Title Dates Location Term
PHI 101R Logic and Critical Reasoning F 11:15am-12:05pm  Wallace Bldg 333 Spring 2024
PHI 101R Logic and Critical Reasoning TR 11:00am-12:15pm  Wallace Bldg 333 Spring 2024
PHI 101 Logic and Critical Reasoning TR 12:30pm-1:45pm  Wallace Bldg 333 Spring 2024
PHI 110 Beginning Philosophy    Internet Classes Spring 2024
PHI 320 Modern Philosophy    Internet Classes Spring 2024

Matthew Pianalto

Professor

Matthew PianaltoContact Information

Department: Philosophy and Religion
Office: Keith 342
Mailing Address: Keith 323
Email: Matthew.Pianalto@eku.edu
Phone: 859-622-2979
Web Page: Academia.edu Page

Bio

I teach a variety of courses in philosophy and in the Honors Program, as well as for the Animal Studies major (Animal Ethics) and the Environmental Sustainability and Stewardship minor (Environmental Ethics).

I have published articles on many topics in ethics, including papers on patience, courage, integrity, and tolerance, on animal and environmental ethics, and on the philosophers Ludwig Wittgenstein and Friedrich Nietzsche. See my Academia page for many of these works, as well as for select presentations and works in progress. My first book, On Patience, was published by Lexington Books in 2016, and is now available in paperback, too.

My current research and writing focuses on the myth of Sisyphus and the notions of meaning in life and the meaning of life. I am also co-editing an interdisciplinary collection of new essays on patience with the psychologist Sarah Schnitker (Baylor University).

I was born and raised in Tontitown, Arkansas. I earned three degrees from the University of Arkansas: B.A. English (Creative Writing Emphasis), magna cum laude, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy. I finally left my home state to teach for a year as a Temporary Visiting Assistant Professor at Truman State University (in Missouri) and came to EKU in August 2009.

Courses

Subject   Title Dates Location Term
PHI 130 Beginning Ethics MWF 10:10am-11:00am  Powell Building 203 Spring 2024
PHI 130 Beginning Ethics MWF 11:15am-12:05pm  Powell Building 201 Spring 2024
PHI 381 Animal Ethics TR 11:00am-12:15pm  Powell Building 203 Spring 2024
PHI 381 Animal Ethics TR 12:30pm-1:45pm  Powell Building 203 Spring 2024

Timothy Smit

Associate Professor; Interim Chair of the Department of History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 2009

Timothy SmitContact Information

Department: History, Philosophy and Relig Studies
Office: Keith 325
Mailing Address: Keith 323
Email: timothy.smit@eku.edu
Phone: 859-622-1373
Research Interests: Medieval and Mediterranean

Courses

Subject   Title Dates Location Term
GRD 857G MA Hist Written Comp Exam     Spring 2024
GRD 858H MA Hist Oral Comp Exit Exam     Spring 2024
HIS 339 The Dark Ages Illuminated MWF 11:15am-12:05pm  Combs Building 108 Spring 2024

Jennifer B. Spock

Professor; Ph.D., Yale, 1999

Jennifer B. SpockContact Information

Department: History, Philosophy and Relig Studies
Office: Keith 305
Mailing Address: Keith 323
Email: jennifer.spock@eku.edu
Phone: 859-622-1364
Research Interests: Russia, Eastern Europe

Courses

Subject   Title Dates Location Term
HIS 100 Survivor-Ancient/Medieval Life TR 12:30pm-1:45pm  Combs Building 106 Spring 2024
HIS 302C Expansion of Russia MWF 2:30pm-3:20pm  Combs Building 108 Spring 2024
HIS 861 Muscovy and Ivan the Terrible W 6:00pm-8:45pm  University Building 230 Spring 2024

Catherine L. Stearn

Associate Professor; Ph.D., Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 2007

Catherine L. StearnContact Information

Department: History, Philosophy and Relig Studies
Office: Keith 306
Mailing Address: Keith 323
Email: catherine.stearn@eku.edu
Phone: 859-622-1362
Research Interests: Women’s and Gender History to 1750

Courses

Subject   Title Dates Location Term
HIS 100 Ancient Empires MWF 12:20pm-1:10pm  Combs Building 106 Spring 2024
HIS 100 Ancient Empires    Internet Classes Spring 2024
HIS 100 Ancient Empires    Internet Classes Spring 2024
HIS 290 Historical Research and Methods MWF 10:10am-11:00am  Combs Building 106 Spring 2024

Dr. Abraham Velez de Cea

Professor

Dr. Abraham Velez de CeaContact Information

Department: History, Philosophy and Relig Studies
Office: Keith 331
Mailing Address: Keith 323
Email: Abraham.Velez@eku.edu
Phone: 859-622-2939

Bio

Born in Saragossa, Spain, Dr. J. Abraham Vélez de Cea teaches Buddhism and World Religions at Eastern Kentucky University since 2006. Before joining EKU he taught Buddhist Ethics and Buddhist-Christian Mysticism in the department of theology at Georgetown University. He is active in the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies, and the Buddhist Critical-Constructive Reflective Group of the American Academy of Religion.

He is interested in peace-building through interfaith dialogue, which he sees as a spiritual practice for everybody, not just scholars and representatives of religious communities. He believes that interreligious education, comparative theology, and interreligious studies are indispensable tools to foster mutual understanding and cooperation among people from diverse faiths.

He has published four books in Spanish and one in English, The Buddha and Religious Diversity (Routledge, 2013), which discusses the Buddha’s attitude towards religious diversity in conversation with Christian theology of religions. He has also published several articles about diverse aspects of early Buddhist thought and interreligious dialogue in peer-reviewed journals including Philosophy East & West, Sophia, Journal of Interreligious Dialogue, Buddhist Studies Review, Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Journal of Buddhist Ethics, Journal of Buddhist-Christian Studies.

At present he is translating Pali texts into Spanish, writing a book chapter about Pope Francis and Interreligious Dialogue, and working on a book project comparing Theresa of Avila and the Buddha, where he addresses the question of whether it is possible to practice Buddhist and Christian meditation without contradiction.

Courses

Subject   Title Dates Location Term
PHI 240 Philosophy of Religion TR 9:30am-10:45am  Combs Building 438 Spring 2024
REL 301 World Religions    Internet Classes Spring 2024
REL 301 World Religions    Internet Classes Spring 2024
REL 301 World Religions    Internet Classes Spring 2024
REL 301 World Religions    Internet Classes Spring 2024

Robert S. Weise

Professor; Ph.D., Virginia, 1995

Robert S. WeiseContact Information

Department: History, Philosophy and Relig Studies
Office: Keith 335
Mailing Address: Keith 323
Email: rob.weise@eku.edu
Phone: 859-622-1293
Research Interests: United States South, Appalachia

Courses

Subject   Title Dates Location Term
APP 200 Introduction to Appalachia MWF 10:10am-11:00am  Roark Building 108 Spring 2024
APP 200 Introduction to Appalachia MWF 11:15am-12:05pm  Roark Building 108 Spring 2024
HIS 450W Senior Seminar in History MWF 1:25pm-2:15pm  University Building 232 Spring 2024
HON 104 Building Thriving Communities TR 9:30am-10:45am  University Building 139 Spring 2024

Bradford J. Wood

Professor; Ph.D., Johns Hopkins, 1999

Dr. Bradford J WoodContact Information

Department: History, Philosophy and Relig Studies
Office: Keith 311
Mailing Address: Keith 323
Email: brad.wood@eku.edu
Phone: 859-622-1289
Research Interests: Colonial British America, The American Revolution

Mina Yazdani

Professor; Ph.D., University of Toronto, 2010

Mina YazdaniContact Information

Department: History, Philosophy and Relig Studies
Office: Keith 304
Mailing Address: Keith 323
Email: mina.yazdani@eku.edu
Phone: 859-622-1361
Research Interests: Modern Iran, Islamic World

Courses

Subject   Title Dates Location Term
HIS 101 Becoming Modern TR 11:00am-12:15pm  Combs Building 114 Spring 2024
HIS 101 Becoming Modern TR 2:00pm-3:15pm  Combs Building 114 Spring 2024
HIS 205 Women in the Middle East TR 3:30pm-4:45pm  Combs Building 114 Spring 2024
HIS 324 Iran: State, Religion and Soci TR 9:30am-10:45am  Combs Building 106 Spring 2024

History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies

521 Lancaster Ave.
Keith 323
Richmond, KY 40475
Phone: 859-622-1287
Email:timothy.smit@eku.edu

 

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