Faculty profiles

Philosophy Faculty

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David Benfield (Professor of Philosophy) received his Ph.D. from Brown University. He has published articles in Kant-Studien, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research and Philosophical Studies. His research interests include the Wason Task (and why the "right" answer isn't really right), the analysis of fictional objects, the ethical and social aspects of cyberspace, and the new public atheism. Courses he regularly teaches include: Intro, Logic, the Theory of Knowledge, the Philosophy of Religion, and the Philosophy of Mind. In addition, he is a regular instructor in two team-taught courses: GenEd 2002 Contemporary Issues and the Cooperative Education Seminar in the Liberal Arts. He a member of the Executive Committee of the New Jersey Regional Philosophical Association.

Chung-Yue Chang (Assistant Professor of Philosophy) received his B. A. . from Columbia University and an M.A. from New York University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of an article in The Journal of Chinese Philosophy and a book chapter forthcoming. His research interests include philosophy of culture, Ancient Philosophy, and Asian Philosophy. Courses he has regularly taught include: Ethics, Logic, Asian Philosophy, and Religions of the World..

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Roland Garrett (Professor of Philosophy) received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He has published numerous articles on a variety of philosophical topics. His research interests include Pragmatism, the philosophy of John Dewey, and the philosophy of art. Courses he regularly teaches include: American Philosophy, Philosophies of Art, Philosophy of Literature, Ancient Philosophy, and Modern Philosophy.

Chris Herrera (Assistant Professor of Philosophy) received his Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma. He has published numerous articles on a variety of philosophical topics. His research interests include Research Ethics, the Philosophy of Sport, and the philosophy of science. Courses he regularly teaches include: Theoretical and Applied Ethics, Logic, Philosophical Issues in Biomedical Research, and Metaphysics.

Kirk McDermid (Assistant Professor of Philosophy) received his Ph.D. from the University of Western Ontario. He has published articles on the Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics. His research interests include the Philosophy of Science, Logic, and the Philosophical Issues involved in the Creationism -- Evolution Debate. Courses he regularly teaches include: Philosophy of Science, Introduction to Philosophy, and the Philosophy of Biology.

Dorothy Rogers (Assistant Professor of Philosophy) received her Ph.D. from Boston University. She has published books and articles on the first women philosophers in America. She has been the guest editor of an issue of Hypatia, a leading journal in the area of the Feminist Philosophy. Her research interests include Ethics, Feminist Theory, American Philosophy, and Peace Studies. Courses she regularly teaches include: Introduction to Philosophy, Ethics, and GenEd Contemporary Issues.

Cynthia Eller (Associate Professor of Religion) received her Ph.D. from the University of Southern California. She has published books on the Feminist Spirituality movement, WWII conscientious objection, and matriarchal prehistory. She has created an introduction to the study of world religions, Revealing World Religions, that is available on a dvd. Her recent book Am I a Woman? is now available in paperback. She regularly teaches Women and Religion, Religions of the World, Wicca and Neo-Paganism, New Religious Movements and various courses for the Women's Studies program.

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Stephen Johnson (Professor of Religion) received his Ph.D. from Yale University. He is currently completing a manuscript entitled, American Matters: Civil Religion and Other Faiths. His publications include articles in recent issues of Popular Culture Review, Public Affairs Quarterly and, most recently, a chapter in Culture of the American South (ed. by Dennis Hall and published by ACAS/PCAS) entitled, "A Southern Sense of America: From Jackson Square, Gettysburg and the Vietnam Wall toward Tomorrow." He is on the editorial board of the American Academy of Religion's Spotlight on Teaching and past president of the AAR's Mid-Atlantic Region. Courses he regularly teaches include: Religion in America, Religion and Psychology, and Religion and Culture.



	Yasir Ibrahim (Assistant Professor of Religion) received his Ph.D. from Princeton University. He is a specialist on Islam. Courses he regularly teaches include: Islamic Religious Traditions; Jihad: Just War, Holy War: Islamic Ethics and Law, and Introduction to Religion.

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Michael S. Kogan (Professor of Religion) received his Ph.D. from Syracuse University. He is an active participant in the Jewish-Christian dialogue and the author of several very influential articles on its theological foundations. His new book, Opening the Covenant: A Jewish Theology of Christianity, was published in November 2007 by Oxford University Press.

Dr. Kogan's research interests include contemporary Jewish and Christian thought, biblical hermeneutics, and existential theology. Courses he regularly teaches include: Old and New Testaments, Contemporary Jewish Thought, Religious Existentialism, The Thought of Soren Kiekegaard, Heidegger's Being and Time, Modern Theology, and Religion and the Poetic Imagination (T. S. Eliot).