Humanities & Teacher Education

Alumni Spotlight

Pepperdine philosophy majors have impressive records. Here is what some of our recent graduates have done.

Blake McAllister

Blake McAllister, a philosophy major from Kansas City, Missouri, graduated summa cum laude in the fall of 2010. He was accepted to the Ph.D. programs in philosophy at Purdue and Baylor and the M.A. program in philosophy at Tufts. In the fall of 2011, he entered the program at Baylor, where he received the Presidential Fellowship. While at Pepperdine, he published articles in undergraduate philosophy journals; presented a paper at a graduate-level philosophy conference; gave guest lectures in philosophy classes at Pepperdine and elsewhere; served as a research assistant, as well as a teaching assistant; was a finalist in the Lilly Graduate Fellows Program; was inducted into several honors societies; and was president of Pepperdine’s chapter of the philosophy honor society Phi Sigma Tau. He also was part of eleven extra-curricular organizations, and he received numerous scholarships and several awards and honors, including an award for his work in the non-profit anti-trafficking organization that he helped to found. His main areas of philosophical interest are in metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of religion.

Justin Clardy

Justin Clardy, from Gardena, California, graduated from Pepperdine in 2011 with a major in philosophy. He was accepted to a number of graduate programs in philosophy, including the M.A. program at Syracuse, and he was offered funding by programs at California State at Long Beach, California State at San Jose, and San Diego State University. In the fall of 2011, he entered the Ph.D. program in philosophy at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville as a fully funded Benjamin Franklin Lever Fellow. As a Pepperdine student, he was a finalist for the Ford Foundation Fellowship; he published articles in undergraduate philosophy journals; he presented papers at several academic conferences in the United States and Canada; and he served as a research assistant for Dr. Garrett Pendergraft on a project involving free will and for Dr. Ryan Nichols (California State University at Fullerton) on a project involving the problem of evil in eighteenth-century thought. Justin also was quite active in student life, particularly in the office of Intercultural Affairs. He helped to found the on-campus organization D.R.E.A.M. (Dramatically Reconstructing Education through African-American Men) and served as its Communications Chairman for two years, and he was instrumental in helping Pepperdine establish its inaugural Multicultural Graduation Ceremony. His main philosophical interests are in metaphysics, experimental philosophy, and philosophy of religion.

Sadie Acquah-Asare

Sadie Acquah-Asare, from Lake Forest, California, majored in philosophy and graduated from Pepperdine in the spring of 2011. In the fall of 2011, she entered medical school at UCLA and the PRIME Program through Charles Drew University; along with the M.D., she will earn an M.A. in business administration, public health, or public policy. During her time at Pepperdine, she served as a teaching assistant and was a research assistant and principal investigator on several projects in the natural sciences; she presented papers at several academic conferences; she received the Natural Science Award, as well as seven scholarships and grants; and she was inducted into two honor societies. She hopes to become a plastic surgeon and to do reconstructive surgery in impoverished countries.

John Gunter

John Gunter, a philosophy major from Temple, Texas, graduated magna cum laude in the spring of 2011 and entered law school at the University of Virginia the following fall. While at Pepperdine, he was a member of the philosophy honor society Phi Sigma Tau and received six scholarships, including the Endowed Seaver Scholars Program scholarship. He was awarded a grant through the Academic Year Undergraduate Research Initiative to carry out a research project with a faculty member, and he presented a paper at an undergraduate conference.

Mark Langer

Mark Langer, from Redlands, California, graduated magna cum laude in the spring of 2011 as a philosophy major with a minor in German. In the fall of 2011, he entered Loyola Law School in Los Angeles with a substantial merit scholarship, having been accepted also to the law schools at Notre Dame, Pepperdine, the University of Colorado, and Boston College. As an undergraduate at Pepperdine, he was exceptionally active on campus, was a member of the philosophy honor society Phi Sigma Tau, was featured in Who’s Who in American Universities and Colleges, and received the Harbison Trust Scholarship. His main areas of philosophical interest are in ethics, metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and epistemology.

Nandor Kiss

Nandor Kiss, from Agua Dulce, California, graduated magna cum laude in 2011 with a B.A. in philosophy, a B.S. in business administration, and certification in dispute resolution from Pepperdine Law School’s Strauss Institute. He was accepted to a number of Ivy League law schools and other top-ranked law schools and received scholarship offers from several law schools, including William and Mary Law School, which he entered in the fall of 2011. While at Pepperdine, he was a member of the Alpha Chi honor society, the philosophy honor society Phi Sigma Tau, the business honor society Beta Gamma Sigma, and the Golden Key Society; he was on the Dean’s List; and he was featured in Who’s Who in American Universities and Colleges. At Pepperdine, he also was President of the fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon, wherein he created a philosophy forum and instituted basic ethics training for new members. His main philosophical interests are in political philosophy and ethics.

Shannon Emery

Shannon Emery, a Regent Scholar and philosophy major from Monterey, California, graduated in the spring of 2011. She plans to enter an accelerated program in the spring of 2012, pursuing a B.S. in Nursing either at Oklahoma City University or at Regis University in Denver, Colorado. Shannon hopes ultimately to teach nursing, and she is considering an M.A. in bioethics.

Aaron Clark

Aaron Clark, a philosophy major from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, graduated magna cum laude in the spring of 2011. As an undergraduate student, he was vice president of Pepperdine’s chapter of the philosophy honor society Phi Sigma Tau; he published an article coauthored with a member of the philosophy faculty; and he studied music under Christopher Parkening. Before applying to M.A. and Ph.D. programs in philosophy, he will spend a year in the studio recording tracks for his first classical guitar album. His main philosophical interests are in philosophy of religion, ethics, aesthetics, and philosophy of education

Lindsay Enriquez

Lindsay Enriquez, a double major in philosophy and political science from Santa Barbara, California, graduated cum laude in the spring of 2011. After graduation, she chose to join Teach for America, teaching in a low-income community in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Andrew Forcehimes

Andrew Forcehimes, a philosophy major from Scottsdale, Arizona, graduated summa cum laude in the spring of 2010 and, the following fall, entered the Ph.D. program in philosophy at Vanderbilt University, having received handsome offers from a range of doctoral programs in philosophy, including Notre Dame University’s. While at Pepperdine, Andrew was a finalist for a Rhodes scholarship, he received ten scholarships and grants, and he was inducted into four honor societies, serving as an officer in Pepperdine’s chapter of the philosophy honor society Phi Sigma Tau. Andrew worked as a research assistant for several Pepperdine professors and gave lectures as a teacher’s assistant. He presented papers at academic conferences and wrote numerous articles, five of which are published or forthcoming in academic journals and four of which were coauthored with Pepperdine faculty and are published, forthcoming, or under review for professional journals. Two essays that Andrew authored on his own were accepted for the spring of 2009 meeting of the prestigious Undergraduate Ethics Symposium at DePauw University. The topics of Andrew’s published papers involve multiculturalism, deliberative democracy, and pragmatism, among other things, and Andrew’s main philosophical interests are in contemporary political philosophy and applied ethics.

Devon Bryson

Devon Bryson, from Anaheim, California, studied at Pepperdine as a National Merit Scholar, double majoring in philosophy and political theory while minoring in creative writing. He graduated from Pepperdine magna cum laude in the spring of 2010 and entered the Ph.D. program in philosophy at the University of Tennessee the following fall with a full-paid teaching fellowship. While at Pepperdine, Devon published in undergraduate journals, presented papers at undergraduate conferences, and helped to edit and referee Pepperdine’s undergraduate research journal, Global Tides. He was a member of the philosophy honor society Phi Sigma Tau, serving as an officer in Pepperdine’s chapter, and he worked with Pepperdine faculty on three projects in the Summer Undergraduate Research Program involving Thoreau, Tolstoy, and Plato. Devon is interested mainly in political philosophy and aesthetics.

Matt Dougherty

Matt Dougherty, a philosophy and business administration double major from Kansas City, Missouri, graduated in 2009. After graduation, he spent a semester studying philosophy in the post-baccalaureate program at the University of Pennsylvania and then entered the distinguished M.A. program in philosophy at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the fall of 2010. Once he has finished his M.A. work at Virginia Tech, Matt plans to pursue a Ph.D. in philosophy. His main philosophical interests are in metaethics and epistemology.

Alex Swob

After graduating cum laude in the spring of 2010 as an English major with a minor in philosophy, Alex Swob entered the M.A. program in Ancient Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh.

Joe Riegerix

Joe Riegerix graduated cum laude in 2010. He was admitted to Loyola Law School and to the law schools at the University of San Diego and the University of Santa Clara, and he received a particularly attractive scholarship offer from the Wake Forest School of Law, where he began his study in the fall of 2010.

Becky Gallardo

Becky Gallardo, from Las Vegas, Nevada, graduated in the spring of 2010 with a double major in philosophy and political science. While at Pepperdine, she worked as a research assistant for four professors, she presented research at two banquets for Seaver Undergraduate Research in Biology, and she received the Ann Peppers Scholarship, the Hispanic Advisory Council Scholarship, the Christian Service Grant, and the Seaver Alumni Grant. Becky entered the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas in the fall of 2010.

David Herrera

David Herrera, from Riverside, California, graduated summa cum laude in the spring of 2010 with a double major in philosophy and economics. At Pepperdine, he was inducted into the philosophy honor society Phi Sigma Tau, and he received a Philosophy Scholarship for the 2009-2010 academic year. Upon graduating from Pepperdine, he began work as a corporate research specialist for R K Research.

Alan Reynolds

Alan Reynolds, from Chico, California, graduated summa cum laude in 2009 with a double major in philosophy and political science. In the fall of 2009, Alan entered the Ph.D. program in philosophy at the University of Oregon. Alan was admitted into several leading graduate programs in philosophy and received offers of full-paid teaching fellowships from the Ph.D. programs at Villanova University, Duquesne University, and the University of Oregon. While at Pepperdine, Alan was active in the philosophy honor society Phi Sigma Tau, serving as president of Pepperdine’s chapter during his senior year. As an undergraduate, Alan also published two articles and several book reviews in the undergraduate philosophy journal Dialogue. In the spring of 2009, Alan presented a paper at a meeting of the Association of Core Texts and Courses, and the paper was later accepted for publication in the journal Agora. Alan’s philosophical interests center on continental philosophy, particularly Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Gadamer, and he is eager to see philosophy affect politics and contribute to social progress.

Eric Westlund

Eric Westlund, a philosophy major from Tigard, Oregon, graduated cum laude in 2009. As an undergraduate, he was an officer in Pepperdine’s chapter of the philosophy honor society Phi Sigma Tau. He was admitted to several law schools, including Pepperdine’s and the University of Southern California’s, and he is now a law student at Northwestern.

Alissa Smith

Alissa Smith graduated with a minor in philosophy in 2008. She was awarded a Fulbright scholarship the following year. Alissa received fellowship offers from the University of Chicago, Tufts University, and the University of Vermont. In the fall of 2012, she entered the M.A. program at the University of Chicago.

PUBLISHED PHILOSOPHY ARTICLES WRITTEN BY STUDENTS WHILE AT PEPPERDINE

• Shane A. Bilsborough, “The Republic’s Ambiguous Democracy” (with Mason Marshall), History of Philosophy Quarterly 27.4 (2010): 301-316
• Justin Clardy, “On the Nature of Romantic Love,” Valley Humanities Review 2 (2011)
• Aaron M. Clark, “Is Clarity Essential to Good Teaching?” (with Mason Marshall), Teaching Philosophy 33.3 (2010): 271-289
• Matthew Dougherty, “Platonic Epistocracy: A Response to Andrew Forcehimes’ ‘Delierative Democracy with a Spine,’” Dialogue 52.2-3 (2010): 79-83
• Andrew T. Forcehimes, “Can Peircean Epistemic Perfectionists Bid Farewell to Deweyan Democracy?” (with J. Caleb Clanton), Contemporary Pragmatism 6.2 (2009): 165-183 (This issue of Contemporary Pragmatism includes a reply from Robert B. Talisse.)
• Andrew T. Forcehimes, “Justice as Fairness in the Workplace: A Rawlsian Conception of Worker Benefits,” in 2009 Undergraduate Ethics Symposium: Focus on Diversity and Medical Ethics (DePauw University, 2009): 155-160
• Andrew T. Forcehimes, “Deliberative Democracy with a Spine: Epistemic Agency as Political Authority,” Dialogue 52.2-3 (2010): 69-78
• Blake McAllister, “The Principle of Sufficient Reason and Free Will,” Stance 3 (2010): 1-8
• Blake McAllister, “The Universe Began to Exist? Craig’s Philosophical Arguments for a Finite Past,” Stance 4 (2011): 103-114
• Alan Reynolds, “Kant’s Thing in Itself as a Limiting Concept,” Dialogue 50.2-3 (2008): 45-49
• Alan Reynolds, “Dasein and Worldhood: The Role of the ‘for-the-sake-of-which’ and das Man in Dasein’s Familiarity with Significance,” Dialogue 51.1 (2008): 29-33
• Alan Reynolds, “Christianity without Ressentiment: Nietzsche’s Jesus, Weak Theology, and the Possibility for a New Christian Ethics,” Agora 18 (2009)
• Alan Reynolds, “Dialogue without Coercion, Authority without Domination: Gadamer’s Hermeneutics and the Voice of the Female Other (and Other Others),” Dialogue 52.1 (2009): 1-9