News

Announcing the Fingarette Fund

We're pleased to announce that, in honor of our former colleague Herbert Fingarette, Professor Fingarette's daughter Ann Fingarette Hasse has established for our department the Leslie S. and Herbert Fingarette Fund, with the hope that his work, lasting impact, and the crucial role that he played as a leading figure in our department will continue to inspire. The Fund will be used to support graduate student travel. We are tremendously grateful to the Fingarette family for their generous support. 

In Memoriam: Herbert Fingarette

Remembering Herbert Fingarette, who joined the faculty of the UCSB Department of Philosophy in 1948. Below is an obituary written by Professor Fingarette's daughter Ann and her husband Erich. 

R. Wolfe Randall Passes Qualifying Paper

Congratulations to R. Wolfe Randall for successfully defending his paper "Why We Should Believe​ Our Controversial Philosophical Views". Passing the Qualifying Paper is the last hurdle in our graduate program before advancing to candidacy.

2023 Graduate and Undergraduate Awards

Congrats to this year's winners of the Philosophy Department's awards! The awardees were honored at the Department's end-of-the-year barbecue. Our undergraduate winners are:

Girvetz Award: Ashley Alvarado

Church Award: Xixiang Hu

Wilkins Award: Adrian Villarreal

Our graduate student winners this year are:

Siff Prize: Alex LeBrun

Stough Prize: Jiyao Tang

Wienpahl Award for Teaching Excellence: Alex LeBrun

Placement Update: Justin Clark Awarded Tenure

Congratulations to Justin Clark (PhD, 2013) who has been awarded tenure at Hamilton College! See a full post and interview by Hamilton College here.

An Interview with a Philosophy Alumnus and Tech Co-Founder

UCSB Alumni Affairs interviewed philosophy alumnus Altif Brown (PhD, 2013) who co-founded the blockchain-based company Constellation Network. Check out the full interview here to learn more about his journey after graduation. 

In Memoriam: Francis Dauer

Francis Dauer, who died in June, 2022, was born in 1940 of a Japanese father and a German mother. Taking his mother's name after the war, he grew up in Detroit, attended Dartmouth College, and received his Ph.D. from Harvard University, where he studied with W.V. Quine. Francis joined the UCSB Philosophy Department in 1970, and was instrumental in the subsequent hiring of faculty who helped to make the Department what it is today.

R. Wolfe Randall Publication

Congratulations to R. Wolfe Randall, whose paper "Group Dispositional Belief, Information Possession, and 'Epistemic Explosion': A Further Reply to Jesper Kallestrup" has been accepted for publication in Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective! Read the full article here.