Where I Am

I am an associate professor of philosophy in the Philosophy Department at Grand Valley State University in Allendale near Grand Rapids, Michigan. I do research and teach in the areas of epistemology, metaphysics, analytic philosophy, and a little phenomenology, especially the ideas of Edmund Husserl. 

In my spare time I like to read and listen to music. I know some Italian and even less German, but continue trying to improve my knowledge of both languages. I enjoy running, biking, cooking, jazz, travel, and, well, other interesting things too. 

Where I’ve Been

I did my undergraduate studies at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay where I majored in Philosophy and minored in Humanistic Studies, graduating in the Spring of 2002.  At Green Bay I studied lots of Phenomenology, Husserl and logic, as well as personality theory and the History of Philosophy.

I did both my M.A. (2005) and my PhD (2009) at the University at Buffalo in Buffalo, New York.  At Buffalo I studied ontology, logic, some phenomenology and history of philosophy, and gradually came to focus on areas of contemporary analytic philosophy, especially epistemology. 

    I spent 2006 on a scholarship at the Institute for Ontology and Medical Information Science in Saarbrücken, Germany.  While in Germany I focused mainly on issues of metaphysics and applied ontology, but also took advantage of the opportunity to learn some German and explore Europe a bit. 

    I defended my dissertation in Spring of 2009. My dissertation is in epistemology, focused on the topic of a priori justification.  I approach this issue largely from the perspective of contemporary analytic epistemology, metaphysics and philosophy of mind, but also make liberal use of sources from the phenomenological tradition. 

    I was hired by Grand Valley State University   near Grand Rapids, Michigan, as an assistant professor in Spring of 2008.