Faculty & Staff

Jin Y Park Professor and Department Chair, Philosophy & Religion CAS | Philosophy/Religion

Jin Y. Park is a Professor and Department Chair of Philosophy and Religion at Â鶹ÊÓƵ. She also served as the Founding Director of the Asian Studies Program from 2013 to 2020. Park special…

Ìý jypark@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-2919

Ìý

Graduate Director: Ian Rhoad

Please browse belowÌýor use these links for

Contact us: philrel@american.edu

Philosophy and Religion Full Time Faculty

Full Time Faculty

Faculty Research Interests

Faculty by area of specialization:

African and African Diaspora Philosophy

  • Jerome Clarke
  • Kiesha Martin
  • Onaje Woodbine

Asian Philosophy and Religion

  • Joseph Harroff
  • Jin Y. Park
  • Shubha Pathak
  • Yun Woo Song

European Philosophy

  • Cameron Bassiri
  • Farhang Erfani
  • Edward Guetti
  • Ian Rhoad
  • Lauren Weis
  • Perry Zurn

Greek and Roman Religions

Shubha Pathak

Jewish Philosophy and Religion

Gershon Greenberg

Latin American Philosophy

  • Edward Guetti
  • Amy Oliver

African and African Diaspora Religion

  • Onaje Woodbine

Buddhism, Confucianism

  • Joseph Harroff
  • Jin Y. Park
  • Yun Woo Song

Greek and Roman ReligionsÌý

Shubha Pathak

Hinduism

Shubha Pathak

Judaism

Gershorn Greenberg

Aesthetics

  • Farhang Erfani
  • Edward Guetti
  • Shubha Pathak

Critical Race Theory

  • Jerome Clarke
  • Ellen Feder
  • Kiesha Martin
  • Onaje Woodbine

Deconstruction, Existentialism, Phenomenology, Postmodernism

  • Cameron Bassiri
  • Farhang Erfani
  • Edward Guetti
  • Jin Y. Park
  • Ian Rhoad
  • Lauren Weis
  • Perry Zurn

East-West Comparative Philosophy

  • Joseph Harroff
  • Jin Y. Park
  • Yun Woo Song

Ethics Moral Philosophy

  • Cameron Bassiri
  • Jerome Clarke
  • Kelso Cratsley
  • Ellen Feder
  • Asia Ferrin
  • Gershon Greenberg
  • Edward Guetti
  • Nabina Liebow
  • Amy Oliver
  • Jin Y. Park
  • Ian Rhoad
  • Yun Woo Song

Political Philosophy and Postcolonialism

  • Cameron Bassiri
  • Jerome Clarke
  • Farhang Erfani
  • Edward Guetti
  • Ian Rhoad
  • Perry Zurn

Postpoststructuralism

Shubha Pathak

Women and Gender

  • Joel Daniels
  • Ellen Feder
  • Amy Oliver
  • Jin Y. Park
  • Lauren Weis
  • Onaje Woodine
  • Perry Zurn


Full-Time Faculty
Ìý

Cameron Bassiri Senior Professorial Lecturer CAS | Philosophy/Religion

I joined the community at Â鶹ÊÓƵ in the fall of 2013. I am currently a Professorial Lecturer and have taught several courses that have focused on ethical theories and issues. I also help co-organize the D…

Ìý bassiri@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-8144

Nicholas Buck Professorial Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Studies in Religion CAS | Philosophy/Religion

Nicholas Buck teaches and writes broadly on matters of ethics, religion, and politics. His primary research interests lie at the intersection of religious studies and moral and political philosophy, a…

Ìý nbuck@american.edu

Jerome Clarke Assistant Professor CAS | Philosophy/Religion

Jerome Clarke joined the Â鶹ÊÓƵ Faculty in 2023. He writes on Technology Ethics (esp. AI/ML), the Critical Philosophy of Race, and 20th-century Social Philosophy. His book manuscript (under construction) …

Ìý clarke@american.edu

Kelso Cratsley Senior Professorial Lecturer CAS | Philosophy/Religion

Kelso Cratsley teaches courses in bioethics, neuroethics, and logic, and his research focuses on issues in – and often at the intersection of – bioethics, mental health, and global health. He has prev…

Ìý cratsley@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-2981

Farhang Erfani Associate Professor CAS | Philosophy/Religion

I joined the Â鶹ÊÓƵ community in 2005. My teaching and research are focused on democratic theory, globalization, exile, existentialism and aesthetics, particularly philosophy of film.

Ìý erfani@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-2206

Ellen Feder Professor CAS | Philosophy/Religion

Ellen K. Feder is the William Fraser McDowell Professor of Philosophy and Social Policy. She works at the intersection of contemporary continental philosophy and feminist and critical race theory, par…

Ìý efeder@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-2931

Gershon Greenberg Professor CAS | Philosophy/Religion

Gershon Greenberg is the author of three definitive bibliographies of religious thought and the Holocaust, and numerous articles on German-Jewish philosophy, history of Jewish thought in America and r…

Ìý greenbe@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-2912

Edward Guetti Professorial Lecturer CAS | Philosophy/Religion

I am a Professorial Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy & Religion. Before arriving at Â鶹ÊÓƵ, I taught at Hunter College (City University of New York) and Fordham University. I have…

Ìý guetti@american.edu

Nabina Liebow Director of CAS Leadership Program and Senior Professorial Lecturer CAS | Philosophy/Religion

Nabina Liebow (she/her) is the College of Arts and Sciences Leadership and Ethical Development Program Director (CAS LEAD) and a Senior Professorial Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy and Religi…

Ìý liebow@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-6383

Kiesha Martin Instructor CAS | Philosophy/Religion

Kiesha Martin is a Jamaican, PhD Candidate in the department of Philosophy at Marquette University. Her research lies along the interface between Philosophy and Caribbean Theory. Her dissertation, “…

Ìý kiesham@american.edu

Shubha Pathak Associate Professor CAS | Philosophy/Religion

Shubha Pathak is a historian of religions who interprets epic myths from Greece, India, and Rome. In addition to teaching courses on intersections of religion, philosophy, and politics in classical an…

Ìý pathak@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-2957

Ian Rhoad Professorial Lecturer and Director of Graduate Studies, Philosophy & Religion CAS | Philosophy/Religion

I am a Professorial Lecturer at Â鶹ÊÓƵ, where I teach classes in the history of philosophy, ethics, and politics. In my philosophical research I work primarily in continental philosophy, …

Ìý ianr@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-2493

Yun Woo Song Professorial Lecturer CAS | Philosophy/Religion

Yunwoo Song specializes in Chinese philosophy, with added focus on Confucianism and natural philosophy. His research focuses on the conceptions of the universe, problems of determinism, free will, and…

Ìý ywsong@american.edu

Lauren Weis Sr Professorial Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Studies in Philosophy CAS | Philosophy/Religion

I earned a PhD in Philosophy from Boston College specializing in Continental and History of Philosophy with a focus on ethics, metaphysics and epistemology, gender studies and feminist theory. Since j…

Ìý weis@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-2926

Onaje Woodbine Associate Professor CAS | Philosophy/Religion

Onaje X. O. Woodbine’s research explores the varieties of black religious experience, especially as they are lived on the margins of power and outside the bounds of established institutional authority…

Ìý woodbine@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-6733

Perry Zurn Provost Associate Professor CAS | Philosophy/Religion

Perry Zurn is Provost Associate Professor of Philosophy at Â鶹ÊÓƵ, and affiliate faculty in the Department of Critical Race, Gender, and Culture Studies, the Honors Program, and the Antir…

Ìý pzurn@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-2964

Adjunct Faculty

Roshan Abraham Â鶹ÊÓƵx Instructor & Advisor UEAS | First Year Advising

Roshan Abraham (he/him/his) holds a PhD in Classical Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. Before coming to his current position at Â鶹ÊÓƵ, Roshan was an Assistant Professor of Classics and Religio…

Ìý rabraham@american.edu

Jerome Copulsky Scholar in Residence CAS - Jewish Studies

Jerome Copulsky is a research fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, specializing in modern Western religious thought, political theory, and church/state issues. His scholar…

Ìý copulsky@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-6740

Jordan Corner Adjunct Instructor CAS | Philosophy/Religion

I am an adjunct professor in the department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Â鶹ÊÓƵ. My areas of specialization are Philosophy of Language and Metaethics. I work with semantic based…

Ìý corner@american.edu

Veronica Davalos Adjunct Instructor CAS | Other Operations and Administration

Verónica Dávalos J., originally from Quito, Ecuador, currently works as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion in the College of Arts and Sciences at Â鶹ÊÓƵ, as…

Ìý vd5121a@american.edu

Jason Emami Adjunct Instructor CAS | Philosophy/Religion

Jason Emami has been an adjunct instructor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion since 2021, specializing in teaching political and moral philosophy. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics (…

Ìý jaemami@american.edu

Sooil Kim Adjunct Professorial Lecturer CAS | Philosophy/Religion

Sooil-Pascal Kim graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the field of Buddhist Studies (ABD) and the Academy of Korean Studies (PhD). His areas of interest include Yogacara Buddhism and …

Ìý spkim@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-6300

Carry Osborne Â鶹ÊÓƵx Instructor & Advisor UEAS | First Year Advising

Carry Osborne (he/him) holds a PhD in Philosophy from Northwestern University. He joined Â鶹ÊÓƵ in 2021 as a First Year Advisor and Â鶹ÊÓƵx Instructor. He began teaching in the Department of Philosophy and Re…

Ìý rosborne@american.edu

Bryant Oskvig University Chaplain SA | Kay Spiritual Life Center

The Reverend Bryant M. Oskvig, an ordained elder of the United Methodist Church, has been working on university campuses since 2006. Rev. Oskvig received his Master of Divinity from Boston University,…

Ìý revo@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-3336

Carrie Peffley Adjunct Instructor CAS | Philosophy/Religion

Carrie Peffley holds graduate degress from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Cambridge University in Cambridge, England. Her main areas of interest are history of philosophy and ethics…

Ìý peffley@american.edu

David Shope Adjunct Professorial Lecturer CAS | Philosophy/Religion

David Shope received his PhD in Philosophy from the University of California, Riverside and recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the NIH Department of Bioethics. Though he has primarily spe…

Ìý dshope@american.edu

Ariel Simms Scholar-in-Residence CAS | Philosophy/Religion

Ariel Simms (they/them or she/hers) is the President and Chief Executive Officer of RespectAbility, a nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities so people with disabilities ca…

Ìý simms@american.edu

Affiliate Faculty

Richard C. Sha Professor CAS | Literature

Professor Sha is the author of three books, the latest of which is Imagination and Science in Romanticism (Johns Hopkins, 2018). This book won the 2018 Jean-Pierre Barricelli Prize for the best book p…

Ìý rcsha@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-6300

Emeritus Faculty

Amy Oliver Associate Professor Emerita

Professor Oliver's teaching and research on Latin America explore philosophical topics such as marginality, feminism, nepantlismo, and transfronterismo. She works on the Hispanic ess…

Ìý aoliver@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-2140