University of Oregon

At the University of Oregon, the Department of Philosophy has a long history of promoting diversity and inclusiveness. Our program is pluralistic, with four philosophical “traditions” structuring our students’ educational experience: Continental Philosophy, American Pragmatism, Feminism, and Analytic Philosophy. We are the only PhD program in the country in which feminist philosophy holds such a prominent place, and the only program that requires all graduate students to take two courses in feminist philosophy. Our graduate program requirements also include a course in Asian philosophy, philosophy of race, Native American, or Latin American philosophy. On our faculty, we have specialists in the philosophy of race, Latin American Philosophy, Native American philosophy, and gender and sexuality who regularly offer courses in these areas at the graduate level. Graduate students have the opportunity to assist with large undergraduate lecture courses in these areas as well. In addition to these elements of our program, the Department has maintained a Feminist Philosophy Research Interest Group over the last 15 years in collaboration with the Center for the Study of Women in Society. We hold a celebration of Women and Feminism in philosophy at the end of each academic year. Graduate students regularly participate in reading groups which thematize inclusion and diversity, such as this year’s reading groups in feminist ethics and black liberation theology. Graduates students consciously encourage the leadership of women and students of color in the philosophy club, and other graduate-student organizations. Our department has recently hosted major national and international conferences in Latin American, TransAmerican, and Feminist Philosophy and also hosted the Radical Philosophy Conference and the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy Conference. Over the past several years, forums organized by faculty and students have focused explicitly on diversity and inclusion in philosophy, including "The Status of Women in Philosophy at the University of Oregon and Beyond" and our upcoming Trans*Experience conference. The department has recently formed a standing committee, the “Committee for Diversity and Inclusion” which has the mandate of addressing these issues in an ongoing way. Two of the immediate goals of the committee are to institute on-going procedures for climate assessment and to address issues of diversity and inclusion in leadership at the departmental level and beyond. Our efforts to keep our program diverse have met with long-term success. Over the last ten years our grad student population has maintained gender parity. Promising scholar awards provide a full year of support for admitted PhD students from underrepresented ethnic and racial groups. The department has been successful in winning grants for faculty recruitment from the “Underrepresented Minority Recruitment Program” at the UO, which provides substantial financial support for individual minority faculty research, and for the department.