A. ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT PROFESSORSHIP
Endowed Professorship (International Award): 2026. Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
The Alexander von Humboldt Professorship is awarded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and is financially supported by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space. It is granted independently of nationality or discipline and is often considered to be Germany’s most valuable international research prize. The award enables the award holder to conduct forward-thinking, long-term research at a German institution to make a lasting contribution to Germany’s international research capacity. It provides funding for a research group in the award holder’s field and related resources. Here is more information about the professorship.
Employment Opportunities
The Alexander von Humboldt Professorship, in conjunction with the newly created W3-Chair of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, invites applications for two Assistant Professor positions, one Postdoctoral Fellowship, and one Doctoral Position in PPE. Please see here for details.
B. CHAIR OF PHILOSOPHY, POLITICS, AND ECONOMICS
Chair (Department Level): 2026-present. Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf.
Our globally interconnected world faces a myriad of individual and collective decision-making problems that cut across disciplinary boundaries. The most pressing social problems today are interconnected and multidimensional. They involve ethical, political, and economic dimensions and can be addressed adequately only through interdisciplinary analysis.
Under what conditions should considerations of justice take priority over considerations of economic efficiency? How can the normative demands of justice be institutionalized under conditions of persistent disagreement? How can the welfare state function in deeply pluralistic and fragmented societies? To what extent do, and should, economic institutions influence the exercise of political power and vice versa?
The Chair of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics addresses such questions. It applies concepts and methods across disciplines, in particular from moral and political philosophy and economic theory, to develop solutions to social problems that are not only economically sound but also ethically defensible and politically feasible.
The Chair’s research and teaching spans central areas of PPE, including the history of moral, political, and economic thought, social contract theory, social scientific methods, rational choice theory, political economy, distributive justice, democratic theory, institutional design, and foundational questions of public policy, all from an interdisciplinary and integrative perspective.
The Chair aims to combine the strengths of the Anglo-American and German educational systems, with a focus on providing interdisciplinary knowledge and future-directed skills. It offers a collaborative and internationally oriented research and teaching environment. The Chair’s working language is English.
C. DAVID H. KELLOGG CENTER FOR PHILOSOPHY, POLITICS, AND ECONOMICS
Founding Director (College Level): 2020-2026. Virginia Tech.
The David H. Kellogg Center for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics is a college-level research center at Virginia Tech. The Center spans the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences and the College of Science and underlies the purview of the Office of Research and Innovation and the Executive Vice President and Provost. The Center was established to help advance the University’s Beyond Boundaries vision. It fosters collaborations across campus and provides faculty and students with the opportunity to work collaboratively on some of the most pressing social and economic problems of our time. The Center was endowed in 2025.
The Center is a hub for cutting-edge interdisciplinary research and research-centered teaching in the humanities and social sciences. It is one of the first named research centers at a major public research university that is dedicated to interdisciplinary research in PPE. The Center oversees two undergraduate degree programs in PPE, with a student population of more than two hundred and fifty, and it houses an international undergraduate research journal that is open to submissions from PPE students worldwide.
The Center regularly organizes research-focused and student-centered events. During my directorship, the Center’s guest speakers included Kyoto Prize Winner Martha C. Nussbaum, Nobel Prize Winner Amartya Sen, New York Times bestselling author Dan Ariely, award-winning British historian Adam Tooze, Nobel Prize Winner Esther Duflo, award-winning philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah, MacArthur Fellow Grant Winner Elizabeth Anderson, American Legal Scholar Bruce Ackerman, and Nobel Prize Winner Daron Acemoglu.
As Director, in addition to developing the Center’s vision and mission, I oversaw its fiscal, administrative, fiduciary, reporting, and programmatic functions. I was responsible for the Center’s scholarly direction, degree programs, and outreach. My regular duties included recruiting and assessing Center faculty and staff, as well as evaluating PPE core faculty for promotion and tenure. I worked closely with college and university advancement, stakeholders, and alumni, and I served on the college’s executive council.
D. PROGRAM IN PHILOSOPHY, POLITICS, AND ECONOMICS
Founding Director (Department Level): 2015-2020. Virginia Tech.
With the support of three departments, two colleges, and the university, I founded the PPE Program at Virginia Tech. The program offers two genuinely interdisciplinary, research-driven undergraduate degree programs (a major and minor in PPE). I oversaw the design and governance approval process of the PPE curriculum. The PPE minor was one of the first Pathways Minors at Virginia Tech.
The PPE degree programs allow students to study systematically some of the most important social, ethical, economic, and political problems that our contemporary societies face. The degree programs offer a highly interdisciplinary curriculum with distinct learning outcomes centered on an undergraduate research project. The programs prepare students to become leaders in the fast-changing, highly complex, and interdependent world in the 21st century.
I served as Director of Undergraduate Studies for the PPE Program with full responsibility for student advising and the pedagogy of the program. In addition, as Program Director, I supervised several postdoctoral fellows, graduate student teaching assistants, and undergraduate student ambassadors. The PPE Program also hosted several research fellows and visiting researches. Since 2020, the PPE undergraduate degree programs are under the purview of the Kellogg Center.
E. ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE
Chair, Co-Chair, Committee Member (Department, College, AND University Levels).
University and College Level. Provost’s Advisory Committee on Inter- and Transdisciplinary Research, Scholarship, and Creative Work (University), Design Team Member of the Policy Strategic Growth Area (University), Academic Program Reviews (several, University), Ad Hoc Faculty Review Committee (University), Faculty Senate (University), Faculty Advisory Committee of the Institute for Leadership in Technology (College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences – CLAHS), Stakeholders Committee of the School of International and Public Affairs (CLAHS), Executive Council of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences (CLAHS), Director of the David H. Kellogg Center for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (ex officio member of various committees, CLAHS), Administrative Review Committees (several, College), Promotion and Tenure Committee (CLAHS), Behavioral Decision Science Working Group (College of Science – COS).
Department and Program Level. Promotion and Tenure Committee (external member, CLAHS), Promotion and Tenure Committee (Department), Executive Committee (Department), Personnel Committee (Department), Assessment and Evaluation (Department), Graduate Admissions Committee (ASPECT, Department), Curriculum Committee (ASPECT, Department), Awards Committee (Department), Publications and Events Committee (ASPECT), Program Outreach and Development Committee (ASPECT), Outstanding Dissertation Award Committee (ASPECT).
I have also served as Chair, Co-Chair, or Committee Member of over twenty faculty, staff, and senior administrative searches in Philosophy, Political Science, Economics, PPE, ASPECT, and CLAHS.