A. KELLOGG CENTER FOR PHILOSOPHY, POLITICS, AND ECONOMICS
Founding Director (College Level): 2020-present.
The Kellogg Center for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics is a cross-college research center that spans the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences and the College of Science. The Center underlies the general purview of the Executive Vice President and Provost at Virginia Tech and was established to help advance the University’s Beyond Boundaries vision. The Center fosters research 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 Kellogg 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 research Centers in the world dedicated to interdisciplinary research in PPE. The Center houses a dynamic, interdisciplinary research group in PPE and has a strong presence both nationally and internationally in this fast-growing field of study. In addition to its permanent faculty, the Center supports several faculty fellows and student ambassadors each year and has over fifty affiliated faculty members. Occasionally, the Center employs postdoctoral research fellows and hosts (international) visiting researchers.
The Center’s faculty have expertise in central areas of PPE, in particular the history of moral, political, and economic thought, the methodology of the social sciences (including the philosophy of economics), formal methods (including rational choice theory), well-being and welfare theory, political economy, public choice, social choice, democratic theory, institutional design, social and economic growth, development, poverty, distributive justice, global justice, and foundational questions of public policy.
In addition to its research mission, the Center oversees two undergraduate degree programs in PPE that train students to develop comprehensive solutions to complex interdisciplinary decision-making problems, solutions that are not only economically sound, but also socially, ethically, and politically informed. In order to integrate PPE research and teaching and to provide an international forum for interdisciplinary research also at the undergraduate level, the Center founded The Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Review. The journal is one of the first undergraduate research journals in PPE that is open to submissions from PPE students worldwide.
The Center organizes research-focused events, such as a research speaker series, working paper series, research fellow panels, conferences, workshops, and public lectures. In addition, the Center offers a host of student-centered events, including reading groups, discussion colloquia, the PPE Cinema, PPE Game (Theory) Night, and the PPE Club. The Center’s programming fosters dialogue among faculty, students, and the public. The Center’s guest speakers include 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, cultural theorist, and novelist Kwame Anthony Appiah, MacArthur Fellow Grant Winner Elizabeth Anderson, American Legal Scholar Bruce Ackerman, and Nobel Prize Winner Daron Acemoğlu (upcoming).
B. PROGRAM IN PHILOSOPHY, POLITICS, AND ECONOMICS
Founding Director (Department Level): 2015-2020.
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 for the core courses 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. Administratively, the PPE undergraduate programs, which involve twelve departments in seven colleges across campus, are now under the purview of the Kellogg Center.
C. ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE
Chair, Co-Chair, Committee Member (Department, College, AND University Levels): 2010-present.
I am currently serving or have served in the following administrative capacities at Virginia Tech (selected):
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 Kellogg Center (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, Department in 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.