A. KELLOGG CENTER FOR PHILOSOPHY, POLITICS, AND ECONOMICS
Founding Director (College): 2020-present.
The Kellogg Center for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics is a college-level research center that spans the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences and the College of Science. The Center underlies the purview of the University’s Office for Research and Innovation and advances the University’s Beyond Boundaries vision. In particular, 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. With five tenure-track faculty members 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 research field. In addition to its permanent faculty members, the Center supports several faculty research fellows and student ambassadors each year and has over forty-five affiliated faculty members. Occasionally, the Center employs postdoctoral research fellows and hosts 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, social 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 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, and student-centered events, such as reading groups, discussion colloquia, the PPE Cinema, and a PPE Club. The Center’s programming fosters dialogue among faculty, students, and the public to support and engage a diverse, international PPE community at Virginia Tech. 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, and MacArthur Fellow Grant Winner Elizabeth Anderson.
The Center Director conducts the fiscal, administrative, fiduciary, reporting, and programmatic functions of the Center. The Center Director is responsible for the Center’s scholarly direction, research support, and PPE undergraduate education across the entire student lifecycle, which includes recruitment, admissions, enrollment, course scheduling, curriculum development, retention, graduation, and alumni relations. In addition, the Center Director oversees the Center’s administrative and advising staff, (co-)chairs PPE searches, assesses PPE Core Faculty members’ contributions to PPE, and works closely with College/University Advancement and PPE Stakeholders. Finally, together with other Department Heads and School Directors, the Center Director serves on the Executive Council of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences.
B. PROGRAM IN PHILOSOPHY, POLITICS, AND ECONOMICS
Program Director (Department): 2015-2020.
I have established the Program in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Virginia Tech. With the support of three Departments, two Colleges, and the University, I have developed two genuinely interdisciplinary, research-driven undergraduate degree programs (a major and minor in PPE) and oversaw the design and governance approval process of the central PPE courses. In 2017, the PPE minor was approved as 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 responsibilities 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 degree 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): 2010-present.
I am currently serving or have served in the following administrative capacities at Virginia Tech (selected): Design Team Member of the Policy Strategic Growth Area (University), Faculty Senate (University), Stakeholders Committee of the School of International and Public Affairs (College), Executive Council of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences (College), Director of the Kellogg Center (ex officio member of various committees, PPE and College), Chair of two Administrative Review Committees (College, Department), Promotion and Tenure Committee (College, Department), Behavioral Decision Science Working Group (College of Science)
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 the College.