Philosophy and Religious Studies Celebrates 65 Years!

Department Celebrates 65th Anniversary Celebration

Philosophy was first offered as a program of study at East Tennessee State in 1960, making 2025 our 65th anniversary. In November, we marked the occasion with a day of philosophy and reunions, reminiscing with current and former students, faculty and staff, and sharing and discussing philosophical interests. Former department faculty members, Dr. Deepanwita Dasgupta, Dr. Stephen Fesmire, and Dr. Heather Keith, as well as current professor of practice, Dr. Austin Due, gave research lectures. Dr. Rowan Bell, Brett Blitch, Robert Claflin, Dr. Zach Peck, and Layla Williams, are program alumni who have either completed or are currently enrolled in doctoral programs in philosophy. All five attended our anniversary and were kind enough to outline for attendees some of their current research interests. We also had six alumni, representing six different career paths, talk about how philosophy has benefitted them either professionally or personally. Our thanks go out to Kevin Carlson (law), Dr. Shannon Cook (psychiatry), Marius Emmaus (chaplaincy), Rev. Logan Jackson (clergy), Dunstan McNutt (librarian) and Dr. Desirae Matherly (professor of English), for their time and effort.

Between former faculty and staff, alumni, current students, and distinguished guests, almost 100 people attended at least some part of the day’s celebration. These included: Dean Bidwell; Dr. Adam Green, representing the Office of the President; Gerald Sanders, who earned a MA in Philosophy from ETSU in 1975; Dr. Chris Hackler who was Chair of the department from 1978 until 1982 and served as Mr. Sanders’ thesis supervisor; Marie Graves, Lisa Moss, and Alice Terrell, former department executive aides who between them represented over 40 years of service to the department.

As part of the day’s activities the department was presented with a resolution of appreciation from the Office of the President, which expressed gratitude for, among other things, our role equipping students “with the capacity to wrestle with life’s most enduring questions about existence, morality, knowledge, and justice, fostering more responsible thinkers who better understand pressing social issues”. You can read the entire resolution of appreciation on our main webpage.