����vlog���� senior Solange Avalo Martinez recently presented her philosophy senior seminar research at two prestigious philosophy conferences.

The title of Avalo’s project is “Unveiling Aesthetic Narratives: Hermeneutic Exploration of Gabriel Figueroa’s Cinematic Frames and Their Reflection of Pan-Latin American Social Issues.”

She presented at Pacific University in Oregon on April 5, at the 26th annual Pacific University Undergraduate Philosophy Conference. There she emphasized the philosophical aesthetics relevant for analysis of Figueroa’s cinematography.

Solange also presented at Rhodes College in Tennessee on April 13, at the Midsouth Undergraduate Philosophy Conference, where she emphasized the philosophical hermeneutics relevant for interpretation of Figueroa’s climatic narrations.

“At both conferences, Solange provided the audience with an engaging presentation, and handled critical questions with both style and depth,” said Dr. Nathan Eric Dickman, associate professor of philosophy. “Everyone in the audience had questions and comments for her, and many lingered afterward to keep speaking with her about her work.”

Avalo from Masaya, Nicaragua, will graduate in May with majors in philosophy, sociology and psychology.

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����vlog���� senior Katherine Martinez Bojorquez had the unique experience of presenting her senior seminar research paper in philosophy at the prestigious Mid-South Philosophy Conference at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn., this past weekend.

Bojorquez is a philosophy, sociology and business administration major from Honduras who will graduate in May. She presented her paper titled, “The Lolita Effect in Contemporary Culture,” in the undergraduate section of the conference.

Bojorquez said the experience was a bit nerve-racking

“There is nervousness involved in presenting in front of people who have doctorates or master degrees involving your topic,” she said. “However, while academics can seem intimidating, I cannot say I had a bad experience as the people I met were really nice and even approached me after my presentation to continue the conversation. It is very rewarding to know that a topic you put so much time and effort into was not only well-received but prompted further conversation and analysis.”

The research paper was a hermeneutical analysis of Vladimir Nabokov’s novel, “L�DZ����ٲ�,” which centers around Humbert-Humbert, the narrator, and his obsession with 12-year-old Dolores Haze. 

“The project consisted of interpreting the novel and its usage of the romantic language and also examining the morality of art and aesthetics using Hegelian and Kantian philosophy about art, aesthetics, and the ironical artist,” Bojorquez said. “It also examines the impact the ‘Lolita Effect’ has had in contemporary culture by analyzing using both sociology and philosophy pop culture elements involving music, cinematography, book covers, and social platforms such as TikTok.”

Bojorquez, who would like to pursue a career in academia, said she’s been working on the research project for about nine months and was inspired to do the paper because of how the book “influences the willingness an audience has to ignore the dark undertones inside the art.”

Dr. Nathan Eric Dickman, assistant professor of philosophy at Ozarks, as well as junior philosophy major Solange Avalo Martinez also attended the conference.

“The conference sponsors from the graduate philosophy program at the University of Memphis all complimented Katherine on the sophistication and depth of her research and constructive ethical criticism,” Dickman said. “Katherine presented the entire project in forty minutes, with fifteen minutes for audience questions and comments. Her conversation with the audience was so good that many lingered afterwards for more discussion with her. Over the two days at the conference, Katherine and Solange engaged with scholars and fellow students from across the U.S. on topics ranging from animal ethics, disabilities and gender studies, religious and philosophical theories of fatalism, and more.”

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It wasn’t until Ciara Boswell began going through the ����vlog����’ LENS curriculum that she began to see her professional future clearer.

The junior from Paris, Ark., said the LENS (Learning Environment for New Synthesis) program at Ozarks helped her decide to earn majors in psychology and philosophy with a minor in marketing.

The University’s LENS program requires students to earn a major or minor in each of three academic areas or “lenses” – the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences and mathematics. The LENS program encourages students to explore, discover, and develop many areas of interest, while expanding their academic opportunities.

“The LENS program broadened my horizons and pushed me into areas that I never had thought about before arriving at Ozarks,” Boswell said. “LENS has given me the opportunity to be a well-rounded candidate for any job I pursue in my future. It has allowed me to acquire knowledge in numerous areas and pushed me out of my comfort zone. It allowed me to find majors and minors that I love which has made my time here at Ozarks that much more special.”

While she entered college knowing that she wanted to study psychology, she quickly found other areas of interest that complemented the discipline.

“I always knew that I wanted to major in psychology since I graduated from Paris, but I was struck with my found love in philosophy during my freshman year,” she said, “I knew that I wanted to pick a curriculum that I could utilize to make a difference and do something that I love and am passionate about. I stumbled into marketing as a sophomore here at Ozarks and immediately fell in love with all things social media. I love that you can use marketing as a way to make a difference in individuals lives and all three of these programs can be used to help others and give back to the communities that gave so much to me. I plan to utilize my education to eventually be in the field of marketing psychology.”

Growing up less than 45 minutes from campus, Boswell said she knew Ozarks was the right fit the first time she stepped foot on campus.

“Coming from a small high school, a close-knit family environment is something that I cherished there so I wanted to make sure I would get that in college as well,” she said. “Ozarks provided this sense of community and family that I so beloved. I knew this would be my new home as soon as I stepped on campus and saw the relationships that others before me had formed here.”

One of her first classes at Ozarks, a freshman seminar class taught by University Chaplain Rev. Jeremy Wilhelmi, remains one of her favorites.

“This class allowed me to make connections that I will cherish for the rest of my life,” Boswell said. “This class helped me make some of my first friends on campus and put the right people in my path. Ever since I was a freshman and met Jeremy, he has been a great mentor and inspiring person to me.”

As a student ambassador, she enjoys conveying that same family environment when she gives campus tours to prospective students and their families.

“To be a student ambassador is a great honor,” Boswell said. “You are essentially the first friend on campus for prospective students. I get to share my experience at Ozarks with other individuals. I get to tell them about all of the amazing things that Ozarks has to offer and how this special place has changed my life while educating them about the history here.”

In addition to being a student ambassador, Boswell leads the group’s social media efforts in recruiting students.

“I love this position because it has allowed me to work with some of the most inspiring people in the marketing department,” she said. “I love the atmosphere and the relationships I’ve built through this department as well as creating social media content for the University.”

Boswell has also found her niche in a number of student organizations and extra-curricular activities. She is president of the Ozarks Philosophical Symposium, vice president of the Psychology Club, president of a volleyball program on campus and also works part-time for the University’s bookstore. As if that wasn’t enough, she also works part-time as a coach for a girls’ youth travel volleyball team.

“I get to educate young women about the sport and share all of the skills I have acquired over my years in this great sport,” she said. “Through my years of coaching club volleyball, it has allowed me to pour into young girls in various communities and schools.”

Thanks to earning several University scholarships, Boswell is on course to become the first in her immediate family to graduate from a four-year college.

“This makes me feel as though I have made my family and community around me proud, knowing that I have faced a great amount of adversity and pushed through to reach my goals,” she said. “Receiving these scholarships have allowed me to pursue my undergraduate degree without worry of finances and that has given me the chance to live up to my fullest potential. It has put me on the path to pursue my long term goals and I am so incredibly grateful.”

With just over a year left in her educational journey, Boswell said she is happy she chose Ozarks.

“I have gained many perspectives on so many things that I am passionate about at this University,” Boswell said. “Ozarks has made me have an overwhelming sense that the sky’s the limit and I can do whatever I put my mind to. Ozarks has given me confidence for my next steps in life because of the engaging curriculum. I absolutely love that I have gotten a quality education and I completely believe this is because of how much the professors here care about the students’ success. They pour into students and give them the best resources for future achievements.”

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����vlog���� Assistant Professor of Philosophy Nathan Eric Dickman has completed his first book, “Using Questions to Think: How to Develop Skills in Critical Understanding and Reasoning.”

The book, published by Bloomsbury Academic, is currently available in digital format and will be available in hard copy in the United States in mid-July.

The book’s synopsis reads, “Our ability to think, argue and reason is determined by our ability to question. Questions are a vital component of critical thinking, yet we underestimate the role they play. ‘Using Questions to Think’ puts questioning back in the spotlight.”

“I’m very excited for this,” Dickman said. “It’s the first in a series of two books. This one focuses on the use of questions in thinking and reasoning. I organized and wrote it as a supplemental textbook in a logic or critical thinking course. But I framed it to be useful for anyone where people need to ask questions of one another to build community—interviewers, health care workers, teachers, interpersonal relationships, counselors, researchers with research participants, and more. As a contribution to philosophy specifically, it bridges the two main veins of ‘analytic’ and ‘Continental’ philosophy.”

Dickman, who joined the Ozarks faculty in 2020, said that students in his logic and critical thinking course will be using the book in the fall.

The book can be found at:

In addition, Dickman recently published an article in the eminent philosophy journal, Teaching Philosophy, titled “Physical Distance, Ethical Proximity: Levinasian Dialogue as Pandemic Pedagogy in Faceless (Masked or Online) Classrooms.”

“I was asked to discuss successes, and failures, in teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, and I rooted my theory in the work of the Jewish philosopher, Emmanuel Levinas,” Dickman said.

The article can be seen at:

Dickman has also recently contributed to a discussion focused on philosophy of religion on philosophyofreligion.org, where discussants are supposed to address the question of what the future of the specialization should look like. The title of his contribution is “Disturbing the Definite Article: Taking ‘The’ out of Institutionalized Philosophy of Religion.”

In recent months he has also served as a moderator for the Georgia Philosophical Society’s bi-annual conference on “Philosophical Perspectives on Contemporary Problems,” and contributed to a panel on “Equity in the Pandemic,” at the Southwest Commission on Religious Studies, presenting research on health care inequities and vulnerable populations during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

The research for the panel contribution came from work related to two recent co-authored publications: “Nursing is Never Neutral: Political Determinants of Health and Systemic Marginalization,” co-authored with Roxana Chicas in Nursing Inquiry and “Cooling Interventions Among Agricultural Workers: Qualitative field-based study,” co-authored with Roxana Chicas Xiuhtecutli, Nezahualcoyotl; Flocks, Joan; Scammell, Madeleine; Steenland, Kyle; Hertzberg, Vicki; McCauley, Linda; in Hispanic Health Care International.

Those contributions can be found at:

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����vlog���� administrators and faculty presented the University’s top academic and division awards during the 64^th annual Honors Day ceremony, held Wednesday afternoon via Zoom.

Petron Brown, a theatre and environmental studies major from Nassau, The Bahamas, was the recipient of the 2021 Wiley Lin Hurie Memorial Award, presented to the outstanding senior in the graduating class as voted on by the faculty. The Hurie Award is named in honor of the long-time president of the University and is the highest honor given to an Ozarks student. Brown was also named the Outstanding Student in Theatre.

The award winners in the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts included, Outstanding Student in English – Braxton Leding, Outstanding Student in Art – Megan Johnson; Amanda Alders Pike Art Award – Madison Clary and Isabella Olarte; Outstanding Student in History – Patrick Walker; Outstanding Student in Music – Mario Varela-Pecino; Outstanding Student in Philosophy – Maddy Windel; Outstanding Student in Religion – Fernanda Pichardo; Outstanding Student in Spanish – Jakobe Durant; and Outstanding Student in Theatre – Petron Brown.

The awards in the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics included, Outstanding Student in Biology – Crystal Oudomvilay; Outstanding Student in Chemistry – Destinee Manning; Outstanding Student in Health Science – Chava Roberts; Outstanding Student in Physics – Twanesha Lightbourn; Outstanding Student in Psychology – Laura Gochez Sanchez; Outstanding Student in Environmental Studies of Social Sciences – Nick McDaniel; Outstanding Student in Environmental Studies of Natural Sciences – Kelsey Dixson; and Outstanding Student in Mathematics – Juan De La Cruz.

The awards in the Division of Social Sciences included, Outstanding Student in Accounting – Tanesha Collie; Outstanding Student in Business Administration – Cory Maag; Outstanding Student in Marketing – Elodie Jabouin; Outstanding Student in Political Science – Sarah Vardal; Outstanding Student in Media Production – Sade Seymour; Outstanding Student in Strategic Communication – Lily Marlow; Robert Berry Fulton Award in Communication – Kevin Nawa and Michel Brun; Outstanding Student in Education – Nick McDaniel; Outstanding Student in Elementary Education – Cristina Cuevas; and Outstanding Student in Secondary Education – Ethan Bowman.

“These students represent the fulfillment of our mission,” said University President Richard Dunsworth. “These students embody being prepared to live life fully. The students we celebrated this afternoon have not only challenged themselves and excelled in their chosen field of study, they have also challenged themselves to explore new interests, to expand their capabilities, to become campus leaders, to experience new cultures, and in doing so, they have become valuable members of this campus community. And, when they leave our campus borders they will be valuable members of the world community.”

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Manning, a chemistry major from Memphis, Tenn., will graduate with Magna Cum Laude honors this month. She will then head to the University of Mississippi where she received a full scholarship and stipend to pursue a Ph.D. in pharmaceutical science with a concentration in medicinal chemistry.

Manning said she has been interested in science as long as she can remember.

“Since I was a child, I always asked my mom to sign me up for science fairs and go to science museums,” Manning said, “As a third-grader I would ask my mom in-depth questions about how cells work and she always laughed and said, ‘I don’t know baby, you should find out as you grow older.’ Well, here I am a decade and a half later, trying to explain to her how cells work.”

It was an eighth grade physical science class that propelled Manning toward a career in the sciences.

“My teacher at the time was hard on our class and she really pushed us to excel,” she said. “She made us learn the entire periodic table and balanced so many chemical equations. After eighth grade, I was inducted into the STEM program in high school. The program started over the summer at the University of Memphis for seven weeks where we learned medical assistant techniques, built underwater rovers and became CPR certified. I enjoyed learning and competing in STEM events and this soon became my passion.”

Manning said she hopes to “show others that pursuing a degree in STEM is not impossible and it is okay to strive for things outside the norm.”

“You shouldn’t give up on your dreams just because it’s hard,” she said. “African American women have often been considered to be a less-educated group among minorities. I want to help change that, be the one percent in the statistics and show others that they can do it too.”

Manning plans to work in the pharmaceutical industry with an eye on helping her community.

“I want to learn more about my community, understand the problems in education and health and make a difference,” Manning said. “With my STEM degree, I want to create an environment in which people can trust medicine and I want to help fight debilitating diseases.” 

With a quartet of minors in business administration, philosophy, psychology and mathematics, Manning said she put some serious thought into what disciplines to study in Ozarks’ wide-ranging LENS curriculum.

“My major and minors all complement each other quite well,” Manning said, “I chose mathematics as a minor because chemistry includes math and I have always been good at it, so why not make chemistry easier by having a mathematics background. I agreed to take up psychology because my goal is to make drug molecules that can better serve our community; therefore, this minor will help me understand and learn about the behavior of the people. Throughout history, most scientists and mathematicians are also philosophers because of the ability to think critically and also create self-awareness. This minor helps me understand problems from the past and relate them to current events. A goal and dream of mine is to start a pharmaceutical company after working in the industry and, with my business administration degree, I would not be lost on where and how to start a business.”

Manning said the most impactful class she has had at Ozarks was an Ethics, Religion and Culture course taught by Dr. Eric Dickman, assistant professor of philosophy.

“He brought me a lot of awareness about social, political-relational and medical-individual models,” Manning said. “This taught me that some mental health and physical health issues are society-related. This will help me become a better chemist by knowing that everything cannot be fixed by medicine alone.”

Manning said her time at Ozarks also helped instill in her other valuable lessons outside the classroom.

“Coming into Ozarks, I did not want any friends or distractions. I only wanted to focus on my work and getting prepared for the next level,” she said. “I was very anti-social. However, over the years Ozarks has led to me having some wonderful friendships with classmates and professors. Ozarks has also changed me by helping me understand other points of view and why they believe what they believe. Ozarks helped me connect and understand my spiritual health as well by learning about other religions and deepen my faith through what God called me to do. This helps me strive for the impossible and challenge myself and understand that God is there with me every step of the way. And, even If I fail, I learn what I did wrong and push myself to not make the same mistake.”

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����vlog���� senior Maddy Windel is passionate about making a difference in the environment and she believes the best way to do that is through a career in law and policy.

The political science and philosophy major and environmental studies minor from Deer, Ark., plans to pursue a career in environmental administrative law after graduating from Ozarks in May.   

Windel, who said she originally thought about a career in social justice law, said she changed her mind after spending a significant amount of time thinking about the environment and the way humans interact with it.

“The law is deeply entangled in this interest,” Windel said. “I believe that environmental law and policy is incredibly important not only in the United States, but across the globe, and as the effects of climate change become more apparent, the need to push for drastic changes in environmental law and policy will only grow. In reality, environmental law is inseparable from the social justice law I was originally interested in pursuing—the inequality inherent in climate change must be addressed.”

Earning her undergraduate degree in just three years, Windel plans to spend a gap year pursuing internships, applying to law school and hiking the Appalachian Trail.

She said studying political science and philosophy simultaneously through the University’s LENS program was one of her favorite things about her undergraduate education.

“I had an opportunity to explore many of the same philosophers through both LENSes,” Windel said. “I studied the practical and philosophical application of Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, for example. However, my favorite classes have always been my constitutional and administrative law courses. From doing case briefs to participating in moot courts, I feel that they, along with my environmental studies minor, have helped prepare me for the career in environmental administrative law that I hope to pursue.”

American Constitutional Law with Dr. Stewart Dippel was especially impactful for Windel.

“Dr. Dippel’s course gave me the opportunity to participate in moot courts, brief cases and explore public administration in a way I never had before, and I absolutely loved it,” she said. “It affirmed my interest in law and government, and I left the course, along with Constitutional Law II, wishing Ozarks had more courses like it.”

Windel says that if it weren’t for Ozarks, she might not exist. Her parents, Nathan and Kenya Windel, met as students at Ozarks in the late 1990s before marrying and graduating from Ozarks in the early 2000s. Nathan ’02 is currently the science instructional specialist at OUR Education Service Cooperative and Kenya ’01 is the director of the Newton (Ark.) County Public Library.

“If I am honest, I would almost certainly not exist without Ozarks,” she said. “It is an essential part of my family’s story. I was actually born while they were still in school and spent my first few years on or near campus. However, I did not come to Ozarks because my parents were alumni. Many of the faculty and administrators they knew had moved on or retired, and I had not really been to Ozarks since I was a toddler. The campus was and is completely different from the one they knew, and I appreciate those differences.”

During her senior year of high school, Windel applied to colleges all over the country, and was prepared to go out of state for her undergraduate education.

“My parents encouraged me to pay an official visit to Ozarks and I decided to sit in on classes instead of taking a tour of campus,” Windel said. “I attended Dr. Mark Scully’s American National Government class and Dr. Stewart Dippel’s International Relations class. After International Relations, I met with Dr. Dippel, and he proceeded to outline my class plan and to tell me, quite bluntly, that I could attend law school if he felt like I was good enough to attend law school. In one visit, I felt closer to the campus than I had anywhere else I had visited, and I committed to Ozarks not long after.”

In her three years at Ozarks, Windel has served as president of Wordsmiths, Ozarks’ creative writing club, and as an assistant editor and the chief editor of Falstaff, Ozarks’ literary magazine. She has also been active with the Ozarks Philosophical Symposium and the University’s Young Democrats.

Her philosophy thesis, which she presented earlier this semester, was titled, “The Being Community: Forging a New Land Ethic in Colonial Contexts,” and addressed historical land ethics through a postcolonial and feminist lens to develop a new land ethic that is more inclusive and considers the broader human experience.

“I was initially inspired to write about land ethics because of a course on environmental literature I took with Dr. Brian Hardman during my sophomore year,” Windel said. “I was surprised that so many of the land ethics were written by white men, and I was interested in seeking out more land ethics written by women.”

In the summer of 2020, Windel visited Moab, Utah, and went to a local bookstore called Back of Beyond Books. While there, the bookstore’s owner referred her to Amy Irvine’s Desert Cabal: A New Season in the Wilderness, which had been published in concert with the bookstore.

“The book offered a feminist critique of Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire and established a land ethic which focused on community,” Windel said. “Using Irvine’s work, as well as that of Ellen Meloy, the “I and Thou” philosophy of Martin Buber, and Indigenous literature, I began to develop a new land ethic which focused on a boundless ethical community in which all beings could be respected for their subjectivity. I also offered critiques of traditional land ethics, including those of Edward Abbey and John Muir, noting their impacts on the environmental imaginary and the implications of normative subjectivity for human-land interactions, particularly in the law.”

Windel said that she feels prepared for her next educational step following graduation because of Ozarks professors such as Dippel; Dr. Eric Dickman, assistant professor of philosophy; and Dr. Danielle Young, assistant professor of political science.

“Dr. Dippel was essential in preparing me for graduate school; he has challenged me more than any other professor, both in academics and personally, and he has taught me to be absolutely fearless,” Windel said. “Dr. Dickman has been incredibly supportive as we spent the past year working through my thesis and my comps, and I am glad to have had his guidance as a new faculty member during this past year. Dr. Young has also been exceptionally helpful, and I am so glad I seized the opportunity to take more of her classes this semester. She is now helping me prepare for my LSATs and plan for law school more generally. I am so excited to begin that chapter of my education.”

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Dr. Nathan “Eric” Dickman, assistant professor of philosophy at ����vlog����, recently published two academic journal articles and presented at a pair of virtual conferences.

Both the articles and presentations were in support of a soon-to-be-published academic book in which Dickman contributed a chapter. The book, “The Just University: Paul Ricoeur and the Hope of Higher Education,” will be released by Routledge Press in December.

Dickman’s chapter is titled, “Should Religion-Affiliated Institutions Be Accredited? Ricoeur and the Problem of Religious Inclusivity.” Daniel Boscaljon and Jeff Kuess served as editors for the chapter.

“I’m looking at how colleges and universities balance these two commitments: their affiliation with one religious tradition, and their policy of welcoming and affirming all faiths, or no faith,” Dickman said. “I propose a criterion that accreditors such as the Higher Learning Commission can use to assess colleges with both commitments. Are they just apathetic about it, where they placate and perpetuate pervasive structures of religious prejudice? Or are they deliberately inclusive, where they create interfaith opportunities or have religiously neutral spaces for alternative religious practice? I use Paul Ricoeur’s philosophical hermeneutics as a resource to think through and support my proposal.”

Dickman’s article, “A Hermeneutic for and from Reading Kierkegaard’s For Self-Examination,” appeared in the journal, Religions: An Open Access Journal of Theology. His second article, “Cooling intervention studies among outdoor occupational groups: A Review of the literature,” appears in the American Journal of Industrial Health. It is part of a sequence of articles with an interdisciplinary team of researchers looking at the chronic kidney disease epidemic among migrant agricultural workers in light of global warming.

His presentation, “Should Religion-Affiliated Colleges Be Accredited?” was given at book discussion panels for recent virtual annual conferences at both the North American Society for Philosophical Hermeneutics and the Society of Ricoeur Studies annual conference.

In addition, Dickman served as a panel moderator for the Georgia Philosophical Society annual conference on Ethical Issues in Today’s Turbulent World in October.

Dickman joined the Ozarks faculty in August. He previously served as an associate professor of philosophy and religious studies at Young Harris College in Georgia since 2017 and was an assistant professor at the college from 2010 to 2017. He also served as chair of the Religion and Philosophy Department at Young Harris and has taught at Coe College in Iowa, University of Northern Iowa and the University of Iowa.

Links to the articles, presentations and forthcoming book can be found here:

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Dr. Nathan “Eric” Dickman, who joined the ����vlog���� faculty this summer as an assistant professor of philosophy, recently presented a paper at a national conference and had two syllabi discussions published in a national blog.

Dickman previously served as an associate professor of philosophy and religious studies at Young Harris College in Georgia since 2017 and was an assistant professor at the college from 2010 to 2017. He also served as chair of the Religion and Philosophy Department at Young Harris and has taught at Coe College in Iowa, University of Northern Iowa and the University of Iowa.

His paper, “Spatial Absence, Virtual Proximity: Levinasian Dialogue as a Pandemic Pedagogy,” was presented at the annual conference of the North American Levinas Society, which was held virtually this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The conference theme was, “The Face and the Interface: Levinas, Teaching, and Technology,” and focused on how Levinas’s philosophy can be relevant to how people have had to adapt to online formats for educational, interpersonal, and political practices.

The conference program discussion states: “The COVID-19 pandemic has engendered a great deal of economic and political turmoil around the world, not the least of which involves necessary campus closures across the globe. As communities and institutions struggle to adapt to the critical exigencies of this moment, the pandemic reveals a number of longstanding inequities and injustices that exacerbate the global crisis.”

“Levinas is an influential Jewish philosopher, and mentor to more well-known figures such as Jacques Derrida,” Dickman said. “Levinas’s philosophy has helped inspire me to live in service to my fellow human beings, and this conference was a great opportunity to reflect specifically on how to serve students in the midst of the pandemic. I focused in particular on how to have great dialogues with students despite being online for classes.”

In addition to the conference paper, Dickman recently had a pair of class syllabi and discussions published in the Syllabus Showcase series of the American Philosophical Association’s blog. The published syllabi are the basis for a pair of philosophy classes that he will teach at Ozarks: “Hegel to Nietzsche” and “Logic.”

“With my passion for teaching, I love being able to share my syllabi with colleagues for their feedback or if it helps other professors in thinking about their own course design and teaching strategies,” Dickman said. “These two courses in particular are a couple of my favorites; the Hegel to Nietzsche syllabus because, as I point out, phenomenology is not that well-known, and the Logic syllabus because critical thinking forms the topic of my upcoming book.”

Dickman’s research interests include hermeneutic phenomenology, philosophy of language and comparative questions in philosophy of religions. He teaches a range of courses, such as Critical Thinking, Jewish Experience, Medieval Philosophical Theology and Phenomenology. His book, “Using Questions to Think,” will be published with Bloomsbury later this year.

At Young Harris, Dickman received the Faculty Pacesetter Award in 2019, the Inter-Religious Council Faculty Award in 2018 and the Vulcan Award for Teaching Excellence in 2014. He is a member of the American Academy of Religion and the American Philosophical Association.

A link to Dickman’s syllabi and discussion on the American Philosophical Association’s blog can be found here:

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In just a few short years, Melle van Duijn has gone from a near college dropout to an honors graduate with a newfound excitement for continuing his education in graduate school.

Having graduated from ����vlog���� in May with Magna Cum Laude honors, van Duijn will attend Oklahoma State University in the fall, where he will pursue a master’s degree in philosophy and serve as a graduate assistant.

Born Dutch and raised in New Zealand, van Duijn came to the United States on an athletic scholarship to play tennis for another Arkansas university. Needing a change of scenery, he decided to transfer to Ozarks in 2017. It was around that time that he said he considered dropping out of college.

“I was very close to dropping out of college upon transferring here,” van Duijn said. “But I can recall a few interactions with staff and fellow students early on that reinforced my initial motivation to get a college degree.”

He said he was also inspired by the University’s LENS program, which encouraged him to explore other academic disciplines. He ended up earning majors in philosophy and Spanish as well as minors in business administration and psychology. As a senior, he accomplished the rare feat of being named the University’s outstanding student in both philosophy and Spanish. A few weeks later, he became the first in his family to earn a college degree.

“The LENS program really helped me come to the right conclusion about what to study,” van Duijn said. “I started off as a business major, but halfway through my sophomore year I realized I had a passion for the arts. My academic advisor, Dr. Bill Eakin, and the rest of the faculty were extremely supportive in exploring options to change my major. Ultimately, I ended up graduating with a double major. The LENS program allowed me to combine my majors and minors to study a variety of fields and topics. For example, my philosophy senior thesis was focused on a philosopher who I had read in previous Spanish literature classes, while my Spanish senior thesis integrated a contemporary philosophical analysis.”

“With the LENS program, I was given the freedom to explore a variety of different fields and I’m delighted to say that it not only allowed me to find my passion, stay in school, but also graduate with a four-year degree as the first in my family.”

Outside the classroom, van Duijn said he fell in love with the Natural State, thanks to Ozarks Outdoors.

“I’ve always had an awesome time on the Ozark Outdoor trips,” he said. “My first year at Ozarks, we camped out on the Buffalo River and I remember having a classic Arkansas outdoor experience with a campfire underneath the night sky. That has to be one of my favorite memories.”

He credited his Ozarks professors, primarily Dr. Eakin and former Ozarks Spanish Professor Dr. Maria Montenegro, for helping him secure a position in graduate school.

“Not only did Dr. Eakin and Dr. Montenegro write fantastic letters of recommendation and help with my applications, but they also provided me with resources that ultimately lead to my decision to go to OSU,” he said. “Outside of Dr. Eakin’s office hung a letter from Oklahoma State expressing their desire for graduate assistants and Dr. Eakin, who was a GA as a graduate student, heavily recommended such an experience. In deciding between Boston College, without a GA position, and OSU with a GA position, his recommendation helped facilitate my decision-making process and I’m extremely excited for this opportunity.”

Ironically, it was a joint class taught by Eakin and Montenegro that further sparked his interest in philosophy.

“I have always been fascinated with existentialism, and the philosophy department at Ozarks really allowed me to explore this interest in depth,” Van Duijn said. “Last year, Dr. Eakin and Dr. Montenegro offered a joint class focused on existentialism that really gripped my interest in the field and made me want to explore it further in graduate school.”

As he heads to graduate school and a possible career in higher education, van Duijn said he will always be thankful to Ozarks for rekindling his passion for academics.

“I mean this with all the honesty in the world; the faculty here have had such a positive influence on me that I’d love to be able to give back in a similar way,” he said. “My ideal job would be to teach philosophy at a small University, just like Ozarks, and have an influence on my future students that resembles the type of experienced I had here.”

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