I grew up in Boston (USA), about 14kms southwest of the city centre, but I have lived in many different parts of the US and, now, live in Aotearoa New Zealand. When I am not working, you can find me running or fly fishing, painting, attending community events at Waikato Society of Arts or the Waikato Museum, or enjoying trivia night at a local pub with friends. 

 

I earned a BSc in Business Administration with a concentration in Professional Golf Management and a BSc in History from Methodist University (1998), an MA in Philosophy from the University of Mississippi (2002), and a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Utah (2008).

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Methodist University provided an interesting educational backdrop as it is located next door to Ft Bragg, the largest US military installation and home of the special operations command. While I completed the usual suite of courses in business management, accounting, economics, a variety of history courses on WWI, WWII, the Holocaust and American Social History, and philosophy, I am likely the only philosopher to have completed an elective Military Science course on explosives ordinance and disposal (EOD). If you want to know more about why I chose to pursue philosophy, please see my "Why philosophy?" page.

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Following the completion of my PhD, I had a number of visiting positions at a variety of universities in the United States before landing a permanent position in Aotearoa New Zealand. Moving annually was an exceptional chore but it did provide me with the opportunity to meet a variety of people with diverse philosophic interests. Such experience also allowed me the opportunity to teach courses outside my areas of research speciality, including in applied ethics and moral philosophy. Now, I mostly teach and supervise students in metaphysics and philosophy of language.

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Academic dossier:

Teaching statement (pdf)

Research statement (pdf)

Leadership statement (pdf)

Diversity and Inclusivity statement (pdf)

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