Breakout Sessions

Dr. Matthew R. Hotham [Hoe-Thumb] is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Ball State where he teaches on Islam, The Qur‘an, World Religions, as well as advanced seminars on Animals and Religion, Religion, Colonialism and Modernity, and Islamic Mysticism. His research and teaching focus on embodied, affective, and material approaches to the study of religion. His classes incorporate role-playing, case studies, music, scents, religious objects, and visits to the David Owsley Museum of Art to encourage students to think about religions as lived and living traditions that invite a diversity of embodied human engagements and responses. In his free time he writes poetry and travels.

Juli Thorson grew up in Colorado and spent more time hiking in the mountains than in class. She eventually went to Seattle and received her PhD in philosophy from the University of Washington. She came to Ball State right out of graduate school and promptly made lots of teaching mistakes. But she learned and is now an award-winning philosophy teacher. She has published papers in epistemology, feminism, and pedagogy, but you can look them up at the library so they are not worth listing here. She also maintains a studio where she paints and draws absurd and not-so-absurd art.

Jen Rowland teaches Ethics and Environmental Ethics at Ball State University, and she is the recipient of the Lawhead Award for outstanding teaching in the core curriculum. She’s a PhD candidate, working on a dissertation about climate change ethics and fossil fuels. Her research interests include environmental justice, energy policy, and that thing where you know you it’s bad to do something but you do it anyway. Jen is better than you at Tetris, but worse than you at volleyball.

Lexi is a junior from Indianapolis who is majoring in philosophy and creative writing. Her favorite color is orange, which is the most important color, thank you very much. In her spare time, she reads horror, fantasy, and Marvel comics. Lexi is currently rereading A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy to recover from her time reading Pet Sematary. In high school, Lexi was a member of Philosophy Club, Game Design Club, and every music outlet you can think of where she played Bassoon and Alto Saxophone. Now, she has been an executive member of Ball State’s philosophy club for three years.

Zoe Lawson is a junior with a triple major in philosophy, political science, and Spanish from St. Charles, Missouri. Her favorite philosophical area of study is masculinity studies and gender studies. She most identifies with Rory Gilmore from Gilmore Girls because she has a book addiction, is sometimes very awkward, and speaks almost exclusively in outdated pop culture references. She loves getting the opportunity to work with pre-college philosophy students and can’t wait for the conference!

Kibujjo M. Kalumba, Associate Professor of Philosophy, completed his undergraduate studies in his native Uganda and earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Indiana University. He has taught philosophy at Ball State University for over 30 years, focusing on African Philosophy as well as Social and Political Philosophy. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of Philosophia Africana, a premier international journal of African Philosophy, a position he has held for the last 10 years.

David W. Concepción is a Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Ball State University. Dave grew up in Berkeley, CA, but for some reason people think he is from Maine. He teaches ethics classes and leads BSU students in the production of Stance. He writes about teaching, especially diversity and inclusion. He is on the board of directors of the American Philosophical Association. His dogs “Pig” and “Gillis,” think he spends too much time away from home.

Jen Rowland teaches Ethics and Environmental Ethics at Ball State University, and she is the recipient of the Lawhead Award for outstanding teaching in the core curriculum. She’s a PhD candidate, working on a dissertation about climate change ethics and fossil fuels. Her research interests include environmental justice, energy policy, and that thing where you know you it’s bad to do something but you do it anyway. Jen is better than you at Tetris, but worse than you at volleyball.

Jeff Brackett is an associate professor of religious studies at Ball State University, where he teaches courses in Hindu and Buddhist traditions, religion and pop culture, world religions, and ethnography of religion. In the spring of 2015, he combined his interests in pedagogy and art by teaching a fifteen credit-hour immersive learning seminar, “Representing Religion in Comics.” His current projects include transforming his translation of D. B. Mokashi’s Marathi novel, Ananda Owari, into a graphic novel that he is drawing; and a study of “Spiritual-But-Not-Religious” in the Art World.

Jen Rowland teaches Ethics and Environmental Ethics at Ball State University, and she is the recipient of the Lawhead Award for outstanding teaching in the core curriculum. She’s a PhD candidate, working on a dissertation about climate change ethics and fossil fuels. Her research interests include environmental justice, energy policy, and that thing where you know you it’s bad to do something but you do it anyway. Jen is better than you at Tetris, but worse than you at volleyball.

Juli Thorson grew up in Colorado and spent more time hiking in the mountains than in class. She eventually went to Seattle and received her PhD in philosophy from the University of Washington. She came to Ball State right out of graduate school and promptly made lots of teaching mistakes. But she learned and is now an award-winning philosophy teacher. She has published papers in epistemology, feminism, and pedagogy, but you can look them up at the library so they are not worth listing here. She also maintains a studio where she paints and draws absurd and not-so-absurd art.

Jeff Fry is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Ball State University. His current research interests lie at the intersection of the philosophy of sport, the philosophy of mind, neurophilosophy, and ethics. He once went ten consecutive years without missing a day of running at least two miles a day.

Daniel is a senior philosophy major and Japanese minor from Indianapolis. He very much wishes he didn’t have to sleep. He likes to tell himself that he’d use the extra time to read all the books and watch all the movies that he’s promised himself he’ll get around to sooner or later. He suspects, however, that he’d waste all the extra time watching YouTube videos of bears or memorizing the lore for games he has no intention of ever playing.

Cameron is a freshman from Orland Park, Illinois, who is majoring in tele-communications. He suspects that the Canadian government is lying to us, and that the most useless invention on the face of the earth is currently the smart phone. One food he would eat for the rest of his life would be grapefruit, and he would like to master horseback archery. He is most likely to become famous as a failed comedian.

Jason is an intellectual historian whose concentration is the history of philosophy and literature. He has taught courses on Friedrich Nietzsche and Søren Kierkegaard, and has written on these subjects for his book, Becoming the Lost Generation. In the spirit of Kierkegaard, Jason named his son Søren, who is a junior at Ball State University.

David W. Concepción is a Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Ball State University. Dave grew up in Berkeley, CA, but for some reason people think he is from Maine. He teaches ethics classes and leads BSU students in the production of Stance. He writes about teaching, especially diversity and inclusion. He is on the board of directors of the American Philosophical Association. His dogs “Pig” and “Gillis,” think he spends too much time away from home.

Dr. Sarah Vitale is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Ball State University. She teaches classes on social institutions, contemporary philosophy, and critical theory. Her research focuses on Marx and post-Marxism, as well as contemporary feminism and gender studies. She is Co-Editor of the Radical Philosophy Review, the journal of the Radical Philosophy Association. Dr. Vitale started the Ball State Philosophy Outreach Program in the spring of 2016, and it has been one of the highlights of her life in Indiana. When she is not doing philosophy at Ball State or at a high school somewhere in Indiana, she is likely watching TV with her cat Lucy or planning a trip to a far-off land.

Daniel is a senior philosophy major and Japanese minor from Indianapolis. He very much wishes he didn’t have to sleep. He likes to tell himself that he’d use the extra time to read all the books and watch all the movies that he’s promised himself he’ll get around to sooner or later. He suspects, however, that he’d waste all the extra time watching YouTube videos of bears or memorizing the lore for games he has no intention of ever playing.

Mendim is a senior from North Macedonia who is majoring in philosophy and religious studies. He is excited to teach others about how philosophy can help people to think critically. Mendim switches between three languages when he is talking to his family, which he finds completely normal while everyone around him remains confused. He reads too many books at a time and rarely finishes any of them. He encourages people to watch Looking for Muhyiddin (if they can find it), a three-hour Tunisian film, which he found on a questionable website and paid 30 dollars for U.K. shipping.