One of the aims of the graduate program in the Sage School is to help students compete favorably in the academic job market. Each year a member of the faculty serves as placement director, whose role it is to oversee and guide students through the process of looking for jobs in philosophy. Among other things, the placement director assists each candidate with the preparation of their application dossier (writing sample, research statement, teaching dossier, CV, etc.), coordinates the gathering of letters of reference, invites guest speakers to provide advice about particular sectors of the job market, organizes practice interviews and job talks, and is there to offer guidance and support through the job market process.
For academic year 2024-2025 the placement director is Professor Julia Markovits.
The Cornell Graduate School also provides assistance and seminars to help those who want to pursue careers outside of academia. Non-academic placements of our graduates have included healthcare, investing, biotechnology, and actuarial and data science.
Below is a table with initial placements and current positions of our graduates going back to 2009. Email the department or Professor Markovits with any questions.
To reference online many of the dissertations published since 2013, click here.
| Name / Year of Graduation | Dissertation Title | Areas of Interest | First Position | Current/Most Recent Known Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | ||||
| Dietl, Eve | Nonreductive Russellian Physicalism | Cornell University, Knight Institute Lecturer (2024) | ||
Solis, Eric M.
| Legislating for Virtue: An Essay on Virtue and Law in Plato's Laws | Ancient Philosophy, Plato and Aristotle, History of Philosophy | University of Alabama, Philosophy Instructor (2021-) | |
| 2023 | ||||
| GERBER, Erin H. | Private Property in Kant's Rechtslehre | Social and Political Philosophy, Kant's Practical Philosophy | Cornell University, Philosophical Review Postdoctoral Fellow (2023-2024) | |
| JOVANOVSKA, Sofi qjing | Three Essays on Nietzsche's Moral Psychology | Cornell University, Knight Institute Lecturer (2023-2024) | ||
| KANG, Shao-Pu | Transparency, Shared Consciousness, and Mineness: Essays on Self-Knowledge | Epistemology and Philosophy of Mind | Academia Sinica, Postdoctoral Research Scholar (2023-) | |
| KWIATEK, Timothy | Meaning, Praise, and Anger: Essays in Moral Psychology | Ethics, Moral Psychology, Praise and Blame, Buddhist Philosophical Thought | Cornell University, Knight Institute Lecturer (2023-2024) | The Pennsylvania State University, Assistant Teaching Professor of Philosophy (2024-) |
SOUTHGATE, Elizabeth "Libby"
| Papers Concerning Moral Disagreement | Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University (2023-) | ||
| TAKAOKA, Adriene | THE ETHICS OF GENDERED NAMING, THE MORAL DANGER OF LOVE AVOWALS, AND THE MORAL VALUE OF INSULTS | Cornell University, Knight Institute Lecturer (2023 - ) | ||
VESGA, Alejandro
| Talking Together: On the normative significance of our declarative practices | Epistemology, Philosophy of Language, Action Theory, Cognitive Science | Princeton University, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Cognitive Science of Values, Program in Cognitive Science (2023-2024) | University of Houston, Assistant Professor (TT) |
| WATSON, F. W. "Bill" | Explaining Legal Agreement and Disagreement | Philosophy of the Law | Harvard Law School, Climenko Fellow, (2022-2023) | University of Illinois College of Law, Assistant Professor (TT) |
| ZGURICH, Brianna | Spirited Motivations, Virtue, & the Good: The Interdependence of Spirited Motivations and Rational Beliefs in Plato's Moral Psychology | Platonic Dialogues, Ancient Greek and Asian Philosophy | Cornell University, Knight Institute Lecturer (2023-2024) | |
| ZHOU, Lyu | Phenomenal Time and the Metaphysics of the Mind | Philosophy of Time and Consciousness, Philosophy of Mind | Colgate University, Visiting Assistant Professor (2023-2024) | Cornell University, Philosophical Review Postdoctoral Fellow (2024-2025) |
| 2022 | ||||
| ESPOSITO, Alex V. | Deciding for Those Who Cannot Decide for Themselves: Exploring Future-Oriented Medical Decision-Making for Incompetent Patients | Cornell University, Visiting Lecturer (Fall 2022) | Loyola Marymount University, Assistant Director, University Honors Program | |
PASKELL, Matthew R.
| FREEDOM, ACTION, AND THE CONDITIONS FOR BLAME AND PRAISE | Cornell University, Visiting Lecturer (2022-2023) | Brandeis University, Lecturer in University Writing (2023-) | |
RAMIREZ, Amy L.
| Social, Racial (Dis)Location, and Morality | National University of Singapore (2022 - ) | ||
| SANGIULIANO, Anthony | Philosophical Papers on Antidiscrimination Law | Judicial Law Clerk, Supreme Court of Canada (2022 - 2024) | University of Warwick Law School (UK) (TT) | |
| 2021 | ||||
| PROIOS, John | Classifying Difference and Value: The Metaphysics of Kinds and the Search for the Good in Plato’s Philebus | Ancient Philosophy | University of Chicago, Assistant Professor (TT) | |
| DA VEE, Dean | Metaphysical Essays on Ontological Parsimony, Composition, and Truthmaking | Metaphysics, Epistemology | Cornell University, Philosophical Review Visiting Lecturer (2021-22) | California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Lecturer (2023 - ) |
| APPEL, Avi | Three Papers in Ethics | Ethics | Jane Street LLC, Business Infrastructure consultant | Senior Associate, Princeton Consultants |
| 2020 | ||||
FALLER, August | Essays on the Metaphysics of Laws, Properties, and Groups | Metaphysics | Cornell University, Philosophical Review Visiting Lecturer (2020-21) | University of the Fraser Valley, Assistant Professor (BC, Canada) (TT) starting January 1, 2025. (Until then, Visiting Asst Professor of Data Science at Bryn Mawr College) |
McINTOSH, Chad | Rational Foundationalism | |||
PATTERSON, Alicia E. | The Social Epistemology of Prejudice & Privacy: Towards New Frameworks | Postdoc at Georgetown University's Ethics Lab (2020 - 2023) | Assistant Professor, Oregon State University (TT) | |
| 2019 | ||||
| BRUNO, Francesca | The Quantity Debate in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe: A Question at the Intersection of Physics, Metaphysics, and Theology | Senior Site Director for 12+ Plus, Hill-Freedman World Academy (Philadelphia, PA) | Associate Director, Upward Bound Program, University of Pennsylvania | |
| CHI, Zeyu | Essays on Essence, Explanation and Kind-Membership | Postdoctoral Fellow at Peking University (2019-2021) | Polonsky Postdoctoral Fellow at The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute in Israel (2021-present)
| |
| ERDEL, John-Paul | The Stability of a Reasonable Political Order | |||
| FAIRBAIRN, Frances H. | Tangled Inferences: An Investigation of Inference Webs in Metaphysics, Epistemology, and the Philosophy of Science | Cornell University, Philosophical Review Visiting Lecturer (2019-20) | Assistant Professor, California State University, Bakersfield (2022-) | |
| FIELDING, David | Words and Doing Things: What Meanings Can Do and the Role of Motivational States in Determining Meaning | |||
| FOERSTER, Thomas | Epistemic Gaps and the Mind-Body Problem | Software Developer, Myplanet | ||
| MATHEW, Vivek | Metaphysical Essays - Modal Reductionism, Laws of Nature, and Modal Semantics | Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of Language, Cognitive Science, History of Philosophy | Executive Director, Chesterton House, Ithaca, NY | |
| MOBUS, Freya | Socratic therapy for the criminal, the glutton, and the coward. | Ancient Greek Philosophy | Loyola University of Chicago, Assistant Professor (TT) | |
| MUNGUIA, Lucia Maria | Speaker-Oriented Conversational Surprise and Conversational Expectations | Philosophy of Language, Feminist Philosophy, Bioethics | Franklin and Marshall College | College Counselor, BASIS Tucson North (AZ) |
| 2018 | ||||
| BREWER, Kimberly Marie | Studies in Kant's Doctrine of an Intuitive Intellect | Kant, Early Modern Philosophy, Metaphysics Feminist History of Philosophy | Indiana University Bloomington, Postdoctoral Fellow (2018-2022) | Cornell University, Visiting Assistant Professor (Spring 2023) |
| CONLEY, Brandon Allen | Ends, Norms, and Representations: Why ask "Why?" in Biology? | Philosophy of Science (Biology and Cognitive Science), Philosophy of Mind | Virginia Commonwealth University, Visiting Assistant Professor (2018-2019) | Washington & Lee University, Visiting Assistant Professor (2023 - ) |
| WON, Yuna | Semantic and Metaethical Puzzles about Normative Language | Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Logic, Metaphysics | Ithaca College, Visiting Assistant Professor (2018-19) | Hunter College, Doctoral Lecturer (2023-) |
| ZETTEL, David | Moral Evaluation in Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas | Adjunct, Mount Mary University (WI) | Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology (Milwaukee, WI), Assistant Professor of Philosophy (2023 - ) | |
| 2017 | ||||
| DUGGAN, Austin | Retributive Caution, Guiltworthiness, and the Rationality of Anger | Ethics, Philosophy of Action (Free Will and Moral Responsibility) | California State University, Long Beach, Lecturer | California State University, Long Beach, Lecturer |
| EPSTEIN, Eric | Truth and Belief: Case Studies in Conceptual Engineering | Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Logic, Logic | Penn State University, Lecturer, Fall 2017 | Data Scientist, Noblis (VA), October 2020 |
| HECKEL, Marta A. | Plato's Guide to Philosophical Preparedness: the Dangers of Philosophy and How to Handle Them | Classical Greek Philosophy | Cornell University, Philosophical Review Visiting Lecturer | Assistant Professor, University of Missouri at Columbia (TT) |
| MATHIE SMITH, Catherine Mary | Self-Respecting Animals: Three Papers on Kant's View of Human Nature and Morality | Kant, Ethics | Iona College, 3-year Visiting Assistant Professor (2017-2020) | Iona College (NY), Assistant Professor (TT) |
| MEYVIS, Nate | Knowledge, Simplicity, and Predication: Essays on Plato's "Theatetus" | Ancient Philosophy | Seven Bridges Genomics, Cambridge, MA | BlackHound LLC, owner/software consultant, Greater Boston, MA |
| SHERWIN, Emily | Temporally Extended Rationality and the Ethics of Belief | Professor of Law, Cornell University | ||
| SWARUP, Shruta | Servility, Democracy, and the Duty to Obey the Law | Ethics, Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Law | University of Virginia, Postdoctoral Fellowship | University of Toronto, Assistant Professor (TT) |
| 2016 | ||||
| BENDORF, Adam | Obligations and Blame at the Moral Epistemological Limit | Ethics, Epistemology | GEICO, Actuarial Associate | Senior Data Scientist, ForMotiv, Little Rock, Arkansas |
| HENSLEY, Ian | The Principles and Elements of Stoic Physics | Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy | Cornell University, Philosophical Review Visiting Lecturer | East Tennessee State University, Assistant Professor (TT) |
| KOVACS, David | Explanation, Dependence, and Ontology: Essays in Meta-Metaphysics | Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind, Epistemology | Bilkent University (Turkey), Assistant Professor (TT) | Tel Aviv University, Assistant Professor (TT) |
| ROBERTS, Clifford Masood | In Observance of the Everyday: The concept of Assent in Pyrrhonian Skepticism | Ancient Philosophy | University of Victoria (BC, Canada), Post-doctoral Fellowship | University of Victoria (BC, Canada) (TT) |
| TENG, Lu | Cognitive Penetrability and the Epistemological Significance of Etiology | Epistemology, Philosophy of Mind | NYU-Shanghai, Asst. Prof. (TT); deferred until 2017 to take Postdoc at University of Antwerp | Australian National University (TT equiv) |
| THOMSON, Jordan | Rich Man, Poor Man: Prosperity, Poverty, and the Significance of Need | Ethics, Political Philosophy | Franklin & Marshall College, Adjunct Assistant Professor | University of Toronto, Assistant Professor |
| VIGGIANO, Andrea | Servility, Democracy, and the Duty to Obey the Law | Ethics, Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Law | University of Leeds, Visiting Research Fellow | University of Leeds, Visiting Research Fellow |
| YE, Ru | Higher-Order Evidence: Puzzles and Solutions | Epistemology | Wuhan University (China), Associate Professor (TT) | Wuhan University (China), Associate Professor (TT) |
| 2015 | ||||
| MC KAY, Ian James | A New Account of Scientific Models and Approximation | Philosophy of Science | University of Pittsburgh, Postdoctoral Fellowship | Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, Lecturer |
| MURPHY, Daniel Scott | Qualiltativism: an Elucidation and Defense | Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion | Cornell University, Philosophical Review Visiting Lecturer | SUNY Cortland, Lecturer |
| ROWE, Eric | Deflationary Metaphysics | Metaphysics | Cornell University, Philosophical Review Visiting Lecturer | |
| 2014 | ||||
| BULTHUIS, Nathaniel | Walter Burley on the Metaphysics of the Proposition and Its Relation to Language and Thought | Medieval Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion | Cornell University, Philosophical Review Visiting Lecturer | St. Joseph's University (PA), Assistant Professor (TT) |
| BRUCE-ROBERTSON, Lawrence | The Project of Speculative Thinking in Hegel's Philosophy | Ancient, Early Modern, & Modern Philosophy | Grenfell Campus of Memorial University (CAN), Assistant Professor | Grenfell Campus of Memorial University (CAN), Assistant Professor, Humanities (TT) |
| MAHAFFEY, Stephen James | Inference, Thought Experiments, and Physicalism | Metaphysics, Epistemology | Cornell University, Philosophical Review Visiting Lecturer | Medical Researcher, University of Ottawa |
| SMITH, Subrena Elaine | Philosophy Evolving: Some Perils of Evolutionary Explanation | Philosophy of Biology, of Evolutionary Explanation of Science, Epistemology, Ethics, Metaphilosophy | University of New Hampshire, Assistant Professor (TT) | University of New Hampshire, Associate Professor |
| 2013 | ||||
| ABRAHAMS, Zachary | Semantic Approaches to Quotation, Metonymy and Commonly Used Verbs | Philosophy of Language | Cornell University, Philosophical Review Visiting Lecturer | Software Engineer, Nav, Inc. |
| BALTAZAR, Vincent Demetrius | Equal Opportunity and Self Respect | Political Philosophy | ||
| DEMIRCHYAN, Grigor | International Justice in An Age of Globalization | Political Philosophy | Corporate Attorney/Partner, Emergent Legal (CA) | |
| HOBBS, James Austin | Ought Claims and Blame in a Deterministic World | Ethics, Free Will | Monroe County Public Defender, Rochester, NY | |
| KORZUKHIN, Theodore | Indicative and Subjunctive Conditionals: A Neo-Stalnankerian Account | Philosophy of Language, Decision Theory | Kutztown University, Visiting Assistant Professor | Cornell University, Senior Lecturer |
| MAYER, Patrick | Responsibility, Identity, and Luck | Normative Ethics, Meta-Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy, Metaphilosophy | Lycoming College, Visiting Assistant Professor | Sienna Heights University (MI), Assistant Professor (TT) |
| MC LEAR, Colin | Essays on Kant on Perception and Cognition | History of Modern, Kant, Philosophy of Mind | University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Assistant Professor (TT) | University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Associate Professor |
| O’CONNOR, Scott | On the Principles of Nature: An Interpretation of Aristotle's Physics I.5-8 | Ancient Philosophy, Metaphysics | University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Instructor | New Jersey City University, Assistant Professor (TT) |
| VANCE, Jonna | Background Influences: Psychological Processes That Shape Perception, Emotion, and Morals | Epistemology, Philosophy of Mind, Moral Psychology | Northern Arizona University, Lecturer | Northern Arizona University, Associate Professor |
| 2012 | ||||
| ALWOOD, Andrew Holcomb | The Imperative Topic of Normative Language | Metaethics, Philosophy of Language | Cornell University, Philosophical Review Visiting Lecturer | Virginia Commonwealth University, Assistant Professor (TT) |
| CHUNG, Hun | Unleashing the Leviathan: Against Common Interpretations and a Contemporary Decision-Theoretic Reconstructio of Hobbes's Moral and Political Philosophy | Ethics, Political Philosophy, History of Political Thought | University of Rochester, Department of Political Science, Second Ph.D. program | Waseda University, Tokyo, Associate Professor |
| LU, Rachel Smith | Virtue in Bonaventurean Ethics | Medieval Philosophy, Ethics | University of St. Thomas, Instructor | University of St. Thomas, Instructor |
| WAIDLER, Katharyn Denise | Aquinas on Love | Medieval Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy, Ethics | Wheaton College, Assistant Professor (TT) | Sales Associate, REI, Boulder, CO |
| 2011 | ||||
| INGLIS, Kristen A | Aristotle on the Virtues of Slaves, Women, and Children | Ancient Philosophy, Ethics | University of Pittsburgh, Assistant Professor (TT) | Academic Manager, Prison Education Program, Wesleyan University, CT |
| JEZZI, Nathaniel Nelson | Moral Objectivity, Autonomy, and Reasons: The Constructivist Challenge to Realism | Ethics, Ancient Philosophy, Political Philosophy | University of Aberdeen, Teaching Fellow | Lafayette College, Visiting Assistant Professor / Research Associate |
| KOLTONSKI, Daniel A | Political Obligation and Democratic Community: An Account of the Democratic Citizen’s Duty to Uphold the Law | Political Philosophy, Ethics, Philosophy of Law, Applied Ethics and Continental Social Theory | Haverford College, Instructor | University of Delaware, Assistant Professor (TT) |
| KRISHNAMURTHY, Meena | Democracy in Global Institutions | Social and Political Philosophy, Ethics | Dalhousie University, Postdoctoral Fellow | University of Michigan, Assistant Professor (TT) |
| KYLE, Brent Granville | Knowledge as a Thick Concept: New Light on the Gettier and Value Problems | Ethics and Epistemology | University of New Brunswick, Instructor | US Air Force Academy, Assistant Professor (TT equivalent) |
| PENNER, Sidney | Francisco Suarez on Acting for the Sake of the Ultimate End | History of Philosophy, Ethics and Metaethics, Philosophy of Religion | University of Oxford, Merton College, Junior Research Fellow | Asbury University (KY), Adjunct Lecturer |
| ROSENTHAL, Saul Gordon | Plato’s Explanatory Predication | Ancient Philosophy, Plato’s Metaphysics and Epistemology | University of Pennsylvania, Postdoctoral Fellow | University of Pennsylvania, Lecturer |
| YARBROUGH III, Joseph William | Philip the Chancellor, Bonaventure of Bognoregio, and Thomas Aquinas on the Eternity of the World | Ancient Philosophy | Ave Maria University (FL), Assistant Professor (TT) | Ave Maria University (FL), Classics and Philosophy Assistant Professor (TT) |
| 2010 | ||||
| KLEIN, Jacob Samuel | Nature and Reason in Stoic Ethics | Ancient Philosophy, Metaethics, Ethics | Colgate University, Assistant Professor (TT) | Colgate University, Associate Professor (w/ tenure) |
| STAPLETON, Sean Jason | Hard Incompatibilist Challenges to Morality and Autonomy | Ethics, Free Will | Cornell University, Philosophical Review Visiting Lecturer | Blooomsburg University (PA), Visiting Assistant Professor |
| STREETT, Sara Kristen | State Sovereignty and the Contemporary Global Economy | Political Philosophy, Ethics | Vassar College, Lecturer | Marist College, Adjunct Professor of Philosophy |
| 2009 | ||||
| FEDYK, Mark | The Psychology and Epistemology of (Mostly Moral) Intuition | Philosophy of Biology, Philosophy of Psychology, Value Theory, Epistemology | Mount Allison University, Assistant Professor (TT) | Mount Allison University, Associate Professor (w/ tenure) |
| LIEBESMAN, David | The Nature of Predication | Philosophy of Language, Metaphysics | Boston University, Assistant Professor | University of Calgary, Associate Professor (w/ tenure) |
| SAUCEDO CEBALLOS, Raul | Things, Places, and Possibilities: Metaphysical Essays | Metaphysics, Philosophical Logic | Australian National University, Research Fellow | University of Colorado, Boulder, Assistant Professor (TT) |