Philosophy Alumni - what they do after graduating from IWU

Philosophy graduates are not limited to careers as college level instructors or lawyers. Recent alumni include the regional director of the Drug Enforcement Agency in St. Louis, an editor for a publishing firm in Florida and a director of an environmental program in Chicago. The philosophy faculty work closely with you in helping you decide what career to pursue.

Philosophy majors have been accepted into Ph.D. programs at Rutgers, Harvard, DePaul, Northwestern, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Stanford, Indiana University, Notre Dame, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and University of California.

Jasmine Z. ('12) is earning a medical degree from Duke University.

Megan W. ('11), a double major in Philosophy and Political Science, was awarded the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, a $25,000 grant to complete post-graduate studies in another country. After graduating in May 2011, Megan left in August for South Africa to continue her education in peace and conflict studies at the University of Cape Town, focusing on women, their role in conflict and the effects of conflict. Megan's plans include volunteering at shelters for abused and homeless women.

Saha G. ('10) "I'm now a 2L in law school at the University of Iowa. Before coming to law school, I worked briefly in admissions at Oakton Community College. Since starting law school, I have worked on U-Visas and VAWA petitions to help immigrant victims of domestic violence, and have been an extern to the Hon. Ruben Castillo of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. I am currently working for Associate District Judge Deborah Minot of the 6th Judicial District of the State of Iowa, and as a research assistant to Professor Adrien Wing. This summer, I have a summer associateship at Chapman and Culter, LLP."

Victoria J. ('09) currently works in the IWU Admissions Office as an Admissions Counselor.

Nick T. ('07) is completing a Ph.D. in physics at Indiana University.

Adam S. ('07) graduated from IWU, worked at several jobs (three different ones simultaneously), then decided to attend Stanford University and pursue a Ph.D. in Philosophy.

Lisa H. ('05) after graduating with a master's in philosophy from the University of Minnesota, Lisa moved to Berkeley, California, to work as a director of religious education for a synagogue.

Christopher E. ('04) having completed law school, now works as a litigator at State Farm Insurance Company.

Marie O. ('01) moved to Los Angeles after working at a radio station in Illinois. Marie's day job is at Universal Studios as a Studio Tour Guide. She is also a freelance filmmaker and has been working in the camera department. She is the Director of Photography for the movie We Had This Band that is filming in Bloomington/Normal summer 2013.

Adam G. ('01) currently is an analyst in the Applied Analytics group at Nike in Beaverton, Oregon. Adam's group builds predictive models on marketing data. Before Nike he worked in a similar role for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

Bradley R. ('99) after graduating from IWU he entered the Ph.D. program in philosophy at the University of Maryland at College Park and finished in '05. Brad is now an Associate Professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. "The philosophy courses I took at IWU were terrific preparation for graduate school."

Clifford N. ('97) graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 2000, clerked for a federal judge in Denver, CO, decided to take a break and ride his bicycle from Denver to San Diego to Miami, FL. After this life changing trip, he had different goals. He took the bar exam in 2004, passed it and was sworn into practice in IL. Cliff then entered seminary school at Trinity International University earning a Master's in Divinity in 2009. He interned at a non-profit legal aid clinic in Chicago (Cabrini Green Legal Aid). Cliff helped start a non-profit legal center for youth (Lawndale Christian Legal Center, www.LCLC.net) where he is the lead attorney and executive director. According to Cliff,  "the analytical skills I developed during my philosophy classes at IWU still guide me to this day."

Daniel K. ('97) "I ended up taking a job at Purdue's philosophy department, where I got tenured spring 2012. IWU's philosophy department got it all started - it got me into the Tufts MA program, which got me into the Rutgers PhD program, which got me to the Purdue department."

Brandon W. ('96) "I graduated with a double major in Philosophy and Business Administration. I spent my third year of undergraduate studies at St. Peter's College of Oxford University with the help of the venerable, late Dr. Minor Myers. I look back contentedly at my years at IWU, writing micro essays for Dr. Brown and particularly the ethics classes. I have owned a web site development and hosting company since 1999. Two years ago I started an additional company which operates a gardening store, agricultural tourism farm and online gardening shop. So I guess you would say I'm a philosophy major than went on to be an entrepreneur."

Peter A. ('94) "I've been pretty busy since leaving IWU. Philosophically, I earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and am currently a professor in Media Studies at the New School in New York."

Maureen R. ('91) was a double major (Philosophy/Sociology) graduated from Northwestern Law School in 2000. She works in Chicago as an attorney specializing in pharmaceutical patent law. Maureen believes that her IWU education helped prepare her for graduate school and the work place by teaching her how to think and operate in a work environment and how to think critically and analyze difficult situations.

We would like to hear from alumni. If you would like to let us know what you have been up to,  please write to us at philos@iwu.edu.