Over 1200 people at Oregon State University and thousands more around the world, connected to Corvallis via satellite down-links and an Internet Web-cast, listened to seven internationally renowned thinkers describe their personal views of God and the Sacred. The weekend conference, “God at 2000,” featured retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu, recipient of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, Lawrence Kushner, Joan Chittister, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Diana Eck, Karen Armstrong, and our own Marcus Borg.
Marc organized the event, with the extraordinarily able assistance of Dr. Judy Ringle and a team of students. The conference drew international attention to OSU, including lengthy coverage in the Christian Science Monitor, and an overwhelming response from participants, one of whom called the conference “the most intellectually stimulating and spiritually nourishing event I have ever attended.” Another said, “I have been to many conferences, but never one so utterly powerful.”
The Conference was the climax of the IDEAS MATTER Lectures—a six week series of Tuesday afternoon lectures during the fall term. Lecturers included Marcus Borg, Unitarian minister Jill McAllister, Rabbi Larry Halpern, Zen roshi Jan Bays, campus minister Isaiah Jones, former OSU Chair of Religious Studies Nicholas Yonker, and Kathleen Dean Moore, a “token confused person.”
This year, the Department has more students than ever before—85 majors, 46 minors, 30 students enrolled in the Applied Ethics Certificate Program, 25 MAIS students. In 105 classes, we taught 4130 students, 26% of OSU’s student body
“Life Beginnings, Life Endings” was the topic for OSU’s first-ever bioethics conference organized by students, for students. Led by Annelisa Smith, an undergraduate philosophy and biology student, and sponsored by the Program for Ethics, Science, and the Environment, the conference drew 200 students from universities across the Pacific Northwest. Students gathered in the MU on a rainy weekend to listen to lectures from national figures and to debate in small groups questions about current ethical issues in biotechnology, genetics, and scientific integrity.
Seventy-five of the students were from OSU, students nominated by their professors in a wide variety of majors, from pre-med to philosophy to zoology; the remaining students came from campuses in Washington, Oregon, and California. Faculty members from many departments on campus served as preceptors and discussion-leaders for interdisciplinary discussions that were wide-ranging, high-energy, and sophisticated. Courtney Campbell was the faculty organizer for the event, which had support from the Research Office at OSU.
Professor Marc Borg was featured on ABC’s “Prime Time with Peter Jennings” in June The two-hour special examined Jesus as a historical figure, asking many of the basic questions surrounding his life: his unusual birth, his role in political and social affairs, and his death. Borg says that he “expects it will be fairly controversial,” but controversy is nothing new in Marc’s professional life.The appearance on national TV caps a year in which Marcus appeared often on the national and international stage, speaking, among other places, at the Chautauqua Institute in New York, the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and the Episcopal Triennial Conference in St. Andrews, Scotland.
The Department’s Program for Ethics, Science, and the Environment (PESE) co-sponsored an OSU lecture by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., chief prosecuting attorney for the Hudson Riverkeepers and the son of the late U.S. Attorney General, Robert F. Kennedy. In an informative, rapid-fire speech often interrupted by applause and cheers, Kennedy blasted polluters and politicians who despoil the health and beauty of the waterways “we the people” hold in common. The speech drew an enthusiastic overflow crowd of more than 1200 people, including students, townspeople, and riverfolk who traveled from all parts of the state. One student wrote that the speech was “the greatest investment of time that I have spent since being an OSU student.” The program was organized by Kathleen Moore, Chair of the McCall Lecture Committee and the acting chair of PESE, and Brent Steel, Political Science, with organizational assistance from Karen Russ.
When the members of the American Society for Aesthetics met on the California coast in March, they enjoyed a program organized by Flo Leibowitz. As the Program Chair and Conference Coordinator, Flo had responsibility for setting up a program of more than twenty papers that drew participants from universities as far away as Israel, Maine, and New York. The Conference featured an authors’ event on the aesthetics of gardens, and special sessions on subjects such as “Comedy and Despair in Film” and “Environmental Aesthetics.”
Peter List will become Chair of the Philosophy Department on August 1, when Kathleen Moore ends her second term as department chair. This will be Peter’s second service as Chair, since he held the position for 12 years, from 1975 to 1979 and 1984 to 1992. Since that time, Peter has established a national reputation as a scholar in environmental ethics, publishing two anthologies, contributing to the national inquiry into the relation between social values and forest policy, and attracting research support from the National Science Foundation. He has also developed several interdisciplinary courses on ethics and natural resource use. Kathy is looking forward with strong feelings of relief and excitement to turning her full attention to teaching and writing, after serving as department chair for eight years.
Under the leadership of Bill Uzgalis and Jon Dorbolo, the west-coast conference on Computers and Philosophy will be held at OSU for the next three years. Bill and Jon are national leaders in the new field of computational philosophy, serving as Associate Editor and Editor, respectively, of the American Philosophical Association’s Newsletter on Philosophy and Computers. The 2000 conference will feature a lecture by James Moor, of Dartmouth College, who recently ran a ‘Turing Test’ to test Alan Turing’s 1950 prediction that by the year 2000, computer programs will have become so sophisticated that, in conversations over the computer screen, humans will not be able to tell whether they are communicating with a machine or a human mind. The computers, by the way, flunked.
The conference speakers will contribute to the department’s IDEAS MATTER Lecture Series for 2000-2001, which has taken as its “great idea” the concept of mind. The Lecture Series, called “Mind, Monkeys, and Machines,” will be a year-long event with lectures on animal consciousness, the possibility of reasoning machines, and the nature of human thought.
The faculty and students are always moved by the generosity of alumni and friends who give gifts to continue and enhance the work of the department. Each gift of financial support also gives the gift of moral support, and we are buoyed by the goodwill of donors. When the gift comes from an emeritus professor, or a former student, or a professor, we feel especially affirmed that those who know our work the best are the people most willing to support it. But this year’s “God at 2000” conference brought an especially moving donation from a person who had been a stranger: A self-described “65-year old chicken farmer” donated the wages from one day’s worth of eggs laid by her chickens — $25. We are grateful for such gifts.
The Philosophy Department has a long-standing, hard-earned reputation for excellence in teaching and service, built on contributions from all the members of the Department. This year, several faculty were singled out for special mention. Courtney Campbell won a “Top Professor Award” from Mortar Board. This award is especially coveted, because it comes from the students. Students made an especially moving gift to “show Courtney how much we love him,” by collecting baskets full of toys, books, and clothing to present to Courtney’s family, whose home was destroyed this year by fire.
Lani Roberts and Kathleen Moore were reappointed as Master Teachers in the College of Liberal Arts, in recognition of their dedication to students and to creative pedagogy. In addition, Lani was appointed as a Faculty Affiliate in the Residential Life Program. And Kathy was awarded the 1999 College of Liberal Arts C. Warren Hovland Service Award, an award that honors our mentor and colleague, Warren Hovland.
The Philosophy Department chose two faculty members for its Special Services Awards, presented at the picnic this year. One award honored Flo Leibowitz, for her work on the proposal for a new Master’s of Arts in Applied Ethics. The other award honored Marcus Borg, along with a group of people fondly known as ‘the God Squad’—organizers of the “God at 2000” conference, Judy Ringle, Tom Eckart, Patrick Williams, Leah Hall, Basye Holland-Shuey, and Erica Porter.
Tim Hosoi, a beloved professor who taught non-western religion courses for more than 30 years, retired on the last day of the century, December 31, 1999. Students will miss his deep understanding of Asian worldviews and language, his care and expertise as an advisor, and especially his sense of humor. Now that he has some free time, Tim plans to work in his flower garden.
After a national search, the faculty chose Dr. James Blumenthal as its newest professor. A scholar of Buddhism from the University of Wisconsin, Jim will teach courses in non-western thought and develop new courses on Buddhist thought and action. His first new course will be “Worldviews and Social Justice,” a complement to our popular course, “Worldviews and Environmental Values,” which Jim also teaches. Fluent in Tibetan and Nepali, Jim has done field work in Tibetan refugee communities in India and Nepal. Jim brings also a background in social action, having worked for several years for Greenpeace. This fall, Jim will return to India and Nepal for follow-up work among Buddhist ex-Untouchables.
Thanks to the enthusiasm and gifts of an anonymous donor, the Philosophy Department is about to embark on an exciting new project that brings together ideas, nature, and the written word.Called the “Spring Creek Project,”the program is dedicated to the creative exploration of views, values, and ideas that define our relationship with the natural world.The project is intended to further public awareness, understanding, and appreciation of our physical, emotional, and spiritual connection with that world by bringing a diversity of thought and personal experience together with the expressive power of the literary arts.
Under the direction of Kathleen Moore, the Spring Creek Project will begin a five-year program that will involve students, townspeople, faculty, and visiting writers in creative new interdisciplinary programs that might include field courses, writers-in-residence, community forums, and workshops
SreyRam Kuy graduated from OSU this year, with majors in both Philosophy and Microbiology and minors in Chemistry and Pre-medicine. Her goal is to be a teacher, scholar, and healer—to practice medicine among the neediest members of the community, and at the same time to lead reforms in health care policy for the poor. This summer, she was chosen to be one of only ten Barbara Jordan Congressional Scholars who will work on health care policy in Washington, D.C.
Moving to Corvallis from refugee camps in Cambodia, SreyRam was the valedictorian of her class at Crescent Valley High School. She received a scholarship to Harvard, but choose to stay closer to home at OSU, since her father was terminally ill. “It was one of the best decisions I’ve made,” SreyRam says. “I feel that I’ll be leaving OSU with a very strong academic background. However, it’s been more than just the academic education. The faculty are the main reason why I say attending OSU has been one of the best decisions I’ve made. . . . They have been wonderful teachers, caring advisers, inspiring mentors, and also friends.” A writer who has published poetry and scientific articles, a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, a candidate for the Rhodes Scholarship, SreyRam is the recipient of the University’s highest awards, including the Jo Anne Trow Woman of Distinction Award in 1999 and a 1999 Outstanding Student in the College of Liberal Arts.
It’s always difficult to say good-by to our graduating seniors, but faculty are consoled by the excitement of the students, to be going on to new adventures. Kerry Ann Smith, this year’s winner of the Matchette Prize for Outstanding Student in Philosophy, will begin law studies at the University of Oregon next fall. Jeff Sharpless, a grad student in Philosophy, will teach ethics at Southern Oregon State University. Patrick Williams will be returning, this time as a graduate student, studying philosophy, literature, and religion. Jack Jones also will return as an MAIS student, focusing on philosophy and anthropology. Tom Eckart will be attending grad school to study library sciences. Jennifer Pinkerton wants to work, write, and take university courses as a postbacc after graduating. Jason Cook will enter the work world with an eye toward becoming a high school teacher. Dale Yee is off to grad school hoping to land an upper-level human resources job in the future.