What Do A&M Philosophy Majors Do ... With Their Lives?
The best way to answer that question is with some facts. Here are some very
brief profiles of several former philosophy majors at Texas A&M to
give you an idea of the wide variety of careers in which they have been
successful. We also have some of the things
former majors say about the importance of their education in philosophy
to their careers and their lives.
.
The Legal Profession
The connection between the study of philosophy and the legal profession
is very old and established (the Roman orator Cicero found that his study
of philosophy was highly valuable to him in his legal career, for instance).
Many of our undergraduate majors have gone on to successful careers in
the legal profession.
- Corey C. Brown, '92, is a corporate securities attorney in
Houston.
- David Donaldson,
Jr., '74, is a founding partner of the Austin law firm of George, Donaldson & Ford.
- Lisa D'Souza, '93, received her J. D. from
Harvard Law in '96, and is currently clerking in Corpus Christi.
- D'Andra Hankinson, '86, is practicing employment law in
Arlington, TX.
- William E. Hartsfield, '73, is a shareholder in the law
firm of Hamilton & Hartsfield in Dallas. He specializes
principally in employment matters and also serves as a mediator and
arbitrator.
- Michael Hatfield, '91, is an attorney in the
Personal Planning Department at
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York. He is also
an active member
of the Brooklyn Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends.
-
Michele Mobley,
'87, is an Estate Planning Attorney at
Jenkens & Gilchrist in
Austin.
- Cheryl Mutschler, '88, is a Paralegal with the firm of Thompson & Knight, P.C. in
Austin.
- Toni Nowlin, '71, is a Nurse Paralegal at Mallia & Jacobs, a Houston
law firm specializing in medical malpractice litigation.
- John Paul, '89, practices Law here in Bryan, and is literate in
six languages.
- Rob Shepherd, '86, is a poet working as an
attorney in Austin.
- Richard Storm, Jr., '87, is an attorney with
Carabin, Shaw, and Johnson in San Antonio.
- Mark Stromberg, '83, is an attorney
in complex business litigation
with Shields,
Britton & Fraser in North Dallas.
- John O. Tyler, '75, is a partner of Tyler & Das in Houston,
a firm specializing in litigation.
- Robert Walker, '90, passed the bar in 1996, and plans to
practice law part-time, while continuing as a Power Marketer for Delhi Energy Services,
Inc.
Business
It may surprise you to know that philosophy undergraduates do very
well when they decide to pursue business careers. They score highly
on the GMAT; more important, the ability to understand complex problems
and arguments serves them well in the "real world".
- Tommy Attaway, '83, is now a Project Management
Specialist for Perot Systems
Corporation in Basel, Switzerland.
- Jeana L. Chicosky,
'91, is Vice President of a printing company in Houston.
- Kim Feazle, '78, is the Managing Director for the public
relations agency of Hill
& Knowlton in Houston
- Jerry Gomez, '74, is Vice President of Marketing and
Sales for M.A.P.A. Inc. in San Antonio.
- Scott McGilberry, '93, is currently employed by Arthur Andersen
LLP as an International Trade-Customs Consultant.
- Cecil Nutall,
'77, is an Allstate
Insurance Agent in Fort Worth.
- Tony Scow, '89, still wants to be a shepherd, but in the
meantime he's worked for Dun & Bradstreet, restored old houses,
had a son, and currently works as an estimator and project manager for
a construction company.
- Earl Seitz, '86, now works as an Account Operator Manager for
Sodexho USA.
University Professors and Educators
Obviously, some philosophy majors must go on to become philosophy
professors; otherwise, who would teach the other philosophy majors? Our
own undergraduates have also followed university teaching careers in other
fields as well.
- Anthony David, '89, is a full-time adjunct instructor at the
Philosophy department at
Blinn College in
Bryan.
- Anne Cespedes, '82, is a librarian at an elementary
school in Brownsville, TX.
- Craig Hanks, '83, is Associate Professor of Philosophy at
the University of Alabama, Huntsville.
- Stephen Medvic, '90,
is an Assistant Professor of
Political Science at Old Dominion University.
- Greg
Moses, '81, is an Assistant Professor of philosophy at
Marist College,
where he recently won the 1998 "Faculty of the Year" award. His book,
Revolution
of Conscience: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Philosophy of
Nonviolence, was recently published by
Guilford Press.
- Samuel Pry, '88, is an adjunct instructor of Philosophy at
Blinn College.
-
Wayne
Riggs, '90, is a professor of Philosophy at the University of Oklahoma,
and is married to Karen Antell, '89.
- Jerry Rosiek, is an Assistant Professor of
Educational Research at the University of Alabama.
- Scott
Steele, '92, is a member of the Department of Economics at the
University
of Galway, in Ireland.
-
Scott Sturgeon, , is a member of the Philosophy Faculty of
Birkbeck College, University of London.
- Michael Wagner, '74, chairs the Department of Philosophy at the
University of San Diego.
- Becky White, ,
is Associate Professor of Philosophy at California
State University, Chico.
Health Professions
- Linda D. Albritton, '78, is a consultant with the Pacific
Regional Program Office
(http://prpo.tamc.amedd.army.mil/)
researching/developing/validating emerging telemedicine technologies
at Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, HI.
- Curt Collier, '83, owns an Audiology practice in Corpus Christi
and commutes weekly for an internship with an Ethical Cultural
Congregation in St. Louis.
- Melissa Capello, '87, has lived in the Dallas/Fort Worth area
for the past ten years, where she has held a variety of medical
management positions. She is currently an administrator of an
outpatient orthopedic clinic. She has also served as executive
director of the local board of directors for the American Heart
Association for eight years.
- Louis J. Needleman, '87, is an emergency room physician in
Corpus Christi
- Courtney Noell, '91, received her M.D. in 1995 and is now a
second-year resident in Otolaryngology in Dallas through UT
Southwestern Medical School
Writers
It's probably not surprising that philosophy majors sometimes pursue
careers in writing.
- Karen Antell, '89, does some free-lance writing and editing,
along with being a full-time mom. She is married to Wayne Riggs,
'90.
Computers
Philosophy, and especially logic, has a natural connection with computers.
Some of our undergraduates have gone on to careers in this field.
- Robert Allen, '69, is teaching AP Computer Science and
Programming in
Tennessee.
- Jeff Graeber, '84, is a web site developer for
BiznizWeb, Inc., in The
Woodlands. He also writes in his spare time.
- Michael Maham, '92, works for
TeraQuest Metrics in Austin as an
analyst and programmer.
- Hugh McCann, Jr., '91, is a microcomputer specialist at the University of Texas.
- Briggs Myrick, '77, is a computer professional at Texas
A&M.
- Brad Rickelman,'88,
completed an M.A. in Philosophy here at Texas
A&M. He then spent three years teaching English in Japan. Currently he is
doing technical support and technical writing for ESP, a local computer company
in Stillwater, OK. He hopes to eventually be able to return to Philosophy and
complete his Ph.D.
- Beau Sharbrough,
'76, runs a computer consulting business in Grapevine, TX.
- D. Shawn Stevens, '86, is Network Installation Supervisor for
Owen
Healthcare, Inc., and as a volunteer maintains a website for the
Texas Democratic
Party.
Military
Philosophers in the military? Actually, there's more of a tradition
of this sort than you might think. Marcus Aurelius, for instance, was
not only a philosopher but also a military leader (and a Roman emperor).
And remember that Descartes even served some time as a mercenary soldier.
- Marc Benedict, '69, retired from the Air Force in 1992, and
shortly afterwards returned to Tinker AFB in Oklahoma as a civilian
instructor for firearms qualification.
- Randy Durham, '71,
retired from the U.S. Air Force as a highly decorated Lieutenant Colonel, and
is currently an independent consultant to businesses working with the
military.
- Brian Riley, '95, is flying jets in Navy flight training.
Entrepreneurs
Being a successful entrepreneur requires a rare combination of abilities
and personality traits, together with a little bit of luck. Whether there's
any education that can give you all this is questionable. However, some of
our majors have found that philosophy harmonizes with their entrepreneurial
careers.
- Paul T. Hasse, '76, is now (among other enterprises) CEO
of CAT Limited,
a property catastrophe insurer based in Bermuda
which he started in 1993 (it now has $500 million in capital). He
lives in Bermuda with his wife and three children.
- Emil Ogden, '53 started out as a professional baseball
player and then switched to the petroleum industry, where he had
(and continues to have) a highly successful career as an independent
oil producer. He returned to A&M
to finish a B.A. in Philosophy (1987). Apart from continuing to
drill for oil, he has of late produced a children's television
show and been recognized as a Distinguished Graduate of
the College of Liberal Arts. For philosophical reasons, he also serves
as a Deputy Sheriff in his spare time.
Clergy
Philosophy is traditionally considered a good background for a career
in religious ministry.
- Andrew Dunks, '84, is an Episcopal minister in San
Antonio.
- Steven Lord, '86, received his Master of
Divinity Degree from the University of Chicago in June 1997. He has
been appointed Assistant Dean of Disciples Divinity House at the
University of Chicago and Associate in Ministry at Rockefeller
Chapel.
- William T. Hamilton, '72, is a full-time chaplain for the Louisiana
Conference of the United Methodist Church Rev. Hamilton also teaches
philosophy and history part-time at Southeastern Louisiana
University
- Jay Hutchens, '87, graduated with an M.Div. from
Memphis
Theological Seminary. He is currently an Associate Minister at
Lindenwood
Christian Church in Memphis, TN, and was recently appointed to serve
on the Council of
Christian Unity Board of the Disciples of Christ.
- Pat Roach, '92, is pursuing a Master of Divinity at
Westminster Theological Seminary in
Philadelphia.
Furthering Their Education
Many philosophy undergraduates continue their educations at the graduate
level before beginning their careers.
- Dwight Barry, '92, is pursuing a Ph.D. in Environmental
Science at the University of North
Texas.
- Leon U. Galindo, 91, is currently attending the School
for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He
previously spent three years in Bolivia studying philosophy and
underdeveloped countries.
- Tom Hilde, '85, is a Ph.D. student in the philosophy
department at Pennsylvania State
University.
- David M. Lewis, '96, is in the middle of his second year
of graduate work in philosophy at Notre Dame.
- Scott Lloyd, '89, received an MA in philosophy from Ohio State University. He married
Dr. Hugh McCann's daughter,
- Stephanie McCann, '89,
who is finishing up her dissertation in Classics at
Ohio State and working for the Ohio State Board of Regents.
- Robert Thorpe, '96, is a law student at Texas Tech
University.
- Steven Windhager,
'92, is working on his Ph.D. in Environmental Science from
the University of North
Texas. He hopes to use this degree to help make policy makers
more aware of environmental ethics.
- Deborah Yates, '95, is still here at A&M, now working on
her MA in English.