UNC Asheville Hosts Southern Appalachian Undergraduate Philosophy Conference Feb. 7-8

UNC Asheville will host its 21st annual Southern Appalachian Undergraduate Philosophy Conference, Feb. 7-8, 2020, with presentations on a variety of topics by 12 undergraduate students whose papers were selected by a process of blind review. Conference highlights will be keynote lectures by the distinguished faculty judges. The conference takes place in Karpen Hall, in the Laurel Forum, and conference presentations are free and open to everyone.

Daniela Vallega-Neu, professor and head of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Oregon, will present the first keynote talk, The Dis-Appearance of Soul, at 5:40 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 7.

The closing keynote talk, The Second Person, will be delivered at 4:10 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 8, by Jay L. Garfield, Doris Silber Professor in the Humanities and professor of philosophy, logic, and Buddhist studies at Smith College.

UNC Asheville Professor of Philosophy Duane Davis, conference organizer, will provide opening remarks at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning, and Keya Maitra, UNC Asheville Howerton Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy, will moderate the conference closing session including the final keynote and presentation of student awards.

Student presentations on Friday, Feb. 7, will take place from 3:30-5:30 p.m., featuring Brett Blitch of East Tennessee State University and Josiah Taylor of Covenant College. Beginning at 9:15 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 8, student presenters will be Andrew Swann of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Steven Hernandez of Rutgers University; Lane R. Hepburn and Virginia P. Weaver of UNC Asheville; Henri Lowe, David Kraus, Noah McKay and Alec R. Gonzalez Whitsell of Covenant College; and Matthew Miyagi Tuten of Western Carolina University. The full schedule can be found at https://philosophy.unca.edu/engage/events-conferences/

The conference is presented by UNC Asheville’s Department of Philosophy with support from the student Philosophy Club, Belk Distinguished Professor of Humanities, the Deryl Howard Memorial Fund, the Thomas Howerton Distinguished Professorship, the NEH Distinguished Professorship, the Office of the Chancellor, and the Office of the Dean of Humanities.

For more information, contact the UNC Asheville Department of Philosophy, 828.251.6413.

Visitor Parking on the UNC Asheville Campus – The closest lot to Karpen Hall is P17 which is available for visitors and conference attendees. For parking Friday afternoon, please go online in advance to obtain a parking permit. Here is a link to the campus map. On Saturday, no permits are needed and visitors may also park in faculty/staff and non-resident lots. Visitors are not permitted to park in resident student lots at any time.  

Click here for building accessibility information.

Accessibility Contact: Carrie Plaxco (828.251.6227) or cplaxco@unca.edu