AAPT Members American Association of Philosophy Teachers

The Dallas Observer has a profile of 'Dessa', a local hip-hop star who majored in Philosophy:

Q&A: Dessa Talks Philosophy, The Lack of Females in Hip-Hop and Singing Versus Shouting - Dallas Music - DC9 At Night

I would venture to say that I may be the only female hip-hop artist with a degree in philosophy, though.

Just in case you missed it (and how could you?), Haverford College found a lost letter from Descartes to Mersenne, and is returning it to the Institut de France.

It's a useful story if you're teaching Descartes right now, but here's the bombshells: (a) The president of Haverford was a Philosophy major and (b) a Haverford student wrote a Thesis on this back in 1979, and appears to be the only one ever to have done academic work on the letter!

Stolen René Descartes Letter Is Being Returned to Its French Home - NYTimes.com

As soon as Haverford’s president, Stephen G. Emerson, understood the letter’s history, he contacted the Institut de France (coincidentally on Feb. 11, the anniversary of Descartes’ death in 1650) and offered to return the item. “I was frankly shocked because I didn’t know we had the letter at all,” said Mr. Emerson, who was a philosophy major in college. “But it’s really not ours.”

Scholars have known of the letter’s existence for more than 300 years, but not its contents. Apparently the only person who had really studied it was a Haverford undergraduate who spent a semester writing a paper about the letter in 1979. (Mr. Bos called the paper “a truly fine piece of work.”)

nrc.nl - International - Unknown letter from Descartes found  read more »

A profile from his hometown newspaper: "The Hour"
Westport native finds fame with 'Paranormal' - Norwalk News - The Hour - Norwalk's Newspaper

Apparently, OregonLive.com thinks so:
Sean Canfield, the Pac-10's philospher quarterback, ending Oregon State career on a high note | The Beavers Beat - OregonLive.com

George Soros, famous for being a Philosophy major - er, um, incredibly successful money manager - has published a lecture reflecting on Philosophy and economic theory in the Financial Times. While it contains actual claims, including a reference to what Brain Science can teach us about critical thinking, I found this biographical bit esp. relevant:

FT.com / In depth - Soros: General Theory of Reflexivity

While I was reading Popper I was also studying economic theory and I was struck by the contradiction between Popper’s emphasis on imperfect understanding and the theory of perfect competition in economics which postulated perfect knowledge. This led me to start questioning the assumptions of economic theory.

I taught PhilScience last Spring, and the discussion turned a couple of times to the financial crisis. My understanding of economics is, well, null. So I couldn't really answer the students questions with anything approaching competence. This essay / lecture might come in handy in future discussions, or could be used as a reading in its own right.

A tiny article at the student newspaper of Clarkson University contained this little nugget:

LeVasseur rocks - Entertainment

LeVasseur was a philosophy major many years ago and now he has developed into a singer

I don't know anything about the music, but he's worth adding to the list.

He's a longshot for the democratic primary, but councilman Tony Avella not only studied Philosophy as an undergrad, but believes more philosophers should have a role in public life (or, well, er... that's using poetic license in the paraphrase of a soundbite). Here's the quote:

'Ethics' is on Tony Avella's front burner

"Yes, with philosophy as a minor," Avella said. "I think more elected officials should have a real basis in philosophy and ethics."

Tiffany Porier, an elementary school teacher in Surrey (in Canada, not the UK) who majored in Philosophy at UVictoria, has published a children's book on Philosophy! Her article promoting the idea is hosted at 'TheTyee.ca':
The Tyee — How to Foster Young Philosophers
And the book, called Q is for Question: An ABC of Philosophy is promoted here: http://www.qisforquestion.com/Q_is_for_Question/Welcome.html

Gabbi Seltzer, Philosophy and History double major at VaTech has a column in the student paper defending liberal education. The argument is essentially from the 'broad world view' that results from a liberal education, but still--it's good to see undergraduates advocating for such impracticalities, esp. at large technical universities:
CollegiateTimes.com - Column: Liberal education a necessity in every student's curriculum

The NY Times has a touching story about Darrel Griffen Sr's memoir of his son, who was killed in Iraq. The whole story is behind the password barrier, but here's the part that is most interesting: Books of The Times - ‘Last Journey’ by Darrell Griffin Sr. - A Mourning Father’s Tribute to the Son He Lost in War - Review - NYTimes.com  read more »