AAPT 2022 Board Elections, Candidate Statements
The 2022 election for positions on
the AAPT Board of Directors is underway.
All AAPT members (and only AAPT members) are eligible to vote.
Current members will soon receive an email providing instructions and a link to the ballot.
Questions about the ballot or election should be directed to
J.Robert Loftis (jloftis@lorainccc.edu) chair of the Nominating Committee
The polls close October 31, 2022.
The candidate statements are below.
Candidate Statements for Vice-President
Fritz McDonald
I am honored to be nominated for Vice President of the AAPT.
At Oakland University, I primarily teach ethics and logic. I also teach in my research areas: metaethics, philosophy of language, and the ethics of artificial intelligence. I chaired Oakland’s general education committee for three years.
I first worked with the AAPT as an organizer for the Teaching Hub. The Teaching Hub is by far my favorite part of the APA meetings. I organized Teaching Hub sessions on Aristotle, on Nietzsche, and on creating community in online classes.
I am currently chair of the APA Committee on Teaching Philosophy. I have worked with the AAPT to organize Teaching Hubs at the APA divisional meetings. I chair the committee that awards the AAPT/APA/TPA Teaching Prize. I am an ex-officio member of the Board of Directors of the AAPT. I am on the editorial board of AAPT Studies in Pedagogy. The people from the AAPT I have worked with in these roles have been hard working and dedicated to promoting philosophy teaching. The AAPT is a wonderful organization and I am glad to be part of it. experiences.
Renée Smith
I am honored to accept the nomination for Vice President of the American Association of Philosophy Teachers. The AAPT has been central to my professional life for 16 years, and it would be a great privilege to join the leadership for the organization that not only takes seriously teaching philosophy, but also recognizes and contributes to the ongoing growth and development of philosopher teachers.
I have given 7 presentations/workshops and attended 7 of the 8 conference-workshops since 2006. I have also served on the APA’s Committee on Pre-College Instruction in Philosophy (2011-14) and on its Computer Committee (2009-11), and for both committees I organized teaching-related sessions at APA divisional meetings. I currently serve on the Board of Directors for the journal Teaching Philosophy.
I am now completing my second 2-year term as an at-large Board Member of the AAPT. I have chaired a Teaching Hub (2020 Pacific Teaching Hub, which was cancelled due to the pandemic), chaired the Sessions Committee (2020-22), served on the Prize Committee (2021, 2022), co-chaired a summer virtual session, “How we Teach” with Kimberly van Orman (July 2021), facilitated a Talking Teaching virtual session on teaching writing in philosophy (2020), contributed to the ad hoc Strategic Planning and Code of Conduct committees (2020, 2022), and served as the Conference Ombuds at the most recent conference at Otterbein University (Summer 2022).
When I began my career in 2002, my research was primarily in philosophy of mind, but I have now leaned into philosophy pedagogy. I have published nearly a dozen papers related to teaching—on teaching reading, logic, distance courses, metaphilosophy, philosophy for young people, and philosophy of mind, and philosophy papers for laypeople. I am currently co-editing Volume 9 of AAPT Studies in Pedagogy, due out in 2023, with Sarah Donovan on teaching writing in philosophy. At CCU, I have also organized teaching roundtable discussions in my department, served as a university-wide instructional coach, and presently serve as Faculty Ombuds. My CV is available here.
In the last 4-5 years, through my work on the Board, I have had the pleasure of learning a great deal and being inspired by the AAPT leadership. While other organizations ceased operations during the pandemic, the AAPT sprang to action—creating virtual conferences when our in-person conference was cancelled, creatively delivering the teaching and learning workshop, addressing issues of diversity, inclusiveness, and professional conduct, and continuing its grants and prizes for exceptional philosophy teachers. I am proud to have been a part of this organization.
The AAPT embodies the ideals central to my professional identity—cultivating reflective and student-centered pedagogy, fostering a community of practitioners, supporting each other as teachers, philosophers, and academics, and creating opportunities for those of us dedicated to continued growth as philosophy teachers. As a member of the Executive Committee, my goals will be to support the on-going work of the AAPT, bring more philosophy teachers into our community, and promote collaborative work and professional development.
Thank you for your consideration of my candidacy for this position.
Candidate Statements for Member-At-Large
Sarah Donovan
I am completing my second term as a member-at-large on the AAPT board. I strongly believe in the mission of the AAPT and I have time and energy to devote to the organization. I have years of experience in various leadership roles such as my recent terms on the AAPT board, my current position as the Chair of AAPT Teaching and Learning Committee, three years as the interim dean of integrated learning at my home institution, and three years on an APA committee on the Status and Future of the Profession. In addition to leadership roles, I am entering my twentieth year of full time teaching at the college level. I have published two edited volumes on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the classroom with a community of scholars with whom I still collaborate, and I view DEIA as central to AAPT initiatives.
Jane Drexler
I teach philosophy at Salt Lake Community College, focusing my scholarship and pedagogy these days mostly on teaching “Philosophy as a Way of Life.” I’ve been an active member of AAPT since 2016, when I first served on the Conference Programming Committee. Right after that, I somehow got talked into becoming chair of that committee, and that’s the primary way I’ve been serving AAPT ever since. In that role, I’ve had the great privilege of meeting so many of you, and seeing close-up all the exciting pedagogy, ideas, and support you all bring to the AAPT. I know well what an honor it is to work to bring everyone together, and to promote the growth and goals of our community of scholar-teachers. I hope I can continue to contribute to the vitality of this incredible organization, by serving as one of your at-large members of the Board.
Jerry Green
I’m an Associate Professor at the University of Central Oklahoma, a regional commuter campus outside Oklahoma City. I serve as advisory board member of our teaching and learning center, as Faculty Senate Parliamentarian, and on college- and university-level curriculum committees (inter alia).
I first encountered the AAPT in grad school via a one-day workshop; it was a life-changing event. I then got involved with APA-AAPT Teaching Hubs, twice as presenter, then as session organizer, and currently as co-organizer of the Eastern Teaching Hub. I’ve been a regular participant in the Teaching/Talking series, and served on several planning committees for this summer’s Workshop-Conference; this included bringing my AAPT involvement full circle by becoming a co-facilitator of the Seminar for a new generation of philosophy teachers.
My main goal as board member, beyond simply giving back to a group I’ve so benefitted from, is to continue outreach to early-career philosophers and grow the AAPT’s influence in the profession.
Monica “Mo” Janzen
I have had the honor of serving as an At-Large Board member for the APPT for the last two years. The work has been both invigorating and, most enjoyable of all, has helped me connect with many of you. I would like the chance to continue to serve on the board in this capacity. I hope the next two years gives me a chance to take on additional roles as I now have a greater understanding of the organization and the incredible work it does.
Sarah Kizuk
I am a PhD candidate at Marquette university where I have designed and taught required classes as well as upper-level courses. This semester I am co-teaching an upper-level course to a blended group of learners from my institution and a community program for justice-system impacted folks. I am also new to the AAPT, having joined as a member a year ago. I was selected to participate in the AAPT Seminar in 2021. While I have always cared about being a good teacher, attending this workshop transformed my classroom and the kind of teacher I am.
What I bring to the board are my non-traditional teaching experiences as well as considerable experience in labor organizing. The fight for better labor conditions on academic campuses is about the fight for better learning conditions. I want to serve to learn more but also to help build a strong and useful AAPT, particularly graduate and contingent faculty.
Alida Liberman
I’m an associate professor teaching ethics and feminist philosophy at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. The AAPT has transformed my teaching and provided a supportive community like no other. I would be honored to give back to the organization as a Board member. I’m especially interested in developing accessible online programming, building community outside of conferences, and supporting an academic culture that values teaching.
I’ve facilitated Teaching & Learning Workshops for the AAPT at Salem State, Michigan, MIT, Harper College, and Duquesne. I also helped develop and lead the first AAPT workshop on inclusive pedagogy at IU Bloomington. I’ve published two articles about pedagogy and presented at numerous AAPT conferences, and am currently coordinating the APA/AAPT Teaching Hub for the 2023 and 2024 Central APAs. If elected, I look forward to applying my experience, organizational skills, and passion to support existing projects and develop new opportunities for outreach and education.
Jonathan McKinney
I am running to join the AAPT Board of Directors as a member at-large. I believe that I have something of value to contribute to AAPT as an organization. My work aims to smash the borders between traditions and disciplines that are used to maintain the status quo. I believe that philosophy is something that we should constantly re-learn to play together.
I am a strong advocate for diversity, inclusivity, and accessibility in philosophy. If elected, I will support and advocate for proposals that will make philosophy and pedagogy training more accessible. This includes innovating in areas like organizational collaboration and hosting online events.
My pedagogical experience sits at the enigmatic intersection of asynchronous online teaching and the community-based inquiry model of philosophy for children Hawai’i. It is not easy to recover the wonder of an in-person community discussion, but this is a challenge that we must take on.
Merritt Rehn-DeBraal
I am an Instructional Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Texas A&M University-San Antonio where I also serve as Co-Coordinator of the Women’s and Gender Studies minor. TAMU-SA is a Hispanic/Latinx-Serving Institution, and the majority of our students are first generation college students. Many of my pedagogical interests are focused on teaching in this context, and I am also interested in curiosity.
Previously, I served on the Planning Committee for the 2022 AAPT Workshop-Conference and the AAPT Teaching Hub Planning Committee, and I have also presented on teaching at multiple AAPT conferences and APA Teaching Hubs. As a member of the board, I would look forward to serving the AAPT in creating continued programming and resources that help connect philosophy teachers across institutions and that support us in better serving our students.
Kimberly Van Orman
I attended my first AAPT meeting in 2014 and was so excited to have found “my people.” After years of working on the edge of the discipline, finding a place where I was still accepted as a philosopher was deeply meaningful to me, and I hope to contribute to continuing that spirit. For the past 6 years I have served on Conference Committee, and have reviewed proposals for the conference. I have served on the APA Committee for Teaching. I bring over two decades of teaching along with experience in graduate student professional development and in creating workshops for faculty. I have also completed the AAPT workshop facilitator training.
I want to share the benefits I’ve gained from my AAPT involvement and would like to contribute to the amazing growth that has happened in the last several years, including the teaching hubs, online conference and the “Talking Teaching” program.
Jake Wright
I am a senior lecturer at the University of Minnesota Rochester’s Center for Learning Innovation. In addition to my teaching responsibilities, I have been elected to serve multiple terms on our faculty governance board and led the design and implementation of our campus’s academic first year seminar. My pedagogical research has been published or is forthcoming in Studies in Pedagogy, Teaching Philosophy, Metaphilosophy, and Teaching in Higher Education, and has been presented at national and international conferences, including the APA/AAPT Teaching Hub and the Society for Research into Higher Education. I am also guest editing a forthcoming issue of Studies in Pedagogy.
These efforts have been challenging because of my status as non-tenure track faculty and its accompanying deficit of institutional, professional, and financial support compared to tenure track colleagues. Thus, as a non-tenure track faculty member, I would focus on how the AAPT can continue to support and further support pedagogical efforts by contingent faculty.
Questions about the ballot or election should be directed to
J.Robert Loftis (jloftis@lorainccc.edu) chair of the Nominating Committee
The polls close October 31, 2022.
