The Department of Philosophy

ALUMNI

Tom Quinn

Program Manager, Central Wisconsin Environmental Station, UW-Stevens Point 1999 Alumnus

Graduating with a philosophy minor from Edgewood has been a rewarding experience that has enhanced my professional career. Whenever interviewing for a job, I always reference my Philosophy Minor because, as a Biology Major, I want prospective employers to know that my interests are diverse and that I am both an academic and an intellectual. When I started my Philosophy Minor, I did it out of my love for the Logic class I took as a freshman. Breaking down arguments into simpler components and identifying truths reminded me of my biology classes. From Logic, I went on to take Philosophy and Gender and Philosophies of Earth. Debating a range of beliefs and defining my own truths made me an adult with convictions. While I was a Philosophy Minor, I also minored in Environmental Studies, and I believe the two go hand in hand. To each about the environment with passion, you must have an environmental ethic. Working in the environmental education field for the past six years, I know that as educators we are trying to instill in student that same environmental ethic. We are arguing the case for the plants and animals that cannot speak for themselves… I have always been proud of my choice to minor in Philosophy and thank the teachers at Edgewood for making the subject practical, stimulating, and valuable.”  

Sara Bodenberg

Intern, Citizens for Global Solutions, Washington DC 2004 Alumna

I grew up on the South Side of Chicago, but went to Edgewood College in good old Wisconsin. Yes, I actually chose to spend several years in place where when you walk outside in the winter with wet hair, it freezes. I played volleyball, restarted Amnesty International at our school, worked at Barnes and Noble, was an RA, and coached a wonderful bunch of 16-year-old girls. I double-majored in political science and Spanish, and I had a philosophy minor which concentrated on human rights studies. I went abroad with school programs three times in college: twice for two weeks to Cuba, and once for a semester to Costa Rica… When I came back from Cuba, my life had been permanently affected. In the course catalog that semester, there was a philosophy class called ‘Human Rights: The Continuing Global Struggle.’ I took it and the professor, Vince Kavaloski, brought a group of students to the World Federalist Association’s, now Citizens for Global Solutions, annual conference. The conference opened our eyes to so many international issues, like the International Criminal Court, that we either didn’t know about, or thought there was no way to actually make any sort of positive change… Having learned so much, a group of us came to another conference where we participated in the Youth Global Parliament competition. Representing Cuba, I won and the organization sent me to the World Federalist Movement’s meeting in London, where I learned even more. So, in a sense, they sucked me in and now I am an intern here in the wood-paneled basement. The thought process went something along the lines of ‘I want to do something with human rights… human rights… genocide is probably the worst human rights violation… who works on this?... Hmmm… International Criminal Court… Citizens for Global Solutions… must get out of cow country… Washington DC…’ How’s that for stream of consciousness?”  

 

"So far as knowledge is concerned, a man should be aware of the minuteness of himself and his immediate environment in relation to the world in time and space... Taking an even wider view, he should be conscious of the vastness of geological epochs and astronomical abysses; but he should be aware of all this, not as a weight to crush the individual human spirit, but as a vast panorama which enlarges the mind that contemplates it.”

~Bertrand Russell