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Most Objectivist thinkers are ‘little known’ outside of Objectivist circles so I will post a list of the ones I know.Objectivist Intellectual’s Biographies (85) last updated 10/14/18 (not complete)Amesh AdaljaMD, 2002, American University of the CaribbeanDr. Adalja, a board-certified physician in infectious disease, critical care medicine, emergency medicine and internal medicine, specializes in the intersection of national security with catastrophic health events. He publishes and lectures on bio-terrorism, pandemic preparedness and emerging infectious diseases. He has been a guest on national radio and television programs.John AllisonMBA, Management, 1974, Duke UniversityMr. Allison is president and CEO of the Cato Institute. He was previously chairman and CEO of BB&T Corporation, the 10th-largest financial services holding company headquartered in the United States. During Allison’s tenure as CEO from 1989 to 2008, BB&T grew from $4.5 billion to $152 billion in assets.Carl BarneyCarl Barney is a businessman who, among other business activities, owns and manages several private business colleges.Rituparna BasuBS, Biology, 2010, Pennsylvania State UniversityMs. Basu is a health care policy analyst at ARI. Her work has appeared in publications such as Forbes and The Daily Caller, and she has been interviewed on radio and TV programs, internationally. Ms. Basu has briefed congressional staffers and speaks regularly at university campuses, including Georgetown, Emory and Temple.Ben BayerPhD, Philosophy, 2007, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignDr. Bayer teaches philosophy at Loyola University New Orleans. His research focuses primarily on questions about the foundations of knowledge and the freedom of the will.Robert BegleyRobert Begley is a writer for The Objective Standard. He is the founder and president of the NY Heroes Society, an organization dedicated to promoting heroism in the culture. Robert is also a judge in Anthem, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged essay contests. He was the host and producer for the Manhattan Cable TV program, The Voice of Reason. Robert is currently writing a book about the history of New York heroes.Michael S. BerlinerPhD, Philosophy, 1970, Boston UniversityDr. Berliner is the founding executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute and served as co-chairman of ARI’s board of directors. He is editor of "Letters of Ayn Rand", "Understanding Objectivism" and a recent biography of operetta composer Emmerich Kálmán. Dr. Berliner taught philosophy and philosophy of education for many years at California State University, Northridge.ANDREW BERNSTEINPhD, Philosophy, 1986, City University of New YorkAndrew Bernstein holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the Graduate School of the City University of New York. He has taught at Hunter College, the New School for Social Research, Pace University and Marymount College, where he was chosen Outstanding Faculty Member for 1995. He currently teaches at the State University of New York at Purchase, where he was selected Outstanding Faculty Member for 2004.Dr. Bernstein has lectured at universities across the United States, including at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, the United States Military Academy at West Point and many others; and at philosophical conferences both in America and abroad. He is the author of The Capitalist Manifesto: The Historic, Economic and Philosophic Case for Laissez-Faire, to be published in the spring of 2005 by University Press of America. His first novel, Heart of a Pagan, was released in 2002. He is currently writing Objectivism in One Lesson, an introduction to the philosophy of Ayn Rand. His website is Andrew Bernstein | Philosopher and TeacherDr. Bernstein is the author of "The Capitalist Manifesto" (2005), "Objectivism in One Lesson" (2008), "Capitalism Unbound" (2010), "Capitalist Solutions" (2011), and of numerous essays. He is currently writing “Heroes and Hero Worship” for the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism. Dr. Bernstein lectures widely on Ayn Rand’s novels and Objectivism.DAVID BERRYD.M.A., Composition, 2002, University of South CarolinaDavid Berry is an associate professor of music. He teaches courses across a wide range of historical and theoretical musical subjects including film music. He is a recorded and published (BMI) composer with performances of his music in America and Europe in both fine art and popular music genres.CRAIG BIDDLEB.A., Fine Arts, 1988, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityCraig Biddle is the author of Loving Life: The Morality of Self-Interest and the Facts That Support It and is currently writing another book, Good Thinking for Good Living: The Science of Being Selfish. In addition to writing, he lectures on the Objectivist ethics and teaches workshops on thinking in principles. Editor and Publisher of “The Objective Standard”Specialties: Ethics, ObjectivismHARRY BINSWANGERPh.D., Philosophy, 1973, Columbia UniversityDr. Binswanger is the author of The Biological Basis of Teleological Concepts, the editor of The Ayn Rand Lexicon and co-editor of the second edition of Ayn Rand’s Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology. Dr. Binswanger is a professor of philosophy at the Ayn Rand Institute’s Objectivist Academic Center and is a member of ARI’s board of directors. He is currently working on a book on the nature of consciousness.Dr. Binswanger is the author of "How We Know" and "The Biological Basis of Teleological Concepts", the editor of "The Ayn Rand Lexicon" and co-editor of the second edition of Ayn Rand’s "Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology". He is an instructor of philosophy at the Ayn Rand Institute’s Objectivist Academic Center and a member of ARI’s board of directors.TORE BOECKMANNWriterMr. Boeckmann has written and lectured extensively on Ayn Rand’s fiction and philosophy of esthetics. He edited for publication Rand’s The Art of Fiction. His own fiction has been published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. He is currently writing a book on Romantic literature.Thomas A. BowdenSpecialties: Legal issues, physician-assisted suicide, abortion rights, mandatory community service.Mr. Bowden, an attorney in private practice in Baltimore, Maryland, taught at the University Of Baltimore School Of Law from 1988 to 1994. Author of a booklet against multiculturalism, “The Enemies of Christopher Columbus,” he has also published op-eds in the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, Philadelphia Inquirer, Portland Oregonian, Los Angeles Daily News, Minneapolis Star Tribune, and Charlotte Observer. He is a former member of the board of directors of The Association for Objective Law, a non-profit group whose purpose is to advance Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand, as the basis of a proper legal system. In that connection, Mr. Bowden has filed amicus curiae briefs in the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal for the Second and Third Circuits, challenging mandatory community service for high school students on legal and moral grounds.YARON BROOKPh.D., Finance, 1994, University of Texas at AustinDr. Brook is president and executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute. A former finance professor, he has published in academic as well as popular publications, and is frequently interviewed in the media. He has appeared on CNN, Fox News Channel and PBS among others. On college campuses across America and in the boardrooms of large corporations, he has lectured on Objectivism, business ethics and foreign policy.Dr. Brook is executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute. He is the coauthor of the national best-seller “Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand’s Ideas Can End Big Government” and a contributing author to both “Neoconservatism: An Obituary for an Idea” and “Winning the Unwinnable War: America’s Self-Crippled Response to Islamic Totalitarianism.”ANDY CLARKSONMBA University of MarylandMr. Clarkson is a decades-long Objectivist He has focused on researching the history of ideas and published The Impact of Aristotle Upon Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Cultures : A Compilation of Notes and Quotes From A Variety of Sources Plus Commentary, published in December 2016.PAT CORVINIPh.D., Electrical Engineering, 1995, University of California at Santa BarbaraDr. Corvini recently left a twenty-year career in semiconductor optoelectronics to work full time in the history of science and mathematics. She lectured on Archimedes at the 2003 Objectivist Summer Conference.SUSAN CRAWFORDB.S.N, Nursing, 1982, Marymount College, VirginiaSusan Crawford is a registered nurse. She has given two parenting courses and wrote the pamphlet “The Reading Habit/Money Management.” Susan is married to Jack Crawford and the mother of two sons, Jason and DavidERIC DANIELSPh.D., American History, 2001, University of WisconsinDr. Daniels is a visiting assistant professor of history at Duke University’s Program on Values and Ethics in the Marketplace. He has lectured at summer conferences and to numerous Objectivist community groups. He is an alumnus of ARI’s Objectivist Graduate Center (precursor to the Objectivist Academic Center). A contributor to the Oxford Companion to United States History, he is currently working on a book about American politics andDr. Daniels works at LePort Schools, teaching science and history, and as a curriculum developer. Previously, he was a professor at Clemson, Duke and Georgetown Universities. Dr. Daniels has published book chapters and articles on antitrust, individualism and economic freedom.John DennisPhD, Psychology, 2010, University of Texas at AustinDr. Dennis teaches at Catholic University in Milan, University of Perugia and University of Alberta. His research on motivation is funded by the EU and Templeton Foundation. He is a licensed psychologist trained in CBT. In 2013 Dr. Dennis started Melioravit, a scientific communication company that helps researchers get funded, published and cited.Robert van DortmondMSc in Applied Physics, Delft University of Technology; Executive Program, Stanford Graduate SchoolMr. van Dortmond teaches entrepreneurship at the University of Amsterdam/The Amsterdam Centre for Entrepreneurship. He is an active mentor, shareholder and board member of various startups. He speaks on Ayn Rand’s ideas and is an advisory board member of ARI Europe of which he was one of the initiators.Dianne DuranteSpecialties: Esthetics, painting, sculpture, homeschooling.Dr. Durante is a freelance writer on art and current events. She has lectured on painting and sculpture at Objectivist conferences; several of these lectures are available on tape from the Ayn Rand Bookstore. She has also just finished a book on New York sculpture, Forgotten Delights: The Producers. Dr. Durante and her husband homeschool their daughter in Brooklyn, NY.Alex EpsteinSpecialties: Current Affairs, racism, and moral defense of businessmen.Alex Epstein is an Objectivist speaker and writer living in Richmond, VA. His Op-Eds have been published in dozens of newspapers around the country, including The Houston Chronicle, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Miami Herald, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Washington Times. He is also a regular contributor to The Intellectual Activist, a monthly magazine analyzing political and cultural issues from an Objectivist perspective. Mr. Epstein holds a BA in philosophy from Duke University, where he was editor and publisher of The Duke Review for two years.STUART MARK FELDMANM.A., Art, 1975, Rowan University, New JerseyStuart Feldman works in bronze, stone and wood, creating sculptures of the human figure expressing man’s most noble and inspiring qualities. A former instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, he is cofounder of the Schuylkill Academy of Fine Art, in Philadelphia. His sculptures are held in private collections, and he has created a number of commissioned pieces.ROBERT GARMONGPh.D., Philosophy, 2002; University of Texas at AustinDr. Garmong is a graduate of the Objectivist Graduate Center, and has lectured on philosophy at many Objectivist conferences. He is the author of “J.S. Mill’s Re-Conceptualization of Liberty,” currently under submission to publishers. Dr. Garmong teaches philosophy at Texas A&M University and at Texas State University.MARILYN (GEORGE) GRAYB.S., Child Development, 1961, Iowa State UniversityMarilyn George is a retired Montessori teacher, school owner and administrator. She holds teaching certificates from both the American Montessori Society and the International Association of Progressive Montessorians and was a Montessori teacher for twenty-five years. She owned, administered and taught for ten years in her own school, which had an international reputation for excellence. She taught Montessori courses at Seattle University for more than ten years and has consulted for schools nationwide. Marilyn has been ballroom dancing since she met Ted Gray at a conference in 1989, at her first lesson, and today they compete at the Silver level.Debi GhateLLB, Law, University of Calgary, 1995Ms. Ghate is vice president of Education and Research at the Ayn Rand Institute, where she heads up a variety of educational and policy-related programs. She is also director of the Anthem Foundation for Objectivist Scholarship, an organization that supports academic scholarship based on Ayn Rand’s work.Onkar GhatePhD, Philosophy, 1996, University of CalgaryDr. Ghate is senior fellow and chief content officer at the Ayn Rand Institute. He specializes in Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism, and is ARI’s senior instructor and editor. He publishes and lectures on Rand’s philosophy and fiction, including application of Objectivism in the culture, and has been a guest on national radio and television programs.GENA GORLINPhD, Clinical Psychology, 2012, University of VirginiaMs. Gorlin has two years of experience conducting individual psychotherapy with anxious and depressed young adults. Her research has been published in highly regarded academic journals. She is also a graduate of the Objectivist Academic Center and a former board member of The Undercurrent, a national campus publication.Allan Gotthelf (deceased)Specialties: Love, self-esteem, happiness, Objectivism, AristotleAllan Gotthelf is emeritus professor of philosophy at The College of New Jersey. He is an internationally recognized authority on the philosophy of Aristotle, with many scholarly publications. He has lectured on Objectivism and Aristotle — including their views on love and sex, self-esteem, and individual happiness — throughout North America and in Europe and Japan. He has been a visiting professor at Swarthmore College, Georgetown University, Oxford University, Tokyo Metropolitan University, and most recently, the University of Texas at Austin. In 1987, Dr. Gotthelf was one of the founders of the Ayn Rand Society; a professional organization affiliated with the American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division, and has headed it since 1990. He enters his second year as Visiting Professor of Historyand Philosophy of Science (HPS) at the University of Pittsburgh. Prof. Gotthelf holds the Pitt Fellowship for the Study of Objectivism, funded by the Anthem Foundation and he will be working throughout the year on various projects in connection with his Fellowship. He is the author of On Ayn Rand (Wadsworth Publishing, 2000), the best-selling book in the Wadsworth Philosophers Series.4-19-2007 from his website:Visiting Professor, under the university's new Fellowship for the Study of Objectivism (Member: Classics, Philosophy and Ancient Science Program). A specialist on Aristotle's biology and philosophy, and on the philosophy of Ayn Rand, Gotthelf is emeritus professor of philosophy at The College of New Jersey, and has taught on a visiting basis at Swarthmore, Oxford, Georgetown, Tokyo Metropolitan, and the University of Texas at Austin. He is a life member of Clare Hall Cambridge, and was a visiting member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. Gotthelf is author of On Ayn Rand (Wadsworth Philosophers Series, 2000); co-editor of Philosophical Issues in Aristotle's Biology (Cambridge 1987); editor of Aristotle on Nature and Living Things (Pittsburgh 1985); and has prepared for publication D.M. Balme's posthumous editions of Aristotle's Historia Animalium (Cambridge 2002, Cambridge MA 1991). His collected Aristotle papers will by published next year by Oxford University Press, under the title: Teleology, Scientific Method, and Substance: Essays on Aristotle's Biological Enterprise. He is currently working on several Aristotle projects and an extended study of Rand's theory of concepts, essences, and objectivity.TED GRAYB.S., Mechanical Engineering, 1965, Northeastern University;M.S., Mechanical Engineering, 1971, Brooklyn Polytechnic InstituteTed Gray, an engineer, has been dancing since his teens. They both consider dancing primarily a social and romantic activity. Occasionally, they enter amateur dance competitions. As a couple they have given many formal and informal group lessons—at home, at conferences and on a cruise ship. Ted is a mechanical engineer with forty years experience in design and analysis of structures, and prevention of vibration. He is an amateur student of history, enjoying especially the biographies of great Americans and the history of technology. He has been a student of Objectivism for thirty-eight years.Hannes HackerSpecialties: history and politics of the space program, science and technology.Mr. Hacker graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a BS degree in aerospace engineering in May 1988. He earned a MS degree in aerospace engineering at the University of Texas at Austin December 1990. He has eleven years of space-flight operations experience including work on the space shuttle, international space station and commercial communications satellites.DAVID HARRIMANB.S., Physics, 1979, University of California at Berkeley;M.S., Physics, 1982, University of Maryland;M.A., Philosophy, 1995, Claremont Graduate University, CaliforniaDavid Harriman is the editor of Journals of Ayn Rand and a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute. He has lectured extensively on the history and philosophy of physics. He is currently developing the physical science curriculum at VanDamme Academy and working on two books: one demonstrating the influence of philosophy on modern physics (The Anti-Copernican Revolution) and the other presenting Leonard Peikoff’s theory of induction (Induction in Physics and Philosophy).David HolcbergSpecialties: Environmentalism, science, capitalism. David Holcberg holds a degree in civil engineering and is a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute.JONATHAN HOENIGCommunications and Philosophy, 1999, Northwestern UniversityMr. Hoenig manages Capitalistpig Hedge Fund, LLC. A former floor trader, his first book, Greed Is Good, was published by HarperCollins. Mr. Hoenig has written for publications including The Wall Street Journal, Wired andMarketWatch: Stock Market News - Financial News. He was named one of Crain’s Forty Under Forty and appears regularly on Fox News Channel.Gary HullSpecialties: Philosophy, multiculturalism, business ethics, education.Dr. Hull is director of the Program on Values and Ethics in the Marketplace at Duke University. His op-eds have been published in numerous newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Orange County Register, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Chicago Tribune. He has made numerous television and radio appearances to discuss Ayn Rand’s philosophy, multiculturalism, affirmative action, the Elian Gonzalez affair, sex, ethics, politics. He has lectured on Ayn Rand’s philosophy at conferences around the world and, as a member of the Ayn Rand Institute’s Speakers Bureau, has spoken at universities across the country, including Harvard, Michigan at Ann Arbor, Wisconsin at Madison, Texas at Austin. Dr. Hull is the author of A Study Guide to Leonard Peikoff’s book Objectivism: the Philosophy of Ayn Rand, and is co-editor of The Ayn Rand Reader (Penguin/Plume, 1999), a collection of fiction and non-fiction writings by Ayn Rand.MARTIN F JOHANSENMS, Computer Science, 2009, University of OsloMr. Johansen is a PhD research fellow at SINTEF, the largest independent research institute in Scandinavia. He is currently completing his PhD studies at the University of Oslo as part of an international research project on software testing.Elan JournoBA, Philosophy, 1997, King's College, LondonMr. Journo, director of policy research at ARI, is completing a book on American policy toward the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. His 2009 book, “Winning the Unwinnable War,” analyzes post-9/11 U.S. foreign policy. His writing has appeared in “Foreign Policy,” “Journal of International Security Affairs” and “Middle East Quarterly.”ELLEN KENNERPh.D., Clinical Psychology, 1992, University of Rhode IslandDr. Kenner, a clinical psychologist, has taught university courses in introductory psychology, abnormal psychology and theories of personality. She gives talks on romance, self-improvement, psychological self-defense, parenting and communication skills. She is in her eighth year as host of the nationally syndicated radio talk show The Rational Basis of Happiness®.Ryan KrausePhD, Strategic Management and Organization Theory, 2013, Indiana UniversityDr. Krause is an assistant professor at Texas Christian University’s Neeley School of Business. He researches corporate governance and has published in “Academy of Management Journal,” “Strategic Management Journal” and “Journal of Management.” His research has been covered by the “Wall Street Journal,” “USA Today,” “Businessweek” and Fox Business Network.Andrew LaymanAndrew Layman is a Senior Program Manager at Microsoft where he works on Internet and database technologies. Prior to joining Microsoft in 1992, he was a Vice President of Symantec Corporation and original author of the Time Line project management program.Peter LePort, M.D.Specialties: Medicine, free market reform of healthcare, medical savings accountsDr. LePort, a full-time surgeon, lectures nationwide on free market reform in healthcare, particularly on the benefits of medical savings accounts. He is a member of the board of directors of Americans for Free Choice in Medicine. He co-wrote a healthcare reform proposal that discusses voluntary, tax-free medical savings accounts and high-deductible personal health insurance and which includes a method to privatize Medicare. He earned his medical degree from Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, and is a former assistant professor of surgery at that institution. He is a member of the Faculty of the American College of Surgeons and of the Orange County Surgical Society.Andrew LewisPostgraduate Diploma of Philosophy, 1994, University of Melbourne, AustraliaMr. Lewis has studied philosophy at the Objectivist Academic Center, the University of Melbourne and the University of Southern California. He worked with Leonard Peikoff on his radio show, has lectured at Objectivist conferences, and is principal at VanDamme Academy, where he teaches a three-year history curriculum covering ancient, European and American history.JOHN LEWIS (deceased)Ph.D., Classics, 2001, University of CambridgeDr. Lewis is assistant professor of history at Ashland University, where he holds an Anthem Fellowship for Objectivist Scholarship. He is Assistant Professor of History in the Department of History and Political Science. He has published in several professional journals, and has been a visiting scholar at Rice University and Bowling Green State UniversityEDWIN A. LOCKEPh.D., Industrial Organizational Psychology, 1964, Cornell University.Dr. Locke is Dean’s Professor of Leadership and Motivation (Emeritus) at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is internationally known for his research and writings on work motivation, leadership and related topics, including the application of Objectivism to psychology and management. He is a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute and has published numerous op-eds.Keith LockitchPhD, Physics, 1999, University of Wisconsin at MilwaukeeDr. Lockitch is an ARI fellow and director of advanced training. In addition to speaking and writing for ARI on issues related to energy, climate and environmentalism, he teaches writing for the OAC and has developed courses on Ayn Rand’s ideas and novels for a variety of audiences.ROBERT MAYHEWPh.D., Philosophy, 1991, Georgetown UniversityDr. Mayhew is associate professor of philosophy at Seton Hall University. He is the author of Aristotle’s Criticism of Plato’s Republic and The Female in Aristotle’s Biology and the editor of Ayn Rand’s Marginalia, Ayn Rand’s The Art of Nonfiction, Essays on Ayn Rand’s “We the Living” and (forthcoming) Ayn Rand’s Q & A. He has completed a book on Ayn Rand’s HUAC testimony and is preparing for publication a collection of essays on Ayn Rand’s Anthem.Arline MannArline Mann is an attorney. She is vice president and associate general counsel of Goldman, Sachs & Co.John P. McCaskey, Ph.D. in history, is the founder and chairman of the Anthem Foundation for Objectivist Scholarship. He spent twenty years in the computer business, most recently as founder of Epiphany, Inc., before returning to academia in 2001. He studies and teaches history and philosophy of science at Stanford University.Scott McConnellSpecialties: Volunteerism, Communism in America, Ayn Rand's life. Mr. McConnell is a former literature teacher and high school English teacher. He has a BA in behavioral sciences and worked in Hollywood as a script reader. He has given several lectures on Ayn Rand's life.Shoshana MilgramPhD, Comparative Literature, 1978, Stanford UniversityDr. Milgram, associate professor of English at Virginia Tech, specializes in narrative fiction and film. She has lectured on Ayn Rand at Objectivist and academic conferences and has published on Ayn Rand, Hugo and Dostoevsky. Dr. Milgram is editing the draft of her book-length study of Ayn Rand’s life (to 1957).Ken Moelis. Mr. Moelis is founder and chief executive officer of Moelis & Company, a global investment bank that provides financial advisory, capital raising and asset management services to a broad client base including corporations, institutions and governments. Mr. Moelis has over thirty years of investment banking experience. Prior to founding Moelis & Company, he worked at UBS from 2001 to 2007, where he was most recently president of UBS Investment Bank and, previously, Joint Global Head of Investment Banking. Mr. Moelis serves on the University of Pennsylvania Board of Trustees, the Wharton Board of Overseers, the Board of the Tourette Syndrome Association, and the Board of Governors of Cedars Sinai Hospital.Jean MoroneyCertificate, 1996, Objectivist Graduate Center, Ayn Rand Institute;MS, Psychology, 1994, Carnegie Mellon University;MS, Electrical Engineering, 1986, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMs. Moroney is president of Thinking Directions, a business that develops and teaches methods in applied psycho-epistemology. She has given her flagship course, Thinking Tactics, to corporate and public audiences across North America. She is writing a book titled “Smarter: How to Achieve Your Goals When Nothing Goes as Planned.”Adam Mossoff is Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law. He is also Co-Director of Academic Programs and a Senior Scholar at the Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property at George Mason, which he co-founded in 2012. He teaches and writes in the areas of patent law, trade secrets, trademark law, property law, and internet law. He has published extensively on the theory and history of how patents and other intellectual property rights are fundamental property rights. His article on the very first patent war, the Sewing Machine War of the 1850s, has been widely cited in today's public policy debates concerning patent litigation, patent licensing, and patent pools. He has testified before the Senate, and he has spoken at numerous congressional staff briefings, professional association conferences, and academic conferences, as well as at the PTO, the FTC, the DOJ, and the Smithsonian Institution. He is Co-Chairman of the Intellectual Property Committee of the IEEE-USA, and he is a member of the Amicus Committee of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the Public Policy Committee of the Licensing Executives Society, and the Academic Advisory Board of the Copyright Alliance. ADAM MOSSOFF is an expert in patent law and property theory. He has published numerous law review articles and book reviews on topics in legal philosophy, patent law, and property law, including in law reviews at the University of Arizona and UC-Hastings, and in the interdisciplinary law journal, the University of Chicago Law School Roundtable. He was a visiting lecturer and John M. Olin Fellow in Law at Northwestern University School of Law, where he taught a seminar on property theory. Immediately prior to coming to MSU College of Law, he clerked for the Hon. Jacques L. Wiener, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Professor Mossoff graduated from the University of Chicago Law School with honors in 2001. He has a M.A. in philosophy from Columbia University, where he specialized in legal and political philosophy, and a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Michigan, where he graduated magna cum laude and with high honors in philosophy. Hi is now an Associate Professor of Law at George Mason University School of LawSpecialties: Philosophy of Law, Constitutional Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Patent RightsJ. PATRICK MULLINS is a doctoral candidate in the history department of the University of Kentucky. He is in the last stages of writing his doctoral dissertation with the help of a generous grant from the Ayn Rand Institute.Travis NorsenSpecialties: Physics, science, history and philosophy of science, science education.Mr. Norsen is a physics and philosophy double-major at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, CA. He is currently attending his final year of a PhD program in physics at the University of Washington in Seattle. Mr. Norsen is also a former adjunct instructor of physics at DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, WA.JOHN E. OPFER, who still tops the list of Amazon Reviewers on the CyberNet Scoreboard, is Assistant Professor of Psychology at Ohio State University where he specializes in cognitive and developmental psychology. Nowadays he's too busy reviewing his research findings to review books. His work at OSU's Concepts and Learning Lab explores how young children form and change their concepts, such as concepts of living things and number. His website is at <Department of Psychology - John Opfer> where you will find links to several of his fascinating papers.Michael PaxtonMFA, 1984, New York UniversityMr. Paxton directed the world premiere of Ayn Rand’s Ideal (1989) and adapted and directed a dramatic presentation of Anthem (1991). His documentary, Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life, won an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Satellite Award for Best Feature Documentary. He teaches production design and film history at the Art Institute in Hollywood.Lee PiersonPhD, 1982, Psychology, Cornell UniversityDr. Pierson, director of the Thinking Skills Institute at Fairleigh Dickinson University, teaches students and business professionals how to keep any thought process moving toward its goal by activating the right knowledge as needed. He has a long-standing interest in and recently participated in life-extension research.AMY PEIKOFFJ.D., 1998, University of California, Los Angeles School of Law;Ph.D., Philosophy, 2003, University of Southern CaliforniaDr. Amy Peikoff is an Anthem fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, where she is teaching undergraduate courses in ethics and epistemology. Her writings on legal and philosophical issues have appeared in academic journals and leading newspapers. She has taught for the Objectivist Academic Center and lectured for Objectivist organizations and at conferences. Visiting Fellow at Chapman University’s Law School.Leonard PeikoffPh .D., Philosophy, 1964 New York UniversityFrom 1957 until 1973, Peikoff taught philosophy at Hunter College, Long Island University, New York University, the University of Denver and the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.After that, he worked full-time on The Ominous Parallels (published 1982) and gave lectures across the country. He gave courses on Ayn Rand's philosophy regularly in New York City, which were taped and played to groups in some 100 cities in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. In addition, he spoke frequently before investment and financial conferences on the philosophic basis of capitalism.Dr. Peikoff, who is a naturalized American citizen, was born in Winnipeg, Canada, in 1933. His father was a surgeon and his mother, before marriage, was a band leader in Western Canada. He has been a contributor to Barron's and an associate editor, with Ayn Rand, of The Objectivist (1968-71) and The Ayn Rand Letter (1971-76).He is author of Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (Dutton, 1991), the definitive statement of Objectivism.Steve PlafkerJ.D., 1973 USCPh.D., Math, 1966 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOISBS, MATH, MIT, 1961Dr. Plafker is a retired Los Angeles County deputy district attorney. His teaching experience includes teaching law to law students and to undergraduates. Before becoming a lawyer, he taught mathematics at Tulane University. He is a founder and member of the Board of Directors of The Association For Objective Law (TAFOL).Richard RalstonSpecialties: Ayn Rand’s life, Objectivism (General), Projects of the Ayn Rand Institute, Volunteerism, Foreign Policy, Journalism and MediaAfter serving seven years in the U.S. Army, Mr. Ralston completed an M.A. in International Relations at the University of Southern California in 1977. He then began a career in newspaper publishing and direct marketing. He has been the circulation director and publisher of The Christian Science Monitor, a radio producer, a national television news business manager, and a book publisher. As an independent direct marketing consultant, his clients included IBM, British Airways, CNN, and the Los Angeles Times. His book Communism: Its Rise and Fall in the 20th Century was published in 1991. Mr. Ralston is now Managing Director for the Ayn Rand Institute.JOHN RIDPATHPh.D., Economics, 1974, University of VirginiaDr. Ridpath (York University, retired) writes and speaks in defense of capitalism, and on the impact throughout Western history—including the American Founding era—of the ideas of the major philosophers. A recipient of numerous teaching awards, and nominee for Canadian Professor of the Year, he continues to lecture throughout Europe and North America.Jonathan Paul Rosman, MDSpecialties: Medicine, psychiatry.Dr. Rosman is a board certified psychiatrist, with additional qualifications in the subspecialties of addiction psychiatry and forensic psychiatry. Prior to entering full-time private practice in California in 1989 he was an assistant professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. For several years, Dr. Rosman has been a psychiatric consultant to the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California, and is the psychiatric consultant to the Sleep Disorders Center at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, California. He is also medical director for the Eating Disorder Center of California, a private, intensive outpatient clinic in Brentwood, California, devoted to the treatment of patients with anorexia and bulimia.Dr. Rosman is a published writer and lecturer on various aspects of psychiatry. Dr. Rosman's theoretical orientation is broad-based, drawing on and integrating aspects of cognitive-behavioral, short-term psychodynamic and biologic theories with Objectivist epistemological principles. He practices as both a psychotherapist and a psychopharmacologist.GREG SALMIERIB.A., Philosophy, 2001, The College of New JerseyPhD, Philosophy, 2008, University of PittsburghDr. Salmieri is a philosophy fellow at the Anthem Foundation and co-secretary of the Ayn Rand Society (a professional group affiliated with the American Philosophical Association). He teaches at Rutgers University. He has published and lectured on Aristotle and Ayn Rand and is co-editor of forthcoming books on both thinkers.Richard M. SalsmanSpecialties: Banking, free market economics, economic forecasting, capitalism, investmentsRichard M. Salsman is president and chief market strategist of InterMarket Forecasting, which provides quantitative research and forecasts of stocks, bonds, and currencies to guide the asset allocation decisions of institutional investment managers, mutual funds, and pension plans. He is the author of numerous books and articles on economics, banking, and forecasting from a free-market perspective, including Breaking the Banks: Central Banking Problems and Free Banking Solutions (American Institute for Economic Research, 1990) and Gold and Liberty (American Institute for Economic Research, 1995). Mr. Salsman’s work has appeared in The Intellectual Activist, the New York Times, Investor’s Business Daily, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Barron’s. From 1993 to 1999, he was a senior vice president and senior economist at H. C. Wainwright & Co. Economics. Prior to that he was a banker at Citibank and the Bank of New York. Mr. Salsman is an adjunct fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research and the founder of The Association of Objectivist Businessmen.Lee Sandstead received his B.A. Philosophy/B.S. Mass Communication from Middle Tennessee State University in December 1996, when he was awarded the prestigious award for “Outstanding Magazine Journalism Graduate.” He has studied art history at the University of Memphis’ graduate program, and most recently, the art history doctoral program at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York City. He is a popular writer/photographer/lecturer of art-historical subjects. He has delivered almost 50 keynote lecture-addresses to such prestigious institutions as: Yale, Duke, University of Michigan, Penn State, NYU and the Academy of Realist Art in Toronto. Articles of his have been published in numerous journals, and his photography has been seen in publications such as: The New York Times, Fortune, and Ms. Magazine. He currently teaches art history at Montclair State University and is author of the forthcoming book on American master-sculptor Evelyn Beatrice Longman (1874-1954DINA SCHEIN FEDERMAN (deceased) is completing her article on "Integrity in The Fountainhead_" for ROBERT MAYHEW's upcoming collection of essays. She will also be delivering two lectures at the European Objectivist conference in London this month. Her writing projects include severalarticles on Virtue Ethics, a movement in academic ethics.DANIEL SCHWARTZBA, Liberal Arts, 2006, St. John’s CollegeMr. Schwartz is a doctoral candidate in philosophy at UC San Diego, where he is working on a dissertation titled “Baconian Foundationalism and the Problem of Certainty.” He specializes in early modern philosophy and the history of the philosophy of science.PETER SCHWARTZM.A., Journalism, 1972, Syracuse UniversityPeter Schwartz is the founding editor and publisher of The Intellectual Activist. He is the editor and contributing author of Ayn Rand’s Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution, and is chairman of the board of directors of the Ayn Rand Institute.Thomas ShoebothamMM, Orchestral Conducting, 1996, University of New MexicoMM, Cello Performance, 1992, Eastman School of MusicMr. Shoebotham is music director of the Palo Alto Philharmonic. Previous conducting engagements have included Berkeley Opera, Opera San José, Peninsula Symphony Orchestra and many other groups. He has lectured on music, taught in school music programs and performed numerous recitals as a cellist and pianist over the last twenty years.Stephen SiekPhD, Musicology, 1991, University of CincinnatiDr. Siek, professor emeritus at Wittenberg University, has recently publishedEngland’s Piano Sage: The Life and Teachings of Tobias Matthay. For many years he has lectured and written about the early work of Frank Lloyd Wright, including a scholarly study of Wright’s 1909 home for Burton Westcott in Springfield, Ohio.BRIAN P. SIMPSONPhD, Economics, 2000, George Mason UniversityDr. Simpson is a professor at National University in San Diego. He is author of the book Markets Don’t Fail! and he has a number of papers published in academic journals. He is currently working on another book titled “Money, Banking, and the Business Cycle,” which he hopes to publish soon.Steve SimpsonJD, 1994, New York Law SchoolMr. Simpson is director of legal studies at the Ayn Rand Institute. A former constitutional lawyer for the Institute for Justice, he writes and speaks on a wide variety of legal and constitutional issues, including free speech and campaign finance law, cronyism and government corruption, and the rule of law.Aaron SmithPhD, Philosophy, 2010, Johns Hopkins UniversityDr. Smith is an instructor at the Ayn Rand Institute where he teaches in the Objectivist Academic Center and the Summer Internship program. He lectures for ARI and develops educational content for the Institute’s e-learning programs.Tara SmithPhD, Philosophy, 1989, Johns Hopkins UniversityDr. Smith, professor of philosophy at the University of Texas, holds the BB&T Chair for the Study of Objectivism and the Anthem Foundation Fellowship. She has published books on values, virtues, and individual rights. Her latest, “Judicial Review in an Objective Legal System,” is forthcoming in fall 2015 (Cambridge University Press).MARY ANN SURESM.A., Art History, 1966, Hunter College, New YorkMary Ann Sures taught art history at Washington Square College of N.Y.U. and at Hunter College. She applied Objectivist esthetics to painting and sculpture in a ten-lecture course, “Esthetics of the Visual Arts,” which was written in consultation with Ayn Rand. Her philosophical approach to art history is presented in “Metaphysics in Marble” (The Objectivist, February/March, 1969). She is co-author with her (late) husband Charles of Facets of Ayn Rand (published by the Ayn Rand Institute), memoirs of their longtime friendship with Ayn Rand and her husband Frank O’Connor.C. BRADLEY THOMPSONPh.D., History, 1993, Brown UniversityC. Bradley Thompson is the BB&T Research Professor at Clemson University and the Executive Director of the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism. He has also been a visiting fellow at Princeton and Harvard universities and at the University of London.Professor Thompson is the author of Neoconservatism: An Obituary for an Idea and the prize-winning book John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty. He has also edited The Revolutionary Writings of John Adams, Antislavery Political Writings, 1833-1860: A Reader, co-edited Freedom and School Choice in American Education, and was an associate editor of the four-volume Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment. His current book project is on the ideological origins of American constitutionalism.Dr. Thompson is also an occasional writer for The Times Literary Supplement of London. He has lectured around the country on education reform and the American Revolution, and his op-ed essays have appeared in scores of newspapers around the country and abroad. Dr. Thompson's lectures on the political thought of John Adams have twice appeared on C-SPAN television.LISA VANDAMMEB.A., Philosophy, 1994, University of Texas at AustinLisa VanDamme is the owner and director of VanDamme Academy, a private elementary and junior high school in Laguna Hills, California. She specializes in the application of Objectivism to educational theory. Her previous lectures on homeschooling, hierarchy and the teaching of values will be included in a forthcoming education anthology featuring Leonard Peikoff’s “Philosophy of Education.”Don WatkinsBA, Business Administration, 2005, Strayer UniversityMr. Watkins is a fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute. He is the author of “RooseveltCare: How Social Security Is Sabotaging the Land of Self-Reliance” and coauthor, along with Yaron Brook, of the national best-seller “Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand’s Ideas Can End Big Government.”KEITH WEINERPh.D., Economics, 2012, New Austrian School of Economics (non-accredited)Dr. Weiner is the founder and CEO of Monetary Metals, a company on a mission to pay interest on gold, and the president of the Gold Standard Institute USA.He makes the economic arguments, as well as the moral, for a free market in money and credit. There has never been an unadulterated gold standard in history, as all governments (including the U.S.) have regulated and interfered with banking, even when other enterprises were unshackled. Today our monetary system is failing, and Keith describes the mechanics in detail, why making the passionate case for gold as the money of free markets.He is also the founder of DiamondWare, a software company sold to Nortel in 2008.Glenn WoiceshynSpecialties: Education, ethics, environmentalism, science, politics.Mr. Woiceshyn is currently developing curriculum and teaching materials for grades 4 to 6 based on his understanding of Objectivism and his experience in "homeschooling" his son and other children. As a freelance writer, Mr. Woiceshyn's op-eds have appeared in numerous newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, Houston Chronicle, Philadelphia Inquirer, Baltimore Sun and Miami Herald.JAANA WOICESHYNM.B.A., 1983, Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration; Ph.D., Organization and Strategy, 1988, University of Pennsylvania (Wharton School)Dr. Woiceshyn is an associate professor at the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary. She has taught business ethics and strategic management to undergraduate, MBA and executive MBA students and to various business audiences since 1987.BARRY WOODPh.D., History of Art and Architecture, 2002, Harvard UniversityDr. Wood is curator of the Islamic Gallery Project at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. He has lectured and published on subjects ranging from Persian poetry to Web design.Darryl WrightSpecialties: Ethics, political philosophy, ObjectivismDarryl Wright is associate professor of philosophy at Harvey Mudd College, a member of the Claremont Colleges consortium. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Michigan in 1991, and his A.B. in philosophy from Princeton University in 1985. Dr. Wright has published scholarly articles and/or lectured on the history of ethics, early twentieth-century philosophy, value theory, coercion, and other topics in philosophy.

Artificial Intelligence is usually conceived of as doing more than just computing numbers, such as a calculator, but is more conceptual in nature, such as describing subjective qualities or giving meanings to different contexts.Here are the best Universities according to your preference in Artificial Intelligence in the USA or Canada.Artificial Intelligence colleges in the United States.York University (tie)York University is located north of Toronto and is Canada’s third-largest public university with nearly 60,000 students. With over 5000 courses spread across 11 faculties in schools, there’s something for nearly everyone at York U. The school maintains state-of-the-art facilities and some excellent research funding, including the Sherman Health Sciences Research Centre, which specializes in biomechanics and robotics.Computer Science at York is managed through the Lassonde School of Engineering. Offering both Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science in Computer Science degrees at the undergraduate level, York encourages its students to think outside the box and explore other disciplines. International BA and BSc programs are also available, which integrate a study-abroad component. Areas of strength in research at the graduate level include Artificial Intelligence, Micro/Nanoelectronics, Human-centered computing, and more.Queen’s UniversityQueen’s University is a Canadian icon. Located in Kingston Ontario, the school is known for its old-world architecture, a vibrant student life, and outstanding programming and research. Neo-Gothic limestone study halls — most from the 19th century — dot this neighborhood full of students, artists, researchers, and academics.The School of Computing at Queen’s University offers a dizzying range of course combinations leading to a degree in Computer Science. Students registered in Commerce, Nursing, and Applied Science may pursue a Computing General degree concurrently with their studies. Multi-disciplinary programs allow students to combine elements of visual arts, biomedical computing, cognitive science, and more with their computer science concentration. The School is also active in research, with specializations including Information Systems, Human-Machine learning, Design and Analysis of Algorithms, Computational Linguistics, Perception and Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and more.Thinking to do Diploma in computer science engineeringArtificial Intelligence colleges in the United States.1. Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA)At Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science, a more intimate and personal connection is held to the study of Artificial Intelligence due to the legacy of researchers and professors Herbert Simon and Allen Newell. Thanks to Simon and Newell’s groundbreaking accomplishments in the field, the study of Artificial Intelligence is one of the most interdisciplinary areas at Carnegie Mellon, with involvement from faculty and students in the departments of Computer Science, Statistics, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the Tepper School of Business.Historic achievements, such as the CoBots, have been produced from the research teams of AI. CoBots are mobile intelligent robots that have been designed to be “aware of their perceptual, physical, and reasoning limitations and proactively ask for help from humans”. Additionally, the Libratus program, developed by Professor Tuomas Sandholm and Ph.D. student Noam Brown, has beaten professional No-Limit Texas Hold’Em poker players with its “ability to reason when faced with incomplete or misleading information”. Not surprisingly, many students from Carnegie Mellon studying AI participate in the DARPA Robotics Challenge. All levels of study, from Bachelor to Doctorate, are available.2. Stanford University (Stanford, CA)With its ideal location in the heart of Silicon Valley of California, Stanford University has established itself as a world-leading teaching and research institution for higher education, particularly in the sciences. One of the most cutting-edge research areas of our time, Artificial Intelligence, has been studied at Stanford since 1962. The Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory offers various courses, hosts engaging events, and manages outreach programs to local schools. Courses include topics such as the Cutting Edge of Computer Vision, Decision Making Under Uncertainty, and Advanced Robotic Manipulation.Students who enroll in the Graduate Certificate in Artificial Intelligence through the Center for Professional Development will find the AI Laboratory to be one of their greatest resources. This 13 to 15 unit degree is ideal for software engineering interested in the AI specialization. Currently, there are four required courses: Logic and Automated Reasoning, Artificial Intelligence: Principles and Techniques, and two electives of the student’s choice. These may include Natural Language Processing with Deep Learning, Machine Learning, and Computer Vision: From 3-D Reconstruction to Recognition. Students have a maximum of three years to complete the Certificate.3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology “MIT” (Cambridge, MA)MIT itself was founded in 1861 in response to the growing industrial capacity of America and the need for more technologically minded personnel. As a result, the majority of programs offered at MIT are technology-based, and thus many are related to the study of Artificial Intelligence.In 1959 the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory began its own research and experimentation, and in 1963 the Laboratory for Computer Science was opened. As the projects became more and more interconnected, the two labs merged in 2003 to create the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, the largest and most prominent of the MIT laboratories.Currently, there are more than 100 senior researchers and faculty members representing eight academic departments, managing more than 50 research groups and hundreds of projects. Other participants include 40 postdoctoral fellows and associates, 350 graduate students, and approximately 50 undergraduate students. In total there are over 1,000 members of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. All research and experimentation fall under three generalized categories: Artificial Intelligence, Systems, and Theory.4. The University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA)The oldest of the institutes for higher education in the California system, Berkeley has an extensive array of facilities and persons dedicated to the teaching and research of Artificial Intelligence. Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research Laboratory includes more than two dozen faculty members and over a hundred graduate students. In addition to research opportunities the AI lab offers seminars and courses such as Computational Imagining and Robotic Manipulation and Interaction.The Robotics and Intelligent Machines Laboratory at Berkeley includes:Biomimetics Millisystem LabCITRIS People and Robots InitiativeBerkeley Laboratory for Automation Science and EngineeringRobot Learning GroupAutomated Science and EngineeringEmbedded Human projectBerkeley AeRobot (BEAR) projectComputer Vision groupMedical Robotics at BerkeleyNetwork Embedded Systems TechnologyOther research centers include the Laboratory for Information and System Science, the Vision and Learning Center, the Center for Human Compatible Artificial Intelligence, and the International Computer Science Institute.Much of the study of AI is affiliated with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences.5. Yale University (New Haven, CT)Alan Perlis joined Yale University in the early 1970s and helped found the Department of Computer Science. At that time there were only four main areas of study: Theory of Computation, Artificial Intelligence, Numerical Analysis, and Systems.Today the department prides itself on the interdisciplinary nature of its subject and maintains connections with other departments including psychology, linguistics, music, medicine, and many others. The diversity of the degrees available has also increased to include the four-year Bachelor of Science or Art degrees, a terminal Master of Science degree, and a Doctor of Philosophy.In honor of Perlis’ contributions, the Alan J. Perlis Symposium has been held annually since 1992. Distinguished lecturers and researchers in the Computer Science field from around the world are invited to speak on a relevant and cutting-edge topic. At Yale, research is carried out in the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and the Center for Computational Vision and Control. The research here particularly focuses on equipping machines so that they can interpret the vague data received from sensors. This research is critical for enabling AI to interact with the 3 dimensional, non-digital world.6. Cornell University (Ithaca, NY)Cornell University has one of the oldest Computer Science departments in the United States, established in 1965. The department has grown to include nearly 40 full-time faculty members, which includes six members of the National Academy of Engineering, one MacArthur Fellow, eight NSF Presidential Young Investigators, and two Turing Award recipients. The student body includes more than 250 graduates and approximately 700 undergraduates.The department maintains 12 major avenues of research in areas such as Graphics, Programming Languages, Robotics, Scientific Computing, and Artificial Intelligence. Research groups specific to Artificial Intelligence are working in areas that include:Computational sustainabilityGame and decision theory, connections to economicsKnowledge representation and reasoningMachine learningNatural language processing, computational linguistics, and information retrievalRoboticsVisionStudents and faculty also have access to the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute. This historic partnership between Cornell and the Israel Institute of Technology was announced in 2011, with the vision of developing new academic programs “that blend technical depth, business know-how, design skills, and a ‘builder’ mindset”.7. University of Illinois (Urbana/Champaign, IL)At the University of Illinois, the study of computers can be traced back to 1946. Today the Department of Computer Science can be found through the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Of the 70 majors offered by the school, seven-degree programs are available through the department, including Computer Science and Anthropology, Computer Science and Astronomy, Computer Science and Chemistry, and Computer Science and Linguistics. There are more than 90 courses related to the Computer Science field.The Artificial Intelligence Laboratory was opened in 1991 with the primary focus of applying AI methodologies to real-world issues. Current projects of the lab include Data Mining for Manufacturing and Design Processes, Biological Motif Modeling, and Automating the Evolution of Linguistic Competence in Artificial Agents. Faculty members involved with this research include Dr. Peter C. Nelson, Dr. Barbara Di Eugenio, and Dr. Bing Liu. Other facilities investigating areas specific to the research of Artificial Intelligence include the Beckman Institute, the Natural Language Processing group, and the Speech and Language Engineering group.8. University of Georgia (Athens, GA)The first Artificial Intelligence group at the University of Georgia was formed in 1984. These dedicated researchers, including faculty members from the departments of Computer Science, Philosophy, Psychology, Linguistics, and Engineering, made great strides in advancing the program. The Artificial Intelligence Center was formally established in 1995. In 2006 the Center became a part of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, and in 2008 became the Institute for Artificial Intelligence.Today the Institute is affiliated with more than 75 faculty members and researchers from more than 10 countries. There are two major academic programs offered: the Bachelor of Arts in Cognitive Science and the Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence. Within the Bachelor’s program, there are four areas of concentration: Artificial Intelligence Foundations, Philosophical Foundations, Psychological Foundations, and Language and Culture. The Master’s program has 11 areas of specialization, including genetic algorithms, cognitive modeling, microelectronics, logic programming, and robotics.9. Colorado State University (Fort Collins, CO)Of the eight colleges which comprise Colorado State University, it is the College of Natural Sciences which hosts the Department of Computer Science. Originally located within the Department of Mathematics, Computer Science became its own independent area of study in 1974. There are currently 23 faculty members, more than 650 undergraduate students, and over 140 graduate students within the department. Activities hosted by the department include a weekly colloquium, the Association for Computing Machinery organization, and the AMC Women in Computing club. The Artificial Intelligence program within the department consists of six faculty members and approximately 30 graduate students.Research areas of the department include the High-Performance Computing group, the Computer Vision and Graphics group, and the Artificial Intelligence group. Projects specific to Artificial Intelligence include Reinforcement Learning and Control, EEG Pattern Analysis for Brain-Computer Interfaces, and Intelligence Agents for Protecting Users in Cyberspace. The program has particular strengths in the interface between biology and AI. For instance, they are currently doing research on genetic algorithms and bioinformatics. The university uses a four-course core to lay the foundation for students interested in AI research.10.Eastern Michigan University (Ypsilanti, MI)In the College of Arts and Sciences at Eastern Michigan University, students will find the Department of Computer Science. Going back to the 1980s, students were able to enroll in computer science undergraduate majors through the Mathematics Department. In 1985 Computer Science split from the Mathematics department to create its own field of study. As it continued to expand, the new Computer Science department added Master’s studies by the late 1990s.Currently headed by Professor Augustine Ikeji, the department has recently added courses in data mining, mobile application, and web science. The diversity of the faculty also continues to increase with professors from seven countries and three continents. Though no doctoral studies in computer science are available as of yet, there is a 12-hour graduate certificate offered in Artificial Intelligence. In addition, Eastern Michigan offers the Master’s of Science in Computer Science, and a double Master’s degree with Hochschule Karlsruhe – Technik und Wirtschaft, the University of Applied Science in Germany.Thinking to do masters in any other course, see the Cheapest colleges in the USA.

Prepared originally under the title "The Role of Philosophy Programs in Higher Education” by the American Philosophical Association’s committee on the status and future of the profession. Approved by the APA board of officers, October 1979. Revised in 2007-2008 by the committee on the status and future of the profession. Revisions approved by the APA board of officers, November 2008.The following statement attempts to present a concise yet compelling vision of the role of philosophy in higher education. This statement is not intended to be exhaustive, and many of its points will apply more to some institutions than to others. But most of the points have important bearing on any institution of higher learning, and some of them speak directly to current concerns about the preparation of undergraduates both for suitable employment and for responsible participation in a democratic society.Higher education in America frequently undergoes reassessment, external and internal, formal and informal. Colleges and universities review their programs; the officials who determine the budgets scrutinize costs and benefits; students and potential students compare institutions for quality and relevance to their degree goals. This intensive reassessment can be due to changing demographics, rising costs, and in many institutions, a growing concern by students with the likelihood that their courses will help them to find rewarding employment. Internal reassessment can be a sign of responsible self-analysis, and—even apart from exercises carried out for purposes of accreditation—is frequently mandated periodically by policies set in place by institutions themselves. Occasions like these provide an opportunity for philosophers and philosophy programs to state or restate the case for their centrality and indispensability to their institutions’ mission. We believe that this statement can be helpful in making that case. We also believe that this statement can be of use to admissions offices, deans’ offices, and development offices, in furtherance of the tasks of student recruitment and donor development.The following remarks are divided into six major sections. We begin by discussing (1) a philosophy program’s fundamental contributions to education. We then turn to (2) its contributions to an institution’s core curriculum. After that we comment on (3) philosophy’s relations to other areas of inquiry. We describe in section (4) the contributions that philosophers can make beyond the curriculum. After briefly discussing (5) different levels of philosophy programs, we conclude with some remarks on (6) how one might go about measuring the success of philosophy programs.1. Fundamental Contributions to EducationThe discipline of philosophy contributes in an indispensable way to the realization of four goals that should be fundamental to any institution of higher learning: instilling habits of critical thinking in students; enhancing their reading, writing, and public speaking skills; transmitting cultural heritages to them; stimulating them to engage fundamental questions about reality, knowledge, and value.Thinking CriticallyTexts, lectures, websites, and other media can be invaluable sources of information, concepts, theories, intellectual perspectives, and evaluative viewpoints. Their sheer quantity and diversity, however, raises three problems for their potential consumer—how to discriminate between information and misinformation, how to distinguish between what is central to a particular topic and what is peripheral, and what is likely to be fruitful as opposed to what is barren. Intellectually engaged readers, listeners, and viewers must have skills and attitudes that enable them to confront these problems and navigate successfully through these media.A basic skill is the ability to reconstruct an author’s viewpoint or argument in such a way that the reconstruction is fair to the author and intelligible to someone who is not already aware of the issues involved. In service of the goals of representational accuracy and intelligibility, all philosophy courses emphasize the importance of attending to the author’s thesis and the author’s reasons for espousing the thesis. Not infrequently this task will involve stating the thesis more clearly than the author’s text itself does, along with reconstructing on the author’s behalf arguments that may not be fully stated in the text. Accurate exposition of a viewpoint typically requires some sensitivity to the author’s conceptual framework. The reconstruction of arguments requires some facility with the techniques of logical inference. Finally, students need to learn to disentangle what they themselves believe and thus, perhaps, want an author to say from what the author actually does say. Some viewpoints may be alien—even offensive—to a student. But without a fair, accurate, and intelligible representation of those viewpoints, students will be at a disadvantage in criticizing viewpoints they find objectionable.Taking a responsible critical stance towards a viewpoint requires attitudes of benign skepticism and an openness to being puzzled. A prominent pedagogical model in higher academia is that of active rather than passive learning, according to which students are not conceptualized as receptacles of information but as active participants in the learning process, motivated, frequently, by curiosity. A central component of active learning is learning how to challenge texts and their authors, not to see them as unquestionable authorities, but as meriting further clarification, interpretation, critical challenge, and development. In teaching students to adopt attitudes of benign skepticism and puzzlement, philosophy courses teach students to become more active and independent inquirers.Reading, Writing, Verbal CommunicationBecause many philosophical texts are quite demanding on their readers, one central aim of philosophy courses is to teach students how to read, comprehend, and summarize conceptually difficult material. Students are asked to pay careful attention to conceptual distinctions, to isolate central from peripheral points, to be alert for ambiguities and invalid inferences—in sum, to take an active rather than passive approach to reading. The skills developed in learning how to manage difficult theoretical texts are skills that will serve a student well in many other venues, both within and outside academia’s walls.Although it is an accomplishment for a student to be able to write clear expository prose about a philosophical view, many philosophy courses, especially above the introductory level, stress the importance of learning how to do philosophy, which includes formulating, articulating, and defending one’s own views. No other discipline emphasizes, in the same ways, verbal argumentation and conceptual analysis. Few other disciplines emphasize, to the same degree, students producing their own theories or critical assessments, as distinct from the exposition of existing material. The argument-focused nature of philosophy requires students to become better writers and speakers if they are to succeed in their courses. For this reason many philosophy classes are, whenever appropriate, heavily discussion-based. The discussion can be Socratic: students learn to subject opinions to logical scrutiny by asking pertinent questions, constructing relevant analogies, and critically assessing the consequences of the viewpoints expressed. Students learn the importance of accurate interpretation, logical organization, clarity of expression, due consideration for others’ positions, the use of concrete illustrative examples, and staying focused on the issues at hand. These qualities of philosophical training in writing and speaking make well-taught courses in philosophy especially valuable to pre-professional students as well as to those pursuing a more general education.The Transmission of Cultural HeritageMore so than any other academic discipline, philosophy studies the history of ideas and texts that have profoundly shaped Western thought about basic ethical values, political systems and ideals, human rights, the human good, the nature of knowledge and science, and the fundamental structure of reality. The history of philosophy is virtually the history of our intellectual heritage. It is hard to overestimate the ways in which our contemporary thought has been influenced by such philosophers as Plato, Aristotle, and others. Their texts repay careful study, not only because in learning about them we learn something about ourselves, but also because the issues they raise and arguments they present are perennial, as timely now as they were then.In recent years, philosophy departments have become increasingly mindful that the traditional Western canon needs to be located within a plurality of intellectual traditions. Some departments now offer courses in Asian philosophy (Chinese, Japanese, Indian, and Near Eastern philosophies), African philosophy, Latin American philosophy, and African-American philosophy.Reality, Knowledge, and ValueInquisitive students can find themselves engaging in metaphysical thought when, for example, they wonder whether the world described by the natural sciences is all that exists, or whether humans have freedom of will if the world is deterministic, or whether there is an afterlife. They raise questions in epistemology when they inquire about the scope and limits of human knowledge: How much, if anything, can be known for certain? What are the sources of knowledge? When is it legitimate to accept the testimony of others, and on what grounds? Exposure to the diversity of outlook and opinion that one encounters in a typical college community may lead students to question whether the values they hold can be rationally defended against the charge that they are nothing more than the product of their upbringing.Philosophers have thought deeply and systematically about these fundamental questions in a way that no other discipline has. As a result, philosophers can help students grapple intellectually with the questions, not only in philosophy courses but also in various interdisciplinary programs, to be discussed a bit more fully in section (3) below.2. Contributions to an Institution’s Core CurriculumMany institutions have college- or university-wide course requirements for their students, typically aimed at such goals as critical thinking or logical reasoning, sensitivity to values, and awareness of global issues. Philosophy departments are strongly positioned to contribute courses and programs that further these goals.Logical ReasoningIf the aim of a particular core requirement is to develop habits of careful, critical thought in students, then philosophy is especially well-suited to the realization of this aim (see the remarks under Thinking Critically in the previous section). The study of philosophy helps students to develop both their capacity and their inclination to do critical thinking. Other disciplines also help in fulfilling this function, but philosophy contributes distinctively, intensively, and extensively to a student’s ability to think critically. Many philosophy departments regularly offer a course devoted exclusively to the topic of critical thinking.Philosophy courses can also contribute admirably to curricula that stress more formal modes of logical reasoning, emphasizing the goals of quantitative literacy and symbolic reasoning. Successful courses in the disciplines of mathematics, statistics, and computer science that aim at such a goal succeed by inculcating the skills of reasoning rigorously and logically in students. Philosophy courses in formal logic focus on those skills that are common to all these disciplines.ValuesQuestions of value are among the most important and most difficult questions that students face. Philosophy courses in ethics, social and political philosophy, philosophy of law, philosophy of medicine, bioethics, environmental ethics, and aesthetics prepare students to be thoughtful, discriminating, and responsible citizens.Philosophy departments standardly offer introductory ethics courses in which students are exposed both to the dominant methods for reasoning about ethical issues and to some array of contemporary moral problems. These courses aim at giving students the conceptual tools necessary for thinking in greater depth about moral problems, an appreciation for competing moral positions, and an opportunity to develop and present their own moral views. Some of the central questions that ethics courses are likely to address are: What are the relations among morality, self-interest, religion, and law? What, if any, are the basic moral rights of persons? What, if any, moral obligations do we have to other persons, animals, the environment, and future generations? No other discipline treats these questions in the same comprehensive and systematic ways.In institutions offering academic programs in law (or pre-law), business, medicine, nursing, engineering, and other professional areas, specialized courses in applied ethics such as biomedical ethics or business ethics are important service courses that can be offered by philosophy departments. Institutions with programs in education and the fine arts, including literature, will find courses in the philosophy of education and aesthetics and the philosophy of art attractive.Global IssuesPhilosophers have made and continue to make significant contributions to ongoing debates on a number of issues that go beyond national boundaries, such as environmental pollution, global climate change, and the status of global ecosystems; global trade and national exploitation; human rights; humanitarian intervention vs. national sovereignty; war; international law; terrorism and the status of combatants and noncombatants; foreign aid and famine relief; medical experimentation in third-world countries; and the repatriation of cultural objects.3. Relations to Other Areas of Intellectual InquiryMention of global issues at the end of the previous section suggests one way in which philosophy can collaborate fruitfully with other disciplines, such as the environmental sciences, economics, political science, and law in the examination of a family of issues. In addition to interdisciplinary collaboration, philosophy can contribute to the examination of a discipline’s foundations.Contributions to Interdisciplinary ProgramsInterdisciplinary programs are now prominent in many colleges and universities. Fine arts programs can benefit from courses in aesthetics. History of ancient philosophy courses can contribute to classics programs. European studies programs can benefit from courses in history of medieval and modern philosophy. Other programs include, but are not confined to, women’s and gender studies, sexuality studies, cognitive science, international studies, justice studies, legal studies, environmental studies, Latin American studies, East Asian studies, African studies, African-American studies, science and technology, and sustainability studies. The development of such programs has proceeded by various disciplines extending their attention to topics that have recently emerged or had hitherto been left ignored. Philosophy is a discipline very well suited to making contributions to interdisciplinary programs and many philosophers are now applying their skills in these areas. On many campuses philosophy courses already occupy an essential place in the curriculum for such programs, including required courses for majors. One sign of the liveliness and rigor of philosophical contributions to interdisciplinary programs is the number of specialized philosophical journals now dedicated to their study.Philosophy played a pioneering role in the development of feminist theory and continues to have a place both in women’s and gender studies and the more recently developed sexuality studies programs. Some of the most important, ground-level work in cognitive science has been done by philosophers. Philosophers specializing in social and political philosophy have devoted considerable attention in recent decades to the development of theories of human rights, responsibility for global poverty, just international intervention, cosmopolitanism, and international law—areas of intellectual labor that lend themselves to inclusion in programs in international studies and justice studies. Such programs, along with programs in legal studies, would also benefit by including a philosophy of law course that lays emphasis on conceptions of justice, democratic theory, and the justification of political authority and legal obligation. Environmental philosophy and environmental ethics are central components of environmental studies programs. Courses in non-Western philosophies (or non-canonical Western philosophy) have much to offer regionally oriented interdisciplinary and ethnic studies programs, such as Latin American studies, East Asian studies, African studies, and African-American studies. Various kinds of philosophy of science courses can be valuable to a program in science and technology. Sustainability studies would be enhanced by courses in the philosophy of environmental science and environmental ethics.Foundational Questions and Concepts in the DisciplinesWhile philosophy is not inherently interdisciplinary, philosophy is inherently connected to a very wide array of other disciplines. The curriculum of a typical philosophy department will include many of the following courses: philosophy of science, mind, language, law, art, literature, education, and religion, as well as social and political philosophy, feminist philosophy, biomedical ethics, business ethics, and environmental ethics. Given this array of course possibilities, it is not surprising that students who major in philosophy also major or minor in another area, and that students majoring in other areas take some cognate philosophy courses, quite frequently at the mid and upper levels.An important and traditional function of philosophy is to foster deeper reflection on the concepts, methods, and issues that are fundamental within other disciplines. For instance, although scientific explanation is, in one form or another, common to all the sciences, conceptual questions about its nature and comparative questions about its logic in the different sciences belong to the philosophy of science. Some of these questions have been treated by scientists, but rarely with the comprehensiveness and generality required for a synoptic understanding of the topic.Philosophy also critically examines methods of inquiry in the natural sciences and social sciences. Every discipline generates some essentially philosophical questions about itself. To take two examples, psychology generates questions about what counts as a mind, the relation of mental states to brain states, and the compatibility of a scientific study of the mind with ethical assumptions about human freedom and responsibility. Law generates questions about what a law is, what distinguishes good laws from bad laws, and what conditions are necessary for there to be legitimate international law. Every discipline also makes some tacit assumptions about the possibility of knowledge, the nature of the reality studied by that discipline, and what the value of the discipline is. The philosophical fields of epistemology, metaphysics, and metaethics address the most basic questions about the nature of knowledge, reality, and value.In exploring concepts and methods of inquiry used by other disciplines, in taking up questions that disciplines generate about their own subject matter, and in examining the questions that are fundamental to any area of inquiry concerned with producing knowledge about the world and making value claims about that knowledge, philosophy fulfills a unique and important role as a meta-discipline. It provides a kind of understanding of the other disciplines, particularly of their presuppositions, standards of evidence, and modes of explanation, that other fields of study neither attempt nor are able to provide.The potential value of a strong philosophy department for other disciplines must not be taken, however, to suggest that philosophy programs can be appropriately absorbed into others, whether they be humanities departments or broad divisions such as those comprising the social sciences. Philosophy is methodologically distinct, and it pursues a distinct set of questions. An autonomous philosophy program is vital both for these reasons and in order to maximize the contribution that philosophers, unencumbered by the constraints, special standards, or narrower subject matter of other disciplines, can make to their colleagues and students.4. Contributions beyond the CurriculumIn such areas as public service, continuing education, alumni relations, consultation, and public visibility, philosophers can excel in representing and furthering the interests of their institutions.Public ServiceColleges and universities quite properly feel obligations to the communities in which they exist and the populations from which they draw their students. Philosophers can contribute greatly to fulfilling these obligations. In most communities there is much concern with a variety of public policy issues, for instance crime and punishment, welfare, medical care, environmental stewardship, and nuclear plants. Philosophers are generally competent to speak informatively on certain important aspects of these issues, particularly the normative aspects, which are often the most important. Under various different sorts of auspices many philosophers have addressed public audiences on such issues. The results have often enhanced public understanding both of the issues under discussion and of the relevance of philosophical reflection to questions of public policy.Continuing Education and Alumni RelationsHeightened demand for classes has resulted in a new emphasis on "continuing education” courses. These courses are designed mainly for adults over the typical college age who want enrichment or wish an extension of their post-secondary education. Often, such people want to reflect on normative issues, to discover or return to some of the perennial questions, or simply to try something new. Philosophy has much to offer them. This fact needs wider recognition by administrators, academic advisors, and philosophers themselves. In many cases, a school’s alumni would be interested in programs or short courses in philosophy. Philosophy departments can contribute significantly to satisfying the needs of alumni and many others above the usual college age, whether they seek mainly the intellectual enrichment of philosophy or some of the conceptual and other general skills that the study of philosophy can help to develop.ConsultationMany philosophers have been consultants to institutions, agencies, businesses, and the like, but we suspect that their use in the capacity of consultation could be successfully extended. Philosophers have helped to frame policies in the medical, business, and legal fields, as well as with respect to scientific experimentation. Hospital ethics committees often include a professional philosopher. In addition, philosophers can frequently give useful testimony at hearings on proposed legislation or on projected public policies, and they can often advise groups of citizens who are trying to accomplish various projects through seeking grants or government funding. Such activities by philosophers are becoming more common. We believe that the record of their success to date confirms the value of philosophical skills in assessing public policy options and in guiding both the formation of large scale plans and the solution of non-academic problems.Public IntellectualsIn the first half of the twentieth century, American thought was heavily influenced by two philosophers, William James and John Dewey, whose distinctive views affected not only philosophy but also psychology, education, political thought, religion, and aesthetics. James and Dewey were prototypes of the so-called public intellectual, scholars whose thought attracted an audience beyond the walls of ivy. Their views contributed to the public understanding of, and public debate about, pressing contemporary questions. With the ascendancy of electronic media and the increasing complexity of knowledge, the importance of the public intellectual has been magnified. There are outstanding examples of physicists, biologists, economists, and political theorists who have made their respective fields of inquiry intelligible to the educated layperson and who have not shied away from defending their distinctive positions amid intellectual controversy.The population of philosophers in the United States is small compared to the populations of many other academic disciplines. Yet over the past few decades philosophers have had at least their share of influence on public thought and debate. To cite some examples:John Rawls on justice and political liberalismRichard Rorty on knowledge and realityMartha Nussbaum on education in the humanities, global justice, and liberty of consciencePeter Singer on the ethics of food consumptionSissela Bok on lying and public officialsRuth Macklin on the ethics of health care decision makingDaniel Dennett on evolutionary naturalismRonald Dworkin on the nature of law and its interpretationKwame Anthony Appiah on cosmopolitanismArthur Danto on aesthetics and art criticismJohn Searle on minds and machinesPhilosophers frequently articulate and defend positions that are controversial. Philosophy tends not to flourish in oppressive regimes. In this way many philosophers still emulate Socrates, who took himself to be the gadfly of Athens.5. Service, Major, and Graduate Programs in PhilosophyDepending on an institution of higher education’s size and educational aspirations, there are five levels of philosophy program to which it may be committed, namely, service courses, an undergraduate minor, an undergraduate major, a master’s degree, and a doctoral degree.Service CoursesAn institution that offers only service courses in philosophy offers philosophy courses without providing for a minor or major in the discipline. The institution may thus not have a free-standing philosophy department. It is important to stress that service courses must be taught by faculty with adequate formal training in the discipline. An adequate presentation of philosophical positions quite often requires knowing the history of the discipline and knowing how arguments are developed. For that reason philosophy courses taught by those without professional training in philosophy at the graduate level are no more suitable in the context of higher education than economics courses taught by those without high level training in economics. If an institution cannot staff such service courses with properly trained philosophers, it would be better not to offer them at all.The way in which philosophy can effectively serve an institution depends to some extent on the educational mission of the institution: one would not expect to find the same philosophy course offerings, for example, in an institute of technology as in a military academy. Contingent upon an institution’s academic mission, a good service program might have some combination of the following components: (1) A basic introductory survey course; (2) an introduction to logic by way of either critical thinking or more formal techniques; (3) some appropriate "philosophy of” courses, for instance, philosophy of art, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, philosophy of religion, philosophy of science, philosophy of law, or philosophy of education; (4) some courses in ethics, including applied ethics, for example, medical ethics, environmental ethics, business ethics, or values and technology; and (5) some courses in social and political philosophy.Undergraduate Minor and Major ProgramsGiven a strong core of service courses, the addition to it of courses such as history of ancient philosophy, history of modern philosophy, metaphysics, and theory of knowledge would meet the minimum requirements for an adequate undergraduate major. With a sufficient diversity of courses to offer a major, a department can tailor an undergraduate minor to fit the needs of its home institution. Such a minor might, for example, be interdisciplinary. Until recently institutions have enjoyed a "buyer’s market” vis-à-vis faculty recruitment, especially with respect to new PhDs in the humanities. The profession of philosophy, largely under the leadership of the American Philosophical Association, has taken steps which, together with a pattern of a significant number of faculty approaching retirement, have gradually moved the market toward equilibrium between supply and demand of PhDs. Although the job market remains stringent for candidates, it is also becoming more difficult for employers to hire their top choices. Institutions that aspire to offer an undergraduate major in philosophy will find themselves in a stronger position to recruit better teachers.Graduate ProgramsThe value of philosophy graduate programs must be understood differently. At least three points should be added to what has already been said about philosophy programs: that teaching is not the only activity for which advanced philosophy training can prepare a person; that, in part for reasons indicated above, advanced work in philosophy is important to various non-philosophers, both in the academic world and outside it; and that MA programs in philosophy can effectively serve certain people preparing for a non-academic profession, such as law or public service. We must also emphasize that for many universities, graduate programs in philosophy "pay their own way” by generating more tuition revenue to the university than it costs to pay for departmental salaries, stipends, and overhead. It is true, however, that because of the writing-intensive nature of many courses in philosophy, the faculty-student ratio is even more important than in many other disciplines.There are at least two other reasons for the value of philosophy graduate programs. They are needed in order to prepare the next generation of the professoriate in both research and teaching. Moreover, in philosophy, the relation between teaching and research is especially close, and reducing or eliminating a graduate program is very likely (in some cases certain) to weaken undergraduate teaching. It would almost certainly hinder research that supports undergraduate teaching. Philosophy is unlike many fields in that the content even of beginning courses is greatly affected by the instructor’s research. Controversial issues like the relation between mind and body come into introductory courses, and what a teacher has to say about the issues depends heavily on a grasp of sophisticated argumentation that may underlie—indeed, may be necessary for giving—a clear and simple presentation, even though it may never enter the class discussion. This observation implies no negative attitude toward any other field; the point is to emphasize that philosophical research supports and is often necessary for good teaching in philosophy, even at the lower levels.6. Measures of Programmatic SuccessThe following remarks suggest ways in which the success of a philosophy program can be measured. One such internal measure is provided by an institution’s outcomes assessment policies and procedures. (The American Philosophical Associations’s statement on outcomes assessment can be found at its website: www.apaonline.org.) In this section we address two different issues. We begin by expressing some skepticism about overly simplistic quantitative measures. We then turn to the issue of success from the student’s point of view, in particular, how a background in philosophy contributes to a student’s employment prospects.Enrollments and Grants: Cautionary RemarksIt would be a mistake to assess the value of a philosophy program by its enrollment figures. Few students entering college have had much exposure to philosophy. The same is true of such disciplines as economics, anthropology, and sociology, but students can quickly see the practical application of these disciplines to the study of human behavior. Philosophy can seem initially to be more esoteric, especially in light of its invisibility in most secondary school curriculums in the United States. With the exception of church-affiliated institutions, which often require multiple philosophy courses of all students, very few colleges or universities have any formal philosophy course requirement. Students thus quite often enroll in a philosophy course simply to fulfill an institutional requirement or to sample an intriguing elective. Moreover, philosophy can be a demanding discipline. In most colleges and universities the number of biology majors exceeds the number of physics majors. One should not infer from that phenomenon that physics is therefore less central than biology. For these reasons the importance of a philosophy program to an institution’s academic mission is not apt to be measured accurately by total course enrollments or total number of majors.Because research in philosophy is relatively inexpensive to conduct, and because large grants comparable to those in the sciences are not available in humanities disciplines, philosophy departments run the risk of being marginalized within institutional priorities. Rather than in terms of grant-generating capacity, philosophy programs are better assessed in terms of their capacity to train a next generation of culturally literate, articulate, critically minded, and well-informed citizens prepared to engage responsibly and creatively with the global social, economic, political, and cultural problems of the future.Employment ProspectsBecause the cost of a college education continues to rise, quite often more rapidly than inflation, students want their investment to pay off by improving their prospects for employment. It may be surprising at first to discover that the discipline of philosophy confers a number of marketable skills.Unless a student majors in a pre-professional area, such as education, engineering, or nursing, or plans to parlay an undergraduate major (for example, mathematics or English) into a career in primary or secondary school education, no major directly prepares students to enter the workforce. Students are not likely to make significant use on the job of the information acquired as an undergraduate. What students will find most significant to their future employment prospects, other than the sheer possession of a college degree, are the transferable skills acquired during their undergraduate career, skills in writing, analytical, critical, and creative thinking, public speaking, and the like. Such basic skills are portable across many job areas.That the discipline of philosophy trains students in highly transferable skills is evidenced by the fact that philosophy majors perform exceptionally well on the Law School Admission Test, the Graduate Management Admission Test, and the Graduate Record Examination. During the most recent period for which results are available, philosophy majors had the highest average scores of all majors on both the verbal and analytical writing sections of the GRE. On recent LSAT results, philosophy students performed better than any other discipline. *Philosophy teaches students how to think well, a quality prized by many employers. Philosophers are good atSummarizing and logically organizing complex informationPrioritizing questions and issuesEvaluating opposing viewsDetermining the morally relevant features of situations, actions, and policiesTaking principled approaches to problem-solvingThinking of alternative approaches and solutionsWriting in a clear, focused wayReasoning persuasively, both in writing and orallyOffering and accepting criticism without personalizing it, and tolerating uncertaintyGiven the marketability of these skills, it is perhaps no surprise that philosophy is becoming an increasingly popular area of study.ConclusionFar from being an academic luxury, philosophy should play a central part in any well balanced college or university curricula. The study of philosophy contributes distinctively and substantially to the development of students’ critical thinking. It enhances their ability to deal rationally with issues of value and ethical responsibility. It extends their understanding of interdisciplinary questions. It strengthens their grasp of our intellectual history and of our culture in relation to others. It increases their capacity to articulate and assess world views. And it improves their skills in writing and speaking.Philosophers themselves can contribute substantially to rational decision making both on their campuses and in their communities. Because of their breadth, their analytical skills, their interdisciplinary perspective, and their training in dealing with normative questions, they can contribute cogently to resolving public policy issues; and they can offer out-of-school adults, whether in public lectures, in workshops, or in continuing education courses, a unique approach to important topics. Philosophers can also serve as consultants on a variety of problems. Philosophical reflection can be brought to bear on any subject matter whatsoever; every discipline raises questions that philosophical investigation can help clarify; and every domain of human existence confronts us with problems on which philosophical reflection can shed light. The study of philosophy can help students in all the ways this suggests, and the philosophical techniques they assimilate can help them both in their other academic work and in their general problem solving over the years. If higher education in America is to fulfill its functions, it is essential that the contributions of philosophy as a central branch of learning be fully understood.