Jennifer McErlean

Having taught at Siena for over 35 years, I have grown deeply dedicated to the ideals of Franciscan service and community-building.  I have a special interest in supporting diverse students on campus.  To this end, I helped to draft college policy for increasing faculty diversity and our Human Rights policy; I was faculty advisor for student clubs such as Latinos Unificando Nuestra America; I was a founding member of the Gay/Straight Alliance; I have worked closely with our own HEOP students, and served for more than 10 years on the Executive Board of the Albany Branch of the NAACP.
In addition, my scholarly interests have grown and meandered in coherent ways:from technical topics such as Supervenience and Kant's views on natural beauty, to the study and application of feminist and race theory, to concern over our environment and how we are educating America's children.  Over my time at Siena I am proud of a variety of programs I was instrumental in establishing, including the Environmental Studies Department, The Symposium of Living Philosophers, Gender Studies, and Criminal Studies focused on restorative justice. 

My Siena Experience

My Teaching Philosophy

I have developed an array of techniques to entice student interest and maximize participation: I teach by question, by the use of everyday examples, and by addressing questions of social justice.  Philosophical writing can be difficult, so I aim to make the ideas more accessible and relevant to contemporary events.

What I Love About Siena

My Favorite Courses to Teach

While I routinely teach our Introductory Course, Ethics, Philosophy of Science and Art, I have also had the privilege to teach courses in Environmental Studies, Women’s Studies, and in the initial years of the First Year Seminar.  

My Professional Experience

Current Research

While I came out of graduate school interested primarily in the overlap and comparison between Science and Art, I have increasingly become focused on questions of social justice, including issues of racism and sexism and questions about environmental degradation and disparities across populations.  In my scholarship and in my community I have worked on the role of art in community empowerment and on reconnecting youth to the wilderness. 

Articles & Book Reviews

• The Accidental Environmentalist
  Ethics, Policy & Environment
  2016
• Slattery's Aesthetic Evaluation
  Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism
  1991
• Critical Principles and Emergence in Beardsley's Aesthetic Theory
  Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism
  1990

Awards & Distinctions

• CURCA Summer Grant, Outdoor Ed Albany Leadership High
  Category: Teaching
  Siena College, 2017
• Reassigned time to continue research on Philosophy and the Environment
  Category: Research
  Siena College, 2017
• The Jerome Walton Teaching Excellence Award
  Category: Teaching
  Siena College, 2014
• COTFD Curriculum Diversity, Philosophy of Art
  Category: Teaching-Research
  Siena College, 2012
• COTFD Curriculum Diversity, Philosophy of Science
  Category: Teaching-Research
  Siena College, 2008
• UISFL Grant, Globalization Studies and Environmental Ethics
  Category: Teaching-Research-Service
  UISFL, 2006
• Women and Minorities Summer Grant, Environmental Ethics
  Category: Teaching-Research
  Siena College, 1995
• Women and Minorities Summer Grant, Multicultural Perspectives in Film and Art
  Category: Teaching-Research
  Siena College, 1993
• COT Summer Grant, Nietzsche's Aesthetics
  Category: Research
  Siena College, 1991
• Fellow, Postmodernism in Science and Literature
  Category: Research
  Hudson Mohawk Assn, 1989

Books & Book Chapters

• Campus Action Against Assault
  Praegar
  2016
• Encyclopedia of American Philosophy
  Routledge
  2008
• Philosophies of Science: from Foundations to Contemporary Issues
  Wadsworth Publishing
  1999

Presentations

• The Relevance of Metaphysics to Animal Liberation and EcoFeminism
  2011
  Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Burlington, Vermont
• Aldo Leopold as Walzerian Critic
  2010
  Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Madison, Wisconsin
• Michael Walzer's Environmental Philosophy
  2009
  New York State Political Science Association, New York, New York
• A Response to William Goodwin's 'How Does the Theologizing of Physics Contribute to Global Warming?'
  2008
  International Association for Environmental Philosophy, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• A Response to William Goodwin's 'How Does the Theologizing of Physics Contribute to Global Warming?'
  2008
  International Association for Environmental Philosophy, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• You're Out of the Ivory Tower Now: A Philosopher Joins the NAACP
  2007
  American Philosophical Association, Baltimore, Maryland