About me

I am a professor of philosophy at Colorado State University, specializing in environmental ethics and ethical theory.  I got my bachelor’s degree in from Northwestern University in 1993 and my Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 2002.  Before coming to Colorado State in 2008, I taught in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at North Carolina State University for five years and spent a year as a visiting scholar at Harvard’s Center for Ethics in the Professions.    

My research interests are in the areas of normative ethics, value theory, environmental ethics, political philosophy, and feminist philosophy.  My published papers can be found in journals such as Philosophical Studies, Midwest Studies in Philosophy, Environmental Ethics, Ethics & the Environment, Philosophy Compass, Environmental Values, and Philosophy, Place, and Environment, as well as in various anthologies.  I serve on the editorial boards of a number of journals and recently edited the seventh edition of the Pojman Environmental Ethics anthology from Cengage.

In my free time, I like to go hiking in the nearby mountains with my spouse Jeff Kasser, who is also a philosopher in the CSU department, and our two children.  I also enjoy sampling the local craft beer offerings here in Fort Collins, exploring local restaurants, and getting to know the state of Colorado.  My sports allegiances remain firmly in the Midwest, however, and I look forward to watching the Cubs win the World Series again.  I also take a perverse pleasure in pursuing hobbies for which I have absolutely no talent, most recently gardening and woodworking.