About Me

My name is Joel Alvarez, and I earned an undergraduate degree in Philosophy (2019) minoring in both history and Latino studies from Brooklyn College and a MA (2023) and PhD in philosophy from University of South Florida (2025). Previously I was a full-time Philosophy Lecturer at Georgia College and State University and currently I am a full time Assistant Professor in Philosophy at Oakton College (tenure track). I specialize in Early Modern Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, and Native American Philosophy. I also have competency with Medieval Philosophy, Ethics, Political Philosophy, African Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, and Latin American Philosophy.

I was honored with the third essay prize of the IVP Prize for Early-Career Philosophers of Religion in 2022, an award presented by Tyndale House Cambridge and Intervarsity Press. Also my paper "Original Sin's Compatibility with Evolution Through Epigenetics" was awarded the 2024 EPS Graduate Student Essay Contest Prize. In addition I was also awarded the Paul Copan Scholarship (2023) from Palm Beach Atlantic University along with the Arts and Science Scholarship from University of South Florida (2024).

Contributing to the academic discourse, I have published two articles. The first, titled "Native American Epistemology Through Dreams," featured in Andrea Sullivan-Clarke's edited collection, Ways of Being in the World: An Introduction to Indigenous Philosophies of Turtle Island, published by Broadview Press. The second article, "Spinozism and Native Americans on Pantheism and Panentheism," can be found in Luca Valera's edited volume, Pantheism and Ecology. Cosmological, Philosophical, and Theological Perspectives, part of the Springer Series on Ecology and Ethics.