Heres che (that is ‘hello’ in Muscogee)!

I am a Native American philosopher, who is teaching as a Consortium for Faculty Diversity Postdoctoral Fellow at DePauw University.  Currently, I am teaching Feminism and Science, Native American Philosophy, and Ethical Issues in Indian Country. Previously, I have taught courses in Feminism, Critical Thinking, and the Introduction to Philosophy at Pacific Lutheran University, Green River College, and Seattle University.

I am a first generation college student, receiving my PhD (2015) and MA (2009) from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Washington. I earned my BA in Philosophy from Oklahoma State University.

My research focuses on the philosophy of science, particularly the social dimension of knowledge creation. In my dissertation, Analogical Reasoning and Scientific Practice: The Problem of Ingrained Analogy, I analyze a potential problem that arises when scientific communities indiscriminately rely on analogies that underwrite metaphor as part of their practice. To address this problem, I argue for strategies that exploit epistemic diversity as part of a constructive account of analogical reasoning.

A member of the wind clan of the Muskogee Nation of Oklahoma, I also research topics relevant to Indian Country and have presented papers on such subjects as identity, sovereignty, and mixed-race contributions to knowledge production. I am an alumnus of American University’s Washington Internships for Native Students (WINS) and interned at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the office of the Director of Tribal Affairs Group.

Recently, I was awarded a Diversity and Inclusion Grant from the American Philosophical Association to develop the Inclusive Summer High School Institute for Philosophy (ISHIP) at The Prindle Institute for Ethics at DePauw University.  This summer twenty-one high school students from social groups that are underrepresented in philosophy will spend a week on the DePauw campus with faculty mentors, learning about philosophy. I am honored and excited to be creating a program that will introduce even more students to the benefits of philosophy. In fact, here is link to the story in my tribal newspaper (see page 7).

If you have any questions, you can contact me using the following form: