The CU/Boulder Department of Philosophy has emerged over the last ten years as one of the nation's leading graduate programs. We have distinguished faculty in all the core areas of philosophy, with particular strengths in metaphysics and ethics. The Department is also one of a few elite programs in the country that balance strength in contemporary philosophy with a serious interest in history. Our faculty includes internationally recognized scholars that span the whole history of Western thought, from Plato and Aristotle, through the Middle Ages, to Kant and his successors.

Boulder has one of the largest philosophy faculties in the country, and a correspondingly large graduate program, with separate tracks for MA and PhD students. Though the overall program is large, with more than 70 graduate students in all, the number of entering students in a given year remains small, averaging six new PhD students and 10-15 new MA students. All PhD students are granted funding through teaching positions (tuition waiver and stipend) for five years. MA students do not ordinarily receive funding, but many of our best PhD students have entered into that program through our MA program.

Our faculty is known for having some of best teachers on campus. Accordingly, we have a very large and active group of undergraduate majors. On the graduate level, there are enthusiastic groups studying with a wide range of faculty members. The Department's special strength in metaphysics makes this a particularly lively area of interest among the graduate students. The distinctive focus of the Center for Values and Social Policy likewise attracts a strong group of students. The Department's reputation for doing serious philosophical work on historical figures makes for yet another area of focus. Many of our graduate students have interests in all three of these areas.

Despite the always difficult job market, we have had very good success in recent years at placing PhD students. Recent graduates have received tenure-track jobs at both leading research universities and smaller colleges, and it has been very rare for a student to fail entirely on the market. Moreover, as the Department's reputation has grown in recent years, we find our students doing better and better every winter.

Studying philosophy in Boulder has the additional advantage of location. Situated at the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains, 25 miles northwest of Denver, Boulder has perhaps the most ideal geographical settings in the country. In addition to its natural beauty and recreational opportunities, as well as its diverse cultural offerings, Boulder has what many consider the perfect climate. Protected by the mountains, its winters are mild and its summers sunny and dry.

values and social policy

The Center for Values and Social Policy was established in January, 1980. Its goal is to bring the normative and conceptual skills of philosophy to bear on critical issues facing society. The concerns of the Center include both theoretical and applied topics in moral, social, political, and legal philosophy.

The Center coordinates the department's activities and courses in moral, political, and legal philosophy; offers specializations within the department's M.A. and Ph.D. programs; conducts research; sponsors lectures and conferences; publishes a newsletter; is the home of the Summer Philosophy Institute of Colorado and the Philosophy Outreach Program of Colorado, programs for philosophy in K-12 education; and collaborates with professionals from other departments and institutions. The Center's programs are designed to help students acquire both the philosophical skills and the broad understanding that are required in order to bring philosophical issues to bear on matters of social policy and to participate in policy debates.

The program includes a core curriculum of policy-related courses: philosophy and social policy, environmental philosophy, bioethics and public policy, professional ethics, ethics, and political philosophy. Separate application for admission to this program is not required. For more information, see the Center website at: http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/center.

history of philosophy

The Department has strengths throughout the history of philosophy, with faculty specializing in the ancient, medieval, and modern periods. The department also has strong affiliations with the Medieval Studies Program and the Classics Department, where another senior research professor is rostered.

contemporary metaphysics

The department offers a concentration in Contemporary Metaphysics. Ten members of the faculty have strong teaching and research interests in the area. Current faculty research and teaching topics include: time, causation, laws, universals, substance, concepts, reduction, supervenience, realism, physicalism, mind, events, value, and philosophy of religion.

Boulder is one of a very few top-ranked graduate programs to offer a terminal MA degree. Our MA students go on to top-ranked PhD programs around the country, and we regularly admit our best MA students into our own PhD program.

Students pursue an MA degree for various reasons, but we particularly encourage applications from students who have come late to philosophy (and hence lack the background to enroll in a strong PhD program), or whose academic records do not reflect their true potential. MA students enroll in the same classes as PhD students, and are treated as full members of the graduate program. Students in the MA program are also eligible to attend undergraduate courses and receive credit by concurrently enrolling in a directed study with the faculty member offering that course.

Except in rare cases, MA students are not eligible for funding. However, students qualify for in-state tuition after just one year of residency in Colorado. Applicants admitted to the MA program may also petition to defer their enrollment for one year, during which time they may wish to establish residency. Also, as a member of the Western Regional Graduate Program, the Philosophy Department can offer in-state tuition even to first-year students who are residents of one of the following states: Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wyoming.

Students considering both our PhD and our MA program should apply to the PhD program. Applicants not accepted to the PhD will automatically be considered for the MA program. Those interested only in the terminal MA program can apply just to that program.

Department Colloquium Series

Recent speakers include Elizabeth Anderson, Jonathan Bennett, Kit Fine, Richard Fumerton, Verity Harte, Jeff McMahan, Thomas Pogge, Gideon Rosen, Sydney Shoemaker, Geoff Sayre-McCord, Russ Shafer-Landau, James Van Cleve, Margaret Walker, and many other distinguished philosophers.

Rocky Mountain Graduate Student Philosophy Conference

An open-submission conference held each spring, run by our graduate students. One of the longer running graduate student conferences in the country. Recent and upcoming keynote speakers include Peter van Inwagen, Philip Pettit, Jaegwon Kim, Claudia Card, and Mark Johnston.

Morris Colloquium

This multiple-day conference has focused on such topics as human rights, environmental ethics, human nature, philosophy and film, human cloning, and consumerism.

Committee on the History and Philosophy of Science Colloquia

Recent speakers include Mark Bedau, Gordon Belot, Helen Longino, Alex Jones, Alan Richardson, Robert Shapiro, and Andrea Woody, The Committee also sponsors a regularly series of round-table discussions with CU historians, philosophers, and scientists.

Rocky Mountain Ethics Congress

An international conference geared to offer the highest quality, highest altitude discussion of ethics, broadly conceived.

Center Talks

Most Fridays, our Center for Values and Social Policy hosts a short lunchtime talk (25-minute talk, 25-minute Q&A) on some topic in ethics. Most talks are by CU faculty or graduate students, but occasionally the Center hosts an outside speaker.

Work-in-Progress Meetings

On non-Colloquium Mondays or Fridays, faculty and graduate students meet to discuss the work of someone from within the Department. These informal sessions offer faculty and students the opportunity to present their work in progress to a (generally) sympathetic audience.

And much more: Reading Groups, Philosophy & Film, Think!, ...

The department provides various forms of financial support for students in the Ph.D. program. During 2001-2002, 35 graduate students received financial support. Normal support packages are approximately $10,800 for the year and include tuition waivers. Support is guaranteed for a minimum of five years. Except in special cases, all Ph.D. students are fully funded.

Graduate Part-Time Instructors teach various introductory courses. Students with an M.A. or who have completed 30 hours of graduate courses are eligible. During 2002-2003, 42 courses are being taught by graduate instructors.

Teaching Assistants lead discussions, grade for courses, etc. All graduate students are eligible for these positions, and new students will be considered automatically for this support. Eleven students were awarded assistantships for the 2002-2003 academic year.

Chancellor's Doctoral Fellowships are available to incoming doctoral students with outstanding qualifications. The fellowship includes a stipend of $16,500, plus a waiver of tuition and fees. Candidates are nominated by the department. The Philosophy Department has won several over the past few years.

University Fellowships are available in limited numbers. Seven one-semester dissertation fellowships have been awarded for the 2002-2003 academic year. Our department was also awarded a one-semester Emerson/Lowe Dissertation Fellowships through the College of Arts and Sciences.

In addition, all applicants are considered for nomination for the prestigious Devaney Fellowships and the Arts and Sciences Fellowship. For the academic year 2002-2003, our department was awarded a one-year Fellowship for a new doctoral student.

Other Financial Support, including work-study and student loans, is also available. For more information, contact the Office of Financial Aid, 106 UCB or 303-492-5091.

The Department of Philosophy offers two courses of study leading to graduate degrees: an M.A. program and a Ph.D. program. The programs are discrete in the sense that satisfactory completion of the M.A. program is not sufficient for admission to the Ph.D. program.

The M.A. requires thirty hours of approved graduate study, demonstrated proficiency in the core areas of Philosophy, and a successful thesis defense.

The Ph.D. requires forty-five hours of approved graduate study, in addition to the thirty hours of dissertation credit hours required by the Graduate School. Twenty-seven of the 45 hours must satisfy departmental distribution requirements. Other requirements include a logic requirement; satisfactory completion of third-semester and fifth-semester qualifying papers; and successful prospectus oral and dissertation defense.

Applications forms and instructions are available online through the (http://www.colorado.edu/graduateschool/instructions.html) Graduate School. For further information, contact Karen Sites, Graduate Program Coordinator, Department of Philosophy, 232 UCB, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0232. The department welcomes applications from minority and women candidates. To be assured of full consideration, applications for the graduate program must be received in the department office by January 15th for the following fall. All applicants must submit a $50 application fee, GRE General Test scores, a writing sample, and at least three letters of reference. (Despite what the Graduate School application forms indicate, we do not require four letters of reference). The University's graduate application is on-line at http://www.colorado.edu/prospective/graduate/apply/process.html

The deadline for international applicants is December 1st, although letters of reference, GRE scores, and a writing sample are not required until the normal January deadline. The international application is at http://www.colorado.edu/prospective/international/apply.html