Applications are invited for a Lectureship or Readership in the Department of Philosophy at King’s College London, starting in September 2012. The successful candidate will have expertise in one or more of the following areas: Aesthetics, Post-Kantian German Philosophy.

Please state on your personal statement which level of post you wish to be considered for.

The appointee will be expected to contribute to the Department’s teaching, research and administration. For information about the Department please visit http://www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/humanities/depts/philosophy. The successful candidate will have a demonstrable ability to teach at undergraduate and postgraduate level and show evidence of excellence in research.

For an informal discussion of the post please contact Peter Adamson on 020 7848 2351/2231 or via email at peter.adamson@kcl.ac.uk.

The appointment will be made dependant on qualifications and experience, up to a maximum of £56,456 per annum, inclusive of £2,323 London Allowance per annum. Benefits include an annual season ticket loan scheme and a superannuation scheme.

For an application pack please click here. Alternatively, please email jcmbjobs@kcl.ac.uk. All correspondence should clearly state the job title and reference number A8/AAN/852/11-TC.

You will find an additional link to a listserv posting philosophy jobs in Europe posted under the tab “job lists.” Be sure to sign up for their emails or check regularly beyond the US hiring season, since hiring in Europe tends to have other cycles.

Leibniz Universität Hannover seeks to fill a Post-Doctoral Position (“Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter”)

Electronic applications in pdf format are equally welcome and should be sent to Professor Wilholt’s email address, given above.

Leibniz Universität Hannover aims to promote women within the scope of the statutory provisions and, hence, emphatically invites qualified women to apply for this position. Severely disabled applicants will be given preferential consideration in the event of equal qualification. The University expressly welcomes applications by scholars and researchers from abroad.

Call for Papers

Michigan State University Department of Philosophy Graduate Student Conference

Occupy Philosophy:
Dialogue and Reflection on Economic Inequality, Capitalism, and Democracy in America

February 10-11, 2012

In light of recent events illuminating ongoing critiques of how wealth and resources are distributed in America, it is timely to interrogate the ethical, conceptual and methodological issues arising when capitalism and other political economic systems are evaluated. This conference is primarily concerned with the ways that philosophy can mediate discussions of economic power, human welfare, institutional justice, and the cost-benefit analyses that inform economic choices.

Submission Guidelines:
We invite submissions of papers by graduate students. We welcome papers that broadly address issues in social and political philosophy; preference will be given to original contributions that incorporate discussions of the recent “Occupation movement” and related events. Presentations should not exceed 30 minutes in length, and will be followed by a short commentary and moderated question and answer sessions. Submission deadline is January 6, 2012. Please submit abstract in addition to a paper suitable for blind review at philconf@msu.edu <mailto:phlconf@msu.edu> .

Featured Speakers:
Featured Faculty:
John H. McClendon III, Professor of Philosophy at MSU

Keynote:
Jason Read, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern Maine

Further Information:
For additional information about this conference, including registration information, accommodations and the conference itinerary, visit the conference web site: www.msu.edu/~philconf/.

By Merrill Stein and Kristyna Carroll

The Arab Spring may be, as Rami G. Khouri called it when visiting campus this September, an “Arab Awakening.” How far the spring awakening has come and where it’s going is still under consideration.

For some background, try one of the library subscription services. The Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO) database has several “Popular Protest in North Africa and the Middle East” reports.

Use the Oxford Islamic Studies Online database for information and reports about “The New Social Media and the Arab Spring” or “Saudi Arabia: Challenges for the 21st Century.”

Articles in Proquest Newspapers ask whether the Arab spring will have an Indian summer or whether “This “Arab Spring” could turn into an “Arab Year” that the whole world can celebrate together.” In the Communication & Mass Media Complete database, an article about “Media and the Arab uprisings of 2011: Research Notes” describes ten different ways that media and communications resisted the Arab uprisings of 2011 and how “some have been so bold as to label [these events] as the ‘Twitter Revolutions’ or ‘Facebook Revolutions.’”

In learning about the Arab Spring two particulars emerge: age and media.  An article in the ABI/INFORM database highlights that “Nearly 30% of the population in Muslim-majority countries is between 15 and 29 years old. …  The social media that helped facilitate the Arab Spring Awakening is in no small part driving a historic transition from a world comprising many pockets of civilizations barely aware of each others existence to a digitally interconnected world.”

The second Arab Social Media Report from the Dubai School of Government indicates “Youth (between the ages of 15 and 29) make up around 70% of Facebook users in the Arab region, indicating a slight increase in the number of users over 30 years old since the end of 2010.”

Diverse points-of-view are also available from a variety of news services. The BBC and Al Jazeera carry special reports such as Tunisia’s recent experiment with free elections, Middle East firms eye social media profit potential and InDepth Briefings.  The Guardian and Deutsche-Welle can also provide additional insights. Databases such as Lexis/Nexis, Academic OneFile and ABI/INFORM Global provide daily updates as well.

Keep current by using other library resources such as PAIS International, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) or Worldwide Political Science Abstracts and library subject guides.

What other resources would you recommend?

By Alexandra Edwards

Falvey’s annual Conscience of the Holocaust lecture will be held on Thursday, Dec. 1 at 4:00 p.m. in the library first floor lounge. This event commemorates the anniversary of Simon Wiesenthal’s death and recognizes his achievements and legacy in relation to the Holocaust. Falvey welcomes Sheryl Perlmutter Bowen, PhD, as this year’s lecturer.

Dr. Bowen, associate professor in the Department of Communication, will give a talk entitled “Transcending Trauma: Female Communication in Holocaust Survivor Families.” She will discuss the communication of survivor mothers with their daughters, using interview data from the Transcending Trauma Project (TTP).

Dr. Bowen works on oral histories of the Holocaust and joined the TTP research team in 1998. “I started work on the Holocaust by working with an oral history archive program at Gratz College proofreading transcripts by comparing tapes to text as they were preparing materials to send to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.  This was fascinating—I loved hearing the voices of survivors in the audiotapes. As a social constructionist, though, I became interested in the meanings that survivors attached to their experiences and how they moved on from the trauma of the Holocaust.  That led me to The Transcending Trauma Project (TTP), now going on for almost 20 years.  This project focuses on coping and adaptation within survivor families, looking at three generations of families whose lives were forever changed by the Holocaust.” (more…)

These are a sampling of recent additions to our collection on Human Resource Development.  Most of them are ebooks to accommodate students balancing work and school and for those in the distance learning program.

Emerging Themes in International Management of Human Resources

Supervision in Coaching:  Supervision, Ethics and Continuous Professional Development

Human Resource Management in Small Business:  Achieving Peak Performance

Socio-Cultural Impacts of Workplace E-Learning:  Epistemology, Ontology and Pedagogy

The Community Health Data Base (CHDB) staff cordially invites members of the Villanova University community, one of its supporting institutions, to a forum and discussion of social capital in the Philadelphia region. This forum will take place on Thursday, December 1st from 10:00 am to 11:30 am on the 18th floor at Philadelphia Health Management Corporation, located at 260 South Broad Street, Suite 1800, Philadelphia, PA 19102.

As part of this forum, CHDB staff will present key findings on social capital from the latest Household Health Survey; additionally, CHDB staff will release a Social Capital Brief about these findings. The forum will also include a panel of speakers, including Andrew Swinney from the Philadelphia Foundation, Dr. Allen Glicksman from Philadelphia Corporation for Aging, and Dr. Lorraine Dean from the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.  Dr. Glicksman and Dr. Dean will present case studies of how they have used CHDB’s social capital data in their respective work.

Light refreshments will be served. All members and affiliates are welcome to attend. To RSVP for this event, please contact Johanna Trowbridge at: 215-985-2548 or johannat@phmc.org.

Falvey acknowledges with great sadness the untimely passing of Olga Foltz, a dining services employee who often worked in the library Holy Grounds. Although many of us knew Olga from the Holy Grounds coffee shop, she had other roles on campus.

She was a part-time student at Villanova University, and she loved to study languages. A native-born Russian who came to the United States at age 19, Olga taught Russian in the University’s Russian Studies Program.

Olga’s father and other family members remain in Russia.

A co-worker in Holy Grounds, Rosemary Thomas, says, “Olga was a pleasure to work with. I will miss her.” Falvey staff commented that Olga was cheerful, courteous, and she was witty and intelligent.

A memorial service and Mass were held in St. Thomas of Villanova Church on November 14.

Contributed by Alice Bampton

Complementing the recent Mannella Distinguished Lecture focusing on the relationship between the creativity of handiwork and Italian immigrant women, the November cultural window exhibit features two exquisite crocheted pieces, a bedspread and a vanity cover, made by Maria Pullino Calla (1889-1918) who immigrated to the United States from Cinquefrondi, Calabria, Italy.

Her grandson, Richard Calla, loaned the items to Falvey for the display and wrote the commentary, “In Memory of My Grandmother.” Those words play a prominent role in the exhibit that explains how and when Signora Calla created the pieces.

In addition to being the proud grandson of Signora Calla, Richard Calla is the president of Il Circolo Italiano, a Main Line organization dedicated to the preservation and sharing of Italian culture. His daughter, Cynthia Calla Christenson, PhD, received both her bachelor’s degree (1987) and master’s degree (1989) from Villanova University.

This exhibit corresponds to the third annual Alfred F. Mannella and Rose T. Lauria-Mannella Distinguished Speakers Series lecture by Joan L. Saverino, PhD, on November 16. Dr. Saverino’s lecture addressed needlework, albeit embroidery, made by an immigrant from Calabria, the same area from which Signora Calla emigrated.

Detailed photo of bedspread

In 1996 Alfred S. Mannella, a 1958 graduate of the Villanova School of Business, established two endowed funds focusing on scholarship about Italian-American history, culture, and the immigrant experience as a memorial to family members. Originally, these funds were used to purchase books and other research materials. One of the funds now supports a lecture series which honors Alfred S. Mannella’s parents, Alfred F. Mannella and Rose T. Lauria-Mannell

This first floor display, mounted by Joanne Quinn, design specialist, also includes banners of Italian flags and photographs of vintage luggage which reflect the immigrants’ travels. Regina McFadden, library events and program coordinator, helped arrange the loan of the two pieces of needlework.

The display will be on view through November.

Contributed by Alice  Bampton and Gerald Dierkes; photography by Alice Bampton