Looking Back: Department News from the Past
2014-15: Gary Comstock, Professor of Philosophy, receives an Alumni Association Outstanding Teacher Award and earns a spot in the NC State Academy of Outstanding Teachers. Barbara Levenbook, Associate Professor of Philosophy and a specialist in the Philosophy of Law, is promoted to the rank of Professor. After 41 years at NC State, Levenbook retires in 2021. William Adler, Distinguished University Professor of Religious Studies, serves as a Visiting Research Fellow at the Freie Universität Berlin in Spring 2015. Ken Peters leaves NC State after almost eight years as the Department’s Student Services Assistant, with a view to exploring new opportunities and pursuing his lifelong dream of being a fulltime visual artist. He is replaced by Stephanie Wilson.
2004-05: Patricia Ahearne-Kroll (Ph.D. candidate, Chicago) is appointed as Instructor in Religious Studies, Catherine M. Driscoll (Ph.D., Rutgers) is appointed as Assistant Professor of Philosophy, and Karey A. Harwood (Ph.D., Emory) — who was previously in the Division of Multidisciplinary Studies — is appointed as Assistant Professor of Religious Studies. Ahearne-Kroll completes her Ph.D. and becomes an Assistant Professor in 2005. She leaves in 2006 for a position at Ohio Wesleyan University and in 2014 she moves to the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Driscoll becomes the Department’s Director of Undergraduate Advising in 2008, and is promoted to Associate Professor in 2010 and Professor in 2019. After more than 20 years at NC State, Driscoll retires on January 1, 2025. Harwood is promoted to Associate Professor in 2010 and Professor in 2025. She assumes the role of Associate Head of Department in 2024.
1994-95: Eighty-four students are signed up for the major in Philosophy and eleven for the new major in Religious Studies, which had been introduced in Spring 1994. Twenty-six students graduate with Bachelors degrees in Philosophy, four summa cum laude, three magna cum laude, and two cum laude. Richard M. Jaffe (Ph.D. candidate, Yale) is appointed as Instructor in Religious Studies. After completing his Ph.D., he becomes an Assistant Professor in January 1996. He accepts a position at Duke University in 2001.
1984-85: William Adler, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, is a Fulbright Visiting Lecturer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Barbara Levenbook, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, has a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities; and Tom Regan, Professor of Philosophy, has a fellowship at the National Humanities Center. A. Donald VanDeVeer, Professor of Philosophy, publishes his well-received monograph, Paternalistic Intervention (Princeton University Press, 1985).
1974-75: J. Leonard Middleton retires as Associate Professor of Religion at the end of Spring 1975 after twenty-seven years of service at NC State. Middleton was a warm and enthusiastic teacher with a special interest in human values. He taught courses in both Religious Studies and Philosophy.
1964-65: Eleven students sign up for the new major in Philosophy approved in Spring 1964 and introduced in the new academic year. Including the 1964 summer sessions, total enrollment in the Department’s courses is 1,320, an increase of 15% over 1963-64. Sixty years later, the corresponding number is 5,936.
