Faculty & Staff

faculty members holding books collage

Department of Philosophy, Religion, and Liberal Studies

Administrative Faculty and Staff

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dr manian

Dr. Sunita Manian

Interim Co-Chair, English, Chair of Philosophy and Liberal Studies
Beeson 337
(478) 445-2283
Courses/Topics

Gender and Sexuality in South Asia; Muslims in Europe; North Africans in France; Gender and Development; Multicultural Britain; Women and Economic Development; Ethics of Global Inequalities; Colonialism and Neo-colonialism; Global Economic Crisis and Future of the Euro.

Biography

Dr. Sunita Manian has a PhD in Economics and specializes in issues of Gender in South Asia.  Her publications relate to gender and sexuality in South Asia, migration and diasporic dislocation in Europe, sex trafficking between the Maghreb and Europe, and most recently her book HIV/AIDS in India: Voices from the Margins (Routledge). She is currently the Chair for the department of Philosophy and Liberal Studies.

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Jim McManmon M.A

Jim McManmon M.A

Administrative Assistant / Instructor
Beeson 336
(478) 445-5221
Courses

Phil 2010 - Survey of Philosophy, GC2Y Equality and Justice, and GC1Y Philosophy and Social Justice.  

Research

Political Philosophy, Race Theories, Feminist Philosophies, Theories of Democracies, Theories of Post-colonialities. 

Department Faculty

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James Winchester

Dr. James Winchester

Coordinator, Program of Philosophy, Professor of Philosophy
Beeson 358
(478) 445-5513
Courses

Love, Pleasure, Friendship and the Good Life; Philosophy, Art and the Art of Living; Philosophy of Law; Ethics; and Social and Political Philosophy

Biography

Dr. Winchester has published books on Nietzsche, Cross cultural understanding of art and his most recent work, Ethics in an Age of Savage Inequalities (Lexington Press).  He is currently working on a book on the good life.

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Huaiyu (Henry) Wang 王懷聿

Dr. Huaiyu (Henry) Wang 王懷聿

Professor of Philosophy
Beeson 349
(478) 445-8623
Courses

Myth, Magic, and Psychoanalysis; Confucianism and Daoism; Democracy and Identity: East and West; Existentialism, Buddhism, Daoism, and the Myth of Mediation.

Biography

Dr. Wang has been a member of the Georgia College faculty in the department of Philosophy since 2008. He received his doctoratal degree from Pennsylvania State University, and originally hails from China where he studied economics as an undergraduate. Dr. Wang specializes in areas of Asian philosophy and religion, contemporary continental philosophy, and ethics. He has published in a number of journals on topics of Asian philosophy, and is currently working on his book, tentatively titled The Enchantment of Ritual and the Way of Heart.

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Sabrina Hom

Dr. Sabrina Hom

Associate Professor of Philosophy; Program Coordinator for Women's Studies
Beeson 340
(478) 445-2291
Courses

Feminist Philosophies, Queer Theory, Existentialism, Logical and Critical Thinking

Biography

Dr. Hom earned her BA at Wellesley College, and an MA and PhD in Philosophy at Stony Brook University. She also completed an Advanced Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies at Stony Brook. She is a co-founder of the Luce Irigaray Circle. Prior to her time at Georgia College, Dr. Hom taught at McGill University, and at Westminster College in Salt Lake City. She is originally from New York City. Her areas of research include Feminist Philosophy, Contemporary Continental Philosophy, Critical Mixed Race Theory, and Asian American Philosophy. 

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kaitlyn newman

Dr. Kaitlyn Newman

Lecturer of Philosophy
Beeson 357
478-445-1462
Courses/Topics

Survey of Philosophy; People, Politics, and Pandemics (2Y); Politics of Emotion; Philosophy of Love & Sex; Philosophy and the Holocaust; Social-Political Philosophy; Ethics

Biography

Dr. Newman earned her Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University. She completed undergraduate degrees in Philosophy and International Relations at Middle Tennessee State University. Her research interests are in 20th century continental philosophy, ethics, and social-political philosophy. She is especially interested in the intersection of ethics and public memory. Her dissertation was on the ethics of memory/memorialization and genocide remembrance through representation.

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juli gittinger

Dr. Juli L. Gittinger

Assistant Professor of Religious Studies​; Program Coordinator for Religion
Beeson 341
(478) 445-8618
Courses

World Religions South Asia, Introduction to World Religions, Hindu Traditions, Islam in the Modern World, Religion and the Body, Religion and Media, Religion and Human Rights, Religion and Science Fiction, and other special topics.

Website
Biography

Dr. Gittinger’s work focuses on religion, media, and popular culture. She received her doctorate from McGill University in Montreal, and has master’s degrees from University of Colorado in Boulder and SOAS in London. Her research interests include Hindu nationalism, Islam in pop culture, and virtual methodologies. Her third book was published in 2024 titled American Apocalyptic: beliefs, rituals, and expressions of doomsday culture in the US (Palgrave-Macmillian). See website for complete list of publications.

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Mark Causey

Dr. Mark Causey

Senior Lecturer of Philosophy & Religious Studies
Beeson 354
(478) 445-5226
Courses

Environmental Ethics; Animal Ethics; Liberation Theology; Religion, Science and the Natural World; Christianity and the Environment; Historical Jesus

Biography

Dr. Causey is a lecturer and teaches courses in the core curriculum as well as in Christian thought and ethics.  His main research interests are in animal ethics, environmental ethics, and food ethics. He is a member of the Sustainability Council.  

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caley smith

Dr. Caley Smith

Assistant Professor of Religious Studies (Jain Fellow)
Beeson 347
(478) 445-5238
Courses

RELI 3500 Buddhist Traditions in Asia

GC1Y 1000 Critical Thinking: Religion and Non-violence

RELI 3950 Religious Epics

GC2Y - 2000 Global Perspectives: Religion and Reciprocity 

Biography

Caley Smith is a scholar of early South Asian religious history and political imagination. His work focuses primarily on the conceptual continuities and disruptions between the Vedas and emergent ascetic and householder traditions. His current book project, The Invisible Mask, explores the ritual impersonation of the god Indra and its influence on the recitation traditions of early Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.

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brian eckley

Dr. Brian Eckley

Visiting Lecturer 2023-24
Beeson 333
(478) 445-8585
Courses

Survey of Philosophy

Research

Dr. Eckley earned his Bachelor’s in political science and philosophy from Ferrum College and his Master’s and Ph.D. in philosophy from Purdue University. Prior to teaching at GCSU, he taught at the University of Portland. His research is primarily in Simone de Beauvoir’s existentialist ethics applied to contemporary social and moral topics. He is a visiting lecturer for the 2023-24 academic year. 

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maria bermudez

Maria Bermudez

Lecturer
Beeson 353
478-445-8543
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gehad abdelal

Gehad Abdelal

Lecturer
Beeson 242
478-445-4565
Biography

Gehad Abdelal received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees with Honors from Cairo University, Egypt, and went on to earn her Ph.D. from the University of Georgia, Athens. Her research is centered on feminist philosophy and religion, non-Western philosophy, water ethics, and AI ethics. In her teaching, she prioritizes philosophical analytical and critical writing.

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joel alvarez

Joel Alvarez

Lecturer
Beeson 316
478-445-8711
Website
Courses

Intro/Survey to Philosophy, Intro to Ethics, Science in its Cultural Context

Biography

Joel David Alvarez earned an undergraduate degree in Philosophy (2019) minoring in both history and Latino studies from Brooklyn College and a master’s in philosophy from University of South Florida (2023). Currently, he is pursuing a PhD in Philosophy at the University of South Florida. He was awarded the Paul Copan Scholarship (2023) from Palm Beach Atlantic University and his paper "Christian Materialism, Logic & The Spiritual Realm" won the third prize in the 2022 Tyndale House Cambridge for Philosophers of Religion. He published two works on Indigenous Philosophy: “Native American Epistemology Through Dreams.Ways of Being in the World: An Introduction to Indigenous Philosophies of Turtle Island, Andrea Sullivan-Clarke (ed.) (Broadview Press 2023) and “Spinozism and Native Americans on Pantheism and Panentheism.Pantheism and Ecology. Cosmological, Philosophical, and Theological Perspectives, – Luca Valera (ed.) (Springer Series Ecology and Ethics 2023). His areas of expertise are early modern philosophy (Especially Leibniz), philosophy of religion, and Native American philosophy. Areas of competence are, medieval philosophy, African philosophy, ethics, philosophy of science, and metaphysics.