New department chair Ken Shockley holds the Holmes Rolston III Chair in Environmental Ethics and Philosophy. Shockley directs CSU’s Mountain Campus Program in Environmental Humanities, serves as faculty in the School of Global Environmental Sustainability and in the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, and works extensively with the Center for Human Carnivore Coexistence and the Climate Adaptation Partnership.

Shockley came to CSU in 2016 after teaching for 13 years at the University of Buffalo, where he also served in various roles in the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy in the Buffalo Law School, collaborated significantly with a number of programs in environmental engineering and environmental studies, and served as the Inaugural Academic Director of the Sustainability Academy.

Shockley’s research explores the intersection of environmental ethics, sustainable development, and climate. His work can be found in top academic journals and collected volumes spanning multiple fields, including environmental ethics and policy, global ethics, and social philosophy. Shockley has taught with Semester at Sea, and at the University at Buffalo, Barnard College, and, while serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer, the University of Malawi.

 

Tell us a bit about your experience and how it’s positioned you to succeed in this new role.

I’ve spent most of my academic career working across departmental and college boundaries. I have experience in a wide range of curricular, administrative, service, research settings across the university, and in the philosophy department.

Soon after arriving at CSU, I developed a field-based environmental ethics course, which I’ve since turned into the Environmental Humanities program. I developed courses for Semester at Sea and CSU’s Todos Santos program. I served as the philosophy department’s curriculum representative, and soon after as the Director of Graduate Studies, which helped me understand the ins and outs of academic programming at CSU.

More recently, I’ve been invited into college and university level strategic planning, including the development of the Center for Engaged Humanities, the School of Global Environmental Sustainability, CSU’s Mountain Campus, and the College of Liberal Arts. I’ve enjoyed working with several institutes, centers, and research programs across campus, usually focused on wildlife, climate, or the environment. This has given me the opportunity to make connections with other parts of the university, and to develop an appreciation for what is distinctive about philosophy. I’ve also come to understand the workings of the larger university.

These projects and collaborations have provided the opportunity – through instructional programs I’ve developed, or research partnerships I’ve made, or even the administrative roles I’ve taken on – to really allow the strength of philosophy to shine. They’ve allowed me to promote the field that I love. I’m hoping those connections, and my entrepreneurial approach to philosophy in the academy, will support the great work we are doing here in the department.

 

 

How do you see the role of philosophy and this department at a large research university?

I envision a department that serves as a model in and beyond the university for critical inquiry, comparative analysis, analytic rigor, and synthetic exploration in both research and instruction. While this is a grandiose vision, and really the essence of the project that is the liberal arts, the seeds of that vision are clearly present.

I see philosophy as the intellectual core of the liberal arts. I support, advance, and invite initiatives that will help make that apparent. Through supporting new efforts in our undergraduate and graduate programs, I will be better able to communicate to the broader university the extraordinary value of those programs. And through building and promoting connections between philosophy and other units and people, in and out of the university, I hope to showcase just how important the philosophical enterprise is to the academy.

 

Which student-centric initiatives do you think will be worth pursuing for current and future philosophy majors? 

Our department excels in demonstrating the value of philosophy across the institution. I think supporting and nurturing our existing core while making connections with the broader university are going to be key. I’m planning ongoing discussions with leaders of other departments to learn how they’ve developed – whether growing or just making better – their own programs.

We have begun discussions about how to make the philosophy degree program more cohesive for students, while highlighting the skills that the program provides. Also, we will continue to foster connections with other programs, allowing students to appreciate the applicability of philosophy across disciplinary boundaries and to explore the philosophical foundations of those other disciplines.

 

What are your faculty-focused priorities for the coming years?

I want to make apparent the good work that we already do. I’ve been in discussions with administrators who are aware of the activities of individual members of the department across the university, but somehow miss the connection to the philosophy department. Making clear just how we, as a department, support the university’s mission will be a central point for my engagement with the broader university.

Developing a culture where people want to work is another priority. This will take modifications to department structure to support self-governance. I also plan to recognize and contain burdensome service for faculty, particularly for more vulnerable populations. I’d also like to develop more consistent financial and institutional support for faculty so they can pursue their own teaching, research, and collaborative projects to the fullest.

 

How would you describe your leadership style?

Communicative and supportive. I try to listen more than talk, to support more than design, and to find and nurture connections. Of course, as a philosopher I do my share of talking, designing, and building. But as a leader these tendencies follow from the listening and learning about what those in my community are doing, and what they want to do. I’m really excited to find out more about what people want to do, and in some cases what they are doing and I’ve just not heard about.

I was once told that leading a department is like being the point of the spear. But I think that’s terribly mistaken. It seems to me the right metaphor is the heal of a boot. It supports, it takes the pressure, it propels forward. That’s what I strive for.

 

Many say that being a department chair is the most difficult job within the university.  How are you feeling about taking on this task?

It is a challenge, but I’m pretty keen about taking on challenges, particularly ones that involve learning new skills or taking skills I have in different directions. The substantial mentoring network in the college makes the challenge more manageable, as does a group of very helpful and supportive colleagues. But apart from the challenge, there’s a service aspect to being department chair. We have a tendency, I think, to recognize that part of what it is to be an academic is to serve students, and to serve the academic research enterprise.  But it also involves serving one another. Serving as chair gives me an opportunity to do that.

I want to support the field that I care so much about. The department does great work, and I think I can do a great deal to support that great work. So, I’m feeling optimistic.