PhD, University of Kentucky, 2022

BA, Georgia Southern University, 2015

My research interests lie in social philosophy. Much of my work concerns community relationships, and how we can differentiate healthy communities from dysfunctional ones.

My dissertation, The Ideal Religious Community, explored the accounts of religious community found in Kant, Hegel, and Nietzsche. There I argue that communities are built upon relationships of thick trust, and that the strongest communities are those that present conditions most conducive to the growth of such trust. My goal in this project was to provide a theoretical framework for describing what, exactly, goes wrong when religious communities fall into extremism and violence. I argue that these are the product of broken community relationships, predicated by a lack of trust among the members of the group.

My post-dissertation work continues to explore trust in community relationships. My current project examines the traditional distinction between interpersonal and social trust, and seeks to determine what is different about trusting a group versus trusting an individual.

I have taught the following courses at the University of Kentucky:

• PHI 100: Introduction to Philosophy: Knowledge & Reality
• PHI 130: Introduction to Philosophy: Morality & Society
• PHI 245: Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion
• PHI 305: Healthcare Ethics
• PHI 334: Business Ethics
• PHI 337: Introduction to Legal Philosophy

In Spring 2023, I am teaching PHI 334 & PHI 337.