PIKSI-Rock

PIKSI-Rock
Philosophy in an inclusive key@ Penn State’s Rock Ethics Institute
PIKSI-Rock is a week-long summer institute held at the Rock Ethics Institute at Penn State University Park. Cosponsored by the Iris Marion Young Diversity Scholars Fund and Penn State’s College of the Liberal Arts, PIKSI-Rock brings together a cohort of undergraduate students from groups underrepresented in the discipline of philosophy — African Americans, Chicano/as and Latino/as, Native Americans, Asian Americans, LGBTQIA persons, economically disadvantaged communities, women, and people with disabilities — in order to support them in their pursuit of future study in the field of philosophy. While at the PIKSI-Rock institute, they participate in seminars with prominent and up-and-coming philosophers from similarly marginalized backgrounds, attend public talks, engage in networking and mentoring opportunities, and develop sustaining connections that will support them throughout a career in philosophy. All admitted students are given a stipend, and all expenses are paid.

The Matter of Knowing: Epistemology, Identity, and Embodiment

PIKSI-Rock 2024 will take place on the campus of Penn State University Park from June 2–12, 2024. The 2024 cohort will work with visiting scholars Ásta (Duke University), Vrinda Dalmiya (University of Hawai`i, Mānoa), and Tyrone S. Palmer (Wesleyan University).

GUIDELINES
Each applicant should be prepared to submit the names of two recommenders, current transcripts, and a 10–12 page writing sample. In addition, you will be asked to draft two short essays (not exceeding 300 words) in response to the following prompts:

1. Identify a piece of philosophical writing that you read in a class or on your own that was especially meaningful to you, and explain why.

2. What would you hope to gain from, and to contribute to, this Institute, and how do you envision philosophy fitting into your life in the future?

Deadline: Sunday, February 18, 2024

PIKSI-Rock Graduate Assistantships

PIKSI-Rock 2024 will take place on the campus of Penn State University Park from June 2–12, 2024. PIKSI-Rock’s two-day graduate assistant (GA) orientation and graduate seminar will occur during the week before the institute itself. Three graduate students will assist the institute director. In addition, one graduate assistant will come from the Penn State Department of Philosophy. The home institution of each graduate assistant must fund their positions directly to the GA (approximately $2,500 total, including travel and housing for the two-day GA orientation and the ten-day undergraduate institute, and a recommended $1,500 stipend).

Graduate students enrolled in Ph.D. programs are eligible to apply.

Applications will be screened according to the graduate student’s accomplishments as a researcher, a teacher, and a mentor; the relevance of their research to the topics of the institute; and the home institution’s willingness to fund the student. All offers of GA positions are contingent upon the successful completion of background checks that verify that the student has no criminal or other record that would preclude employment and that the student’s educational credentials are valid. Information about Penn State’s procedures for background checks for employment will be emailed to accepted GAs and must be completed, with all required approvals obtained, prior to arriving on campus. If you have questions about the application process, please contact us at info@piksi.org.

Deadline: Sunday, March 10, 2024

PIKSI-Rock Board Co-Chairs

Board Co-Chair
Professor of Philosophy
Faculty Affiliate in Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies and Appalachian Studies
Appalachian State University
(she/they)

PIKSI-Rock Director

Director, PIKSI-Rock
2022–25 Joyce L. and Douglas S. Sherwin Early Career Professor in the Rock Ethics Institute
Associate Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Philosophy
(he/they)
(On sabbatical leave through June 2025)

PIKSI-Rock Advisory Board

Associate Dean, College of Arts and Letters
Professor of Philosophy
Sacramento State
(she/her)
Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus
Stony Brook University/SUNY
(she/her)
Assistant Professor
Department of Philosophy
Gettysburg College
(she/her)
Associate Professor; Associate Dean for Assessment and Program Review
College of Arts and Sciences: Office of the Dean, Philosophy
University of Dayton
(she/her)
Professor of Philosophy
City University of New York
Co-Director, Mellon Public Humanities and Social Justice Scholars Program
Hunter College and Graduate Center
(she/her)
Associate Professor, Humanities
San Francisco State University
(he/him)
Associate Professor of Philosophy
University of North Carolina, Charlotte
(they/them/theirs)
Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Philosophy
Miami University
(they/she)
Professor Emerita, Philosophy and Gender, Women, & Sexuality Studies
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
(she/her)
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Philosophy Department Chair
Loyola University, Chicago
(she/her)
Professor of Philosophy
Penn State
(she/her)
Board Co-Chair
Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Faculty Affiliate, Department of Philosophy
Emory University
(she/her)
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Black Queer Everything Director, Center for Religion and Cities
Morgan State University
(she/her)
Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy
Director, Institute for Ethics and Public Affairs
San Diego State University
(he/him)
Professor of Philosophy and Health Psychology
UNC Charlotte
(she/her)
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
(she/her)
Winship Distinguished Research Professor in Philosophy
Emory University
Co-Editor, Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy
(she/her)
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Director of Undergraduate Studies in Philosophy
American University
(he/him)