In this final episode of our first season, we’re pleased to bring you another conversation hosted by Dr. Matt Waggoner, Professor of Philosophy here at Albertus Magnus College. Matt will be speaking with our longtime Vice President for Academic Affairs at the College, Dr. Sean O’Connell, who is also a Professor of Philosophy. This summer, Sean will retire from his role as VPAA after more than thirty-five years of service to the college.

In his time at Albertus, Sean has done much to shape the College’s academic culture and uphold its robust commitment to the liberal arts. In his conversation with Matt, he shares about his early intellectual and personal formation, including his doctoral studies at Fordham University and research on the work of French philosopher Paul Ricoeur. Sean discusses how he came to Albertus, his early years of teaching, and how his philosophical training, later, informed his work in college administration. He also shares about how he sees the higher ed landscape today, the importance of the liberal arts, the mission of Catholic and Dominican institutions, and much more.

Dr. Sean O’Connell most certainly offers a model of what it means to put one’s humanities training into practice. All of us at Albertus are grateful for his long and dedicated service.

Featuring

• Dr. Matt Waggoner, Professor of Philosophy, Albertus Magnus College
• Dr. Sean O’Connell, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Albertus Magnus College

Visit the Collaborative's YouTube channel to view the video version of Studium, along with short clips from all episodes.

In this episode, we feature a conversation between our own Dr. Tarishi Verma, Assistant Professor of Communications here at Albertus Magnus College, and Dr. Sandra Faulkner, Professor of Communication at Bowling Green State University.

We’re very glad to welcome Dr. Faulkner to Studium. In her work, Dr. Faulkner has built bridges between the social sciences and the arts. Maybe most notably, she’s done much to advance “poetic inquiry” as a method in the social sciences. Her students use poetry, the visual arts, and creative writing to express their ideas and the findings of their social scientific research. Dr. Faulkner’s own poetry and images have appeared in a variety of publications, and she is the author of four poetry chapbooks and more than 60 book chapters and articles.

In her conversation with Dr. Verma, Dr. Faulkner shares about her own intellectual formation, how she uses poetic inquiry in her teaching, the relationship between research, activism, and justice, and much more.

Featuring

• Dr. Sandra Faulkner, Professor of Communication, Bowling Green State University
• Dr. Tarishi Verma, Assistant Professor of Communications, Albertus Magnus College

Visit the Collaborative's YouTube channel to view the video version of Studium, along with short clips from all episodes.

In this extended episode, we feature a special conversation between our own Dr. Matt Waggoner, Professor of Philosophy at Albertus Magnus College, and Mr. David Roberts, writer and host of Volts: a podcast about the technology, politics, and climate change. For twenty years, David has been a nationally recognized voice on climate change, clean energy and the politics of both - and in doing so, he has put into action his training in the humanities: English literature and philosophy.

Matt and David talk about David’s studies, his early career, and how the philosophy of pragmatism, in particular, motivated his move into political writing. They go on to explore the importance of systems thinking, not just personalities; the political history of climate change; and the relative roles in politics today of reason on the one hand, and power on the other. And they don’t hesitate to get into the weeds, tackling a range of practical questions: how can changing material conditions lead to new ways of thinking? How do you actually build a constituency willing to fight for change? And what are the benefits of walkable cities, compared to cities built for cars?

Both Matt and David show plainly how training in the humanities can hit the ground and enable us to make a real difference in our world.

Featuring

• Mr. David Roberts, writer and podcast host
• Dr. Matt Waggoner, Professor of Philosophy, Albertus Magnus College

Visit the Collaborative's YouTube channel to view the video version of Studium, along with short clips from all episodes.

How have curators and other professionals working in museum and galleries made use of the internet and social media to reach people, as so much of our lives has moved online? And how can training in the humanities inform this creative work? In this episode, Jon Sozek speaks with two people well-positioned to address these questions: Kathy Maher, Executive Director at the Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, CT, and Ariana Williams, a senior BA degree candidate in the humanities at Albertus Magnus College, who interned at the Barnum Museum in the summer of 2022.

Featuring

• Ms. Kathy Maher, Executive Director of the Barnum Museum
• Ms. Ariana Williams, BA degree candidate at Albertus Magnus College
• Dr. Jon Sozek, Director of the Arts and Humanities Collaborative

Visit the Collaborative's YouTube channel to view the video version of Studium, along with short clips from all episodes.

What has politics to do with philosophy? In this episode, Jon Sozek interviews Devin Avshalom-Smith, Alder of Newhallville (Ward 20) in the City of New Haven, Connecticut. Devin shares about how his own practice of philosophy informs his work to serve the community of Newhallville. Philosophy, he reminds us, is a verb - not just a topic or field of study! We learn about Devin's published work on W.E.B. DuBois and how phenomenology and existentialism -- especially the work of Franz Fanon -- has influenced his thinking. The episode concludes with some reflection on the future of New Haven and Newhallville and a call to young people to "crack a book" and follow their passion -- all the way to informed action in pursuit of justice.

Featuring

• Mr. Devin Avshalom-Smith, Alder of Newhallville in New Haven, CT 
• Dr. Jon Sozek (host), Director of the Arts and Humanities Collaborative, Albertus Magnus College

Visit the Collaborative's YouTube channel to view the video version of Studium, along with short clips from all episodes.

In this first episode, Matt Waggoner (Professor of Philosophy) interviews Jon Sozek (Director of the Arts and Humanities Collaborative) to explore what this new podcast is all about. And what is the Arts and Humanities Collaborative? Jon shares about some elements of his own background relevant to these new initiatives and discusses some themes from a recent article he's published, related to the liberal arts and the work of Jacques Maritain. The episode concludes by looking ahead to the plan for the first season.

Featuring

• Dr. Matt Waggoner, Professor of Philosophy, Albertus Magnus College
• Dr. Jon Sozek, Director of the Arts and Humanities Collaborative, Albertus Magnus College

Visit the Collaborative's YouTube channel to view the video version of Studium, along with short clips from all episodes.