- Campaign: Geology professor starts scholarship
- WCU extends deadline for tuition deposits to May 31
- Song inspires "Galaxy of Stars" performances for 2008-09
- WCU honors 1,140 students during spring commencement ceremonies
- Mountain Heritage Center to open 'plain-style' furniture exhibit, co-host symposium May 30-31
- WCU Honors College scholarship fund grows to $85,000, endowed level
- New partnership expands entrepreneurship degree opportunities
- WCU initiates new chapter of national music honor society
- Kevin Schilbrack joins WCU as philosophy, religion department head
- Western presents top teaching, research and service awards for 2008
Schilbrack (right) has served as president of the American Academy of Religion for the Southeast, as a senior fellow with Harvard University’s Center for the Study of World Religions, and as a participant in a Fulbright-Hays Faculty Development Seminar in Taiwan and Thailand. He has successfully written grants for initiatives including a study of the future of church-related colleges and won multiple teaching awards, which are indicative of what he enjoys most about his job – working with students.
“My favorite memories involve sitting with students, seeing the light bulb turn on, and helping them develop the intellectual and conceptual tools to make sense of the newspaper, the world and their lives,” said Schilbrack. “What attracted me to Western was that every single person in the department likes working with students. Philosophy and religion can be deep subjects that seem daunting, but the professors in this department love teaching, are easy to get along with, and want to see their students grow and succeed.”
Schilbrack particularly aims to help students study religions and philosophies across cultures.
“As the world shrinks, we need to understand Chinese ideas, Buddhist paths, Islamic teachings and other ways of life,” he said.
Schilbrack has taught at Wesleyan since 1996. He earned his master’s degree and doctorate in the philosophy of religion from the University of Chicago Divinity School in1995, and his bachelor’s degree in philosophy and religion from Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla., in 1986. His published articles range from “Religious Diversity and the Closed Mind” to “Heresy, Humanism, and Heroism in ‘The Life of Brian.’”
At WCU, Schilbrack will lead a department with four-full time faculty and one adjunct professor. This fall, David Henderson, who earned degrees in philosophy as well as wildlife and fisheries sciences, also will join the department. Henderson said he looks forward to getting to teach environmental ethics and American wilderness ethics and aesthetics in the Great Smoky Mountains.
For more information, contact the philosophy and religion department at (828) 227-7262.
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Last Modified: Thursday, May 8, 2008