The Philosophy Department at Pennsylvania State University organizes two distinct CUSP (Cultivating Underrepresented Students in Philosophy) programs each year. These programs are directed toward prospective graduate students in philosophy from traditionally underrepresented groups (including African Americans, Chicano/as and Latino/as, Native Americans, and Asian Americans):
The Summer Institute for rising undergraduate sophomores or juniors who are considering pursuing an academic career in Philosophy and wish to learn more about what it means to be a part of the discipline; and the Fall Graduate Workshop, for college seniors, recent graduates, and working professionals who want to continue their graduate education in philosophy and are currently working on their graduate applications for the following Fall term.
Thanks to a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation –
all travel, food, and residential expenses will be covered.
On Diversity and Inclusion
Our department strives to be a national leader in increasing the diversity and inclusiveness of our discipline and actively promotes the University’s diversity mission. Each year we recruit a diverse group of graduate students with a view to placing them in prominent positions in the academy, and our successes in this area have been recognized in a recent cover story in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
The department has also recruited a diverse group of faculty whose areas of expertise include Critical Philosophy of Race, Feminist Philosophy, African American Philosophy, and Latin American and Latina/o Philosophy. These efforts, along with thoughtful attention to course offerings and syllabi, have contributed to our undergraduates and graduates experiencing a wide range of diversity in their philosophy classes. Our department has made diversity and inclusiveness a key priority, one that influences our pedagogical mission at the deepest levels and that yields fundamental benefits to our research and public mission.