Musgrave Receives AAC&U Fellowship and SAAP Appointment

Philosophy professor L. Ryan Musgrave has recently been appointed to serve on the board of directors for the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy (SAAP) while also earning a prestigious senior fellowship from the American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U).

Beginning June 2023, Musgrave will begin her three-year SAAP appointment, where she will work toward promoting the scholarship and teaching of American philosophy. She will support collaborative connections between branches of American thought (e.g., pragmatism, idealism, naturalism, transcendentalism, and process philosophy) with other fields like feminism, indigenous philosophies, African American philosophy, Latin American and Latinx philosophies, post-colonialism, and race theories, among others. The SAAP also furthers the application of these theories to particular issues, such as injustice, poverty, food, war, animals, and the environment.

In addition, Musgrave has been appointed as a senior fellow at the American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U), a global membership organization dedicated to advancing the vitality and democratic purposes of undergraduate liberal arts education. As part of the one-year appointment starting June 2024, she will be responsible for advancing equity, innovation, and excellence in liberal arts education, supporting the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education with research, resources, and advocacy work, and contributing writings on anti-intellectualism.

Musgrave’s senior-fellow role manifested in part due to her work at Rollins designing and teaching the Critical Race in America, Part I course in conjunction with philosophy professor Eric Smaw’s Critical Race in America, Part II. These courses were created due to student feedback and are intended to help students explore material often challenged in legislation.