Philosophy and Religious Studies
Department

Titles of Previous SMP projects

St. Mary's Project Presentations 2009

• Clemmer, Jill - Learning to Engage in Religious Dialogue: A Collection of Reflections
  (mentor: Katharina Von Kellenbach)
• Correll, Michael - Can Machines Think?: An Illustrated Guide 
  (mentor: Michael Taber)
• Doyle, Miriam - Concepts and Approaches to Happiness: Christianity and Buddhism in Thailand
  (mentor: John Schroeder)
• Fuller, Bethany - Jewish Women in Early Ottoman Empire
  (mentor: Devorah Schoenfeld)
• Horsey, Allison - Finding Her Way: Women's Leadership in the Pentecostal Church
  (mentor:  Katharina Von Kellenbach)
• Hurley, Joshua - Fractals, Complexity and Divinity
  (mentor: Bëtul Basaran)
• Hutchinson, Jeremy - Win-Win Business Ethics
  (mentor: Kate Norlock)
• Lemley, Paul - Issues of Being, Nothingness and Human Possibility in the works of Jean Paul Sartre and Martin Heidegger
  (mentor: Brad Park)
• Yogi, Jennifer - Peace, Love and Understanding: Justifying A Books Through Bars Collective at St. Mary's
  (mentor: Kate Norlock)
• Zuke, Scott - A Deweyan Pedagogical Approach to Development Ethics
  (mentor: Sybol Anderson)

St. Mary's Project Presentations 2008

• Copley, Julia - Who is this God person any way?: An exploration of the Nicene foundations of Christian theology.
  (mentor: Celia Rabinowitz)
• Crear, Lisa - Women's Conversion to American Protestant Fundamentalism: The Appeal Of Traditional Gender Roles 
  (mentor: Devorah Schoenfeld)
• Crehan, Phil - A shirt With a bloody past: An awakening to sweatshops and consumerism
  (mentor: Sybol Anderson)
• Derdock, Nick - Letters from Prison
  (mentor: Michael Taber)
• Faith, Jeff - This One's Optimistic: Hope, Morality, and Suicide
  (mentor:  Michael Taber)
• Ingram, Meg - Leave Me My Honor: Religious Responses to Women Raped During War
  (mentor: Bëtul Basaran)
• Lumkes, Maggie - Educating Women in India: A Work in Progress
  (mentor: Dan Meckel)
• Owens, S.E. - Ways of Knowing: An Alternative and Holistic Approach in Cultural Studies
  (mentor: Brad Park)
• Pollock, Adam - The Justification of Religious Authority in Christianity: A Hobbesian Argument from Power
  (mentor: Sybol Anderson)
• Sellouk, Jamie - Dinner with Philosophy
  (mentor: Brad Park)
• Silverman, Sophie - Ancient and Modern Interpretations of Eve: Popular Temptress or Ignored Heroine?
  (mentor: Bëtul Basaran)
• Sottek, T.C. - Finite Ethics
  (mentor: Brad Park) 
• Sutt, Christina - Illuminating Ethics via Fantasy Fiction
  (mentor: Michael Taber)
• Woods, Russell - The American Way: A Polemic
  (mentor: John Schroeder)

St. Mary's Project Presentations 2006-07

• Conner, Brendan - Living, Being:  Experiments in Life and Thought
  (mentor: Brad Park)
• DeViney, Meredith - From Kathy to Khadija
  (mentor: Björn Krondorfer)
• Gregg, Andrew - Worth Living A Fictional Narrativr by Andrew W. Gregg
  (mentor: Kate Norlock)
• Goldsmith, Michael - Empty Selves:  A Zen Buddhist Analysis of the Dissociative Self
  (mentor: John Schroeder)
• Gorman, Holly - Tubaab in a Land of Sufis:  A Creative Exploration of Islam in Senegal
  (mentor:  Bëtul Basaran)
• Heliotis, Peter - Metaphysic of the Smile:  A Journey to Overcome an Exostential Crisis
  (mentor: Sybol Anderson)
• Iliff, Nick - The Philosophy of Homosexuality
  (mentor: Kate Norlock)
• Kalman, Chris - Seeking Out New Views on the Self: Tackling the Many Crises Facing an Increasingly Interconnected World
  (mentor: John Schroeder)
• Lay, Jason - Intimately Here:  Presence in Zen and Psychoanalysis
  (mentor: John Schroeder)
• Parks, Kevin - Ethics of the Other
  (mentor: Brad Park)
• Poling, Greg - Foreigners and Pure Land:  Is It Still Buddhism?
  (mentor: Brad Park
• Ryder, Taghi - Spirituality in the Dying Process: Barriers to its Delivery in Contemporary Healthcare
  (mentor: Katharina Von Kellenbach)
• Schepp, Stephanie - Adding a Branch to the Tree of Midrash: An Explanation and Exploration of a Traditional Genre
  (mentor: Katharina Von Kellenbach)
• Sinclair, Oscar - A Green and Growing Thorn Tree:  Religion and Nationalism in South Africa 1870-1948
  (mentor: Devorah Schoenfeld)
• Stearns, Easton - Moral Meanderings in the Quantum World
  (mentor: John Schroeder)
• Vorhis, Chris - Patriarchal Lineage in Early Chan
  (mentor: Brad Park)
• White, Hannah - The Ideal Islam: The Appeal of the Past and Medina as Perfection
  (mentor: Bëtul Basaran)

St. Mary's Project Presentations 2005-06

• Asper, Charles - Fighting Hunger: Can We Make a Difference? 
  (mentor: Joan Poor)
• Baker, Matthew - Martyr or Murderer: Suicide Bombing and Islam
  (mentor: Bëtul Basaran)
• Bradbard, Stefanie - Jewish Communities in St. Mary's County
  (mentor: Björn Krondorfer)
• Brooks, Durryle - The Spirituality of Rev. Dr. martin Luther King Jr.: Re-claiming the Sanctity of All Humanity
  (mentor: Katharina Von Kellenbach)
• Eagen, Kevin - The Nothingness of Time: Nishitani Keiji's "Buddhist Conception
  (mentor: Brad Park)
• Fleming, Tim - Reverse Orientalism in the Philosophy and Religion of "Neon Genesis Evangelion"
  (mentor: Brad Park)
• Gervais, Jenny - Celebrating Legal Adulthood
  (mentor: Katharina Von Kellenbach)
• Hemphill, Tim/Joover, Jon - Tuberous Perspectives: Ginger, Kudzu, and the State
  (mentor:  Brad Park)
• Jarboe, Karen - The Philosophical Influences of Gender on the Body
  (mentor: Kate Norlock)
• Montefusco, Peter - "Living in Accord with Nature in Stoicism and Daoism"
  (mentor: Michael Taber)
• Moss, Daniel - Psychoanalysis and the Cemetery Dancers: Understanding Sufi Mysticism and Subjectivity
  (mentor: Dan Meckel)
• Perilla, Rob - Reflections on War: The Iraqi Conflict
  (mentor: Kate Norlock)
• Posey, Sarah - Philosophy for Children
  (mentor: John Schroeder)
• Pressley, Kacie - Changing Locations: An Exploration of Love, Laughter, and Life after Thailand
  (mentor: John Schroeder)
• Prybylski, Nate - A Lesson in Attachment
  (mentor: John Schroeder)
• Siler, Jeffrey Darrion - Philosophy of Play: Life, Aesthetics, and Ludic Becoming
  (mentor: John Schroeder)
• Stockmeyer, Edwin - The Experience of Music
  (mentor: Brad Park)
• Swearengen, Ken - The Ethical Implications of Meditation and Consciousness
  (mentor: Brad Park)
• Szkil, Andrea - Mourning and Memorialization in the Wake of Genocide
  (mentor: Björn Krondorfer)
• Turner, Chelsea - The Philosophy of Virginia Woolf
  (mentor: Kate Norlock)
• Tyree, Adrian - The Philosophy/Nature of Love: The Buddhist Understanding of Love and Non-Attachment
  (mentor: Brad Park)

St. Mary's Project Presentations 2004-05

• Allen, P.J. - What My Death Means to Me
  (mentor: Alan Paskow)
• Asper, Charles - The Difference between What is Seen and What is Expressed in a Photograph
  (mentor: Alan Paskow)
• Babson, Jill - Eating Christian: Finding God through Food
  (mentor: Björn Krondorfer)
• Clark, Paul - Calder: A Work of Fiction
  (mentor: Michael Taber)
• Heckwolf, Philip - An Anxious Exploration of American Indian Philosophy
  (mentor: Brad Park)
• Hershfeld, Ryan - What's so funny? Your existence. Laughter as the Response to Absurdity
  (mentor: Brad Park)
• Keller, Darryl - Ancient Greece, Modern America, and the Application of Military Ethics
  (mentor: Michael Taber)
• Klein, John - Compassionate Friendship: Exploring a Meaningful Understanding of the Nature of Love
  (mentor: John Schroeder)
• Leander, Erik - Emptiness and Nothingness: an Examination of Self and Identity in Anti-Essentialist Philosophy
  (mentor: John Schroeder)
• Nicolas, Ashton - Women's Sexuality: A Philosophical Dilemma
  (mentor: Kathryn Norlock)
• Schultz, Anthony - Philosophy of Education
  (mentor: Kathryn Norlock)
• Southgate, Karl - The Concept of Despair in Kierkegaard's The Sickness Unto Death and Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment
  (mentor: Alan Paskow)
• Waller, David - Life and Death: A Comparative Study of Abortion and Capital Punishment
  (mentor: Michael Taber)

St. Mary's Project Presentations 2003-04

• Dunn, Zachary - A Sophisitcal Manifesto
  (mentor: Michael Taber)
• Farrell, James - Confessions: My Father, Myself
  (mentor: Alan Paskow)
• Folks, Jesse - Fictionalizing Philosophy
  (mentor: Kathryn Norlock)
• Goodyear, Tiffany - The Politics of Art in the NEA
  (mentor: Juliana Pilon)
• Jauregui, Carla - Contradiction in Asian Philosophy
  (mentor: John Schroeder)
• McCarty, Katherine - The War on Drugs: An Analysis
  (mentor: Kathryn Norlock)
• Miller, Daniel - Emptiness: Philosophical and Personal Reflections
  (mentor: John Schroeder)
• Pearson, Daniel - What is Postmodernism?
  (mentor: Alan Paskow)
• Sanders, Stacy - The Definition of Death
  (mentor: Michael Taber)
• White, Robert - Afrocentricity and Philosophy
  (mentor: Michael Taber)
  
  St. Mary's Project Presentations 2002-03
• Byers, Stephen Brett - Justice for the Great Betrayer
  (mentor: Michael Taber)
• Gaginis, John George - Commercial Music: Code Red
  (mentor: Kathryn Norlock)
• Hall, Lauren - The Ethical Treatment of Shelter Animals
  (mentor: Kathryn Norlock)
• Kelly, Garrett McAndrew - Home Grown Philosophy
  (mentor: Kathryn Norlock)
• Kullberg, Kathryn Marie - The Depiction of Animals in Literature
  (mentor: Kathryn Norlock)
• Nolle, Kacey Lee - Feminism and the Bible in Dialog
  (mentor: Katharina Von Kellenbach)
• Sharp, Jean Allison - Establishing the Foundation of Buddhism in Thailand, a Literary Comparison
  (mentor: Thornton Kline)
• Weaver, Adam Jonathan - The Life of Relation: A Critical Exegesis of the Philosophy of M
  (mentor: Alan Paskow)

St. Mary's Project Presentations 2001-02

• Diedrich, Bridgette, Non-Christian Approaches to Death Relevant to Hospice Care
  (mentor: Melvin Endy)
• Fefer, Anna, Jews, Altruism, and the State
  (mentor: Stephen Stern)
• Sanford, Rachael, The Power of Fear
  (mentor: Sara Ebenreck)
• Scott, Mercedes, Revolution in Life and Story
  (mentors: Lucille Clifton, Jeffrey Hammond, Stephen Stern)
• Sheils, Will, Philosophy Applied to Children's Literature
  (mentor: Stephen Stern)
• Williams, Litsa, (Anti-) Autonomy, Children, and Health Care Ethics
  (mentors: Melvin Endy and Kathryn Norlock)
  
  St. Mary's Project Presentations 2000-01

• Byrnes, Elizabeth, Relative Morality in Violent Crime
  (mentor: Michael Taber)
• Cuorsen, Jack, Reflections on Japan
  (mentor: John Schroeder)
• Deming, Nicole, Stem Cells: Biological and Ethical Issues
  (mentors: Karen Crawford and Michael Taber)
• Moser, Jonathan, "Commencement": The Making of an Album
  (mentor: Alan Paskow)
• Provonche, Sarah, Biblical Leadership Roles of Women Explored through Christian Midrash
  (mentors: Melvin Endy and Steven Stern)
• Thomassen, Benjamin, Rapture: The Rave as an Affirmation of Dionysian Energy
  (mentor: Michael Taber)