What departments are on the rise?

[philstudent1991]

I am curious if anyone has any particular information about this. While I'm no expert, I noticed that Rice has lost one professor since 2006 while hiring 5 more. This seems to me to be a mark of a department that is growing and, most likely, improving as well. Any other such programs? Or, are there any programs obviously on the decline? I have heard this about Kentucky, but again I do not know for sure I can just reflect what I have read and heard.

[gatewayselect]

WashU has been sniping senior professors from top programs. And I think it's going to work.

[magog]

Texas A&M, particularly on the 'continental' side.

[maxhgns]

Look at where faculty are being hired. Financial woes are creating problems for most philosophy departments, but a few seem to be growing themselves nonetheless. A number of programs are facing significant retirement numbers in the near future, so keep an eye out on whether they manage to replace those lines or not. If they do, they'll probably blip down for a few years while the junior faculty start churning out their work, but they'll probably float back up en masse a few years later as those formerly junior faculty establish themselves. Senior appointments will weigh heavily on the PGR in the short-term, but long-term staying power comes from solid junior hires.

In the US, Connecticut-Storrs and WashU look like they're on the rise; they've both been hiring like crazy. In Canada, UBC looks like it's pouring in money in an effort to turn it into a go-to mind/cogsci department.

[objectivityofcontradiction]

Oregon for those interested in post-Kantian social and political philosophy and Frankfurt School critical theory, esp. Habermas/Honneth.

Edited July 19, 2013 by STM17

[maxhgns]

Oregon for those interested in post-Kantian social and political philosophy and Frankfurt School critical theory, esp. Habermas/Honneth.

 

 

Who've they hired in those areas recently? I didn't see anyone in the Leiter threads, but that's obviously not comprehensive. The only Oregon hire I found was Mark Alfano.

[objectivityofcontradiction]

Rocio Zambrana (PhD. new school) works on Hegel, and broads strand of stuff in German Idealism and the Frankfurt School. They also have Anita Chari in Poli Sci who took a PhD. with the committee on social thought at U Chicago and writes on the second and third generations of the Frankfurt school and I am told she works with some philosophy graduates, but not as their primary adviser of course. I mentioned Oregon only because recently a professor at my univ (where I am getting an MA) visited for a conference on critical theory and problems of normativity and told me that she had the sense that it was a department on the rise. 

Edited July 21, 2013 by STM17