Professional

I've done quite a few jobs in the nearly half-century that I've been on this planet:  I was a newspaper boy (Long Island Press and The New York Post), short-order cook and pot washer (Office Canteens), night-time security guard (666 Fifth Ave. and 30 Rockefeller Center), slave laborer (McDonalds, but only for a summer), waiter and bartender (Dante's Caterers), and program assistant at a wonderful homeless shelter (Westside Federation for the Homeless) all before I made the decision to pursue an academic lifestyle.   All these experiences were invaluable in shaping my work ethic and I wouldn't trade them for anything.

At the present time, I'm a Professor of Philosophy at Molloy College in New York as well as the Publisher of SophiaOmni, LLC, an independent publishing company founded according to distributivist economic principles. 
Ph.D., Philosophy
 Institute of Philosophy,  Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium
Dissertation title:  Beatitude and Moral Disorder: Augustine’s Subversion of the Happy Life
(386-396).
(Magna Cum Laude, July 1997)

M.A., Philosophy
Institute of Philosophy, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium
Thesis title:  Pursuing Happiness in a Devalued World:  Stoic Influences in Tertullian’s Concept of the Beata Vita.
(Magna Cum Laude, July 1993)
 
Graduate  Work
Center for Medieval Studies
University of Toronto (Toronto, Canada)
(September 1986-June 1987)
 
B.A., Philosophy
Fordham University, Bronx, NY
(January 1986)
Professor of Philosophy [1997-present] 
  • Taught  the Following Courses: Intellectual Thought of the Low Countries; Indian  Philosophy; Roman Intellectual Thought; Classical Foundations of Philosophy;  Introduction to Ethics; Environmental Ethics; Topics in Social Ethics; Rhetoric:  The Art of Persuasion; Senior Seminar: The Philosophy of St. Augustine; Senior  Seminar: The Philosophy of Kierkegaard; Ethics and Civic Life; Philosophy of  Leadership; Philosophy/Applied Ethics Research Seminar; Philosophy of Education;  Philosophy of Religion; Philosophy and the Creative Experience. 
  • Acted  as Department Chairperson Spring 2002 and 2008-2010 and implemented revision of  requirements for major/minor in Philosophy and minors in Applied Ethics and Peace and Justice Studies. 
  • Developed Philosophy for Pre-Law Program. 
  • Designed  and implemented the Whitman Creative Studies Program, an experiential
    team-taught academic program for college freshmen (2008-2011). 
  • Designed  and implemented Gotham: The New York Experience, an experiential team-taught  program focused on the history, art, and culture of New York City (2011-). 

 Director of the First Year Experience [2005-2010] 
  • Founded  the College's First Year Experience Office in September 2005. 
  • Developed Freshman Foundations, an experiential learning program for all Molloy College freshmen.
  • Worked  with faculty from twelve academic departments to create fall experiential  learning communities and spring international learning communities for freshmen. 
    Developed  new curriculum for “College Experience” course and established assessment  standards for freshmen research.
  • Developed  short-term international programs for freshmen in Italy, France, and Spain. 
  • Wrote  Surviving College and Guide to College Research, textbooks for  required “College Experience” course for freshmen. 

Director  of International Education [1997-2008] 
  • Founded  the College's International Education Office in September 1997. 
  • Developed  semester-long programs of study at University of Galway (Ireland), St. Martin’s College (England), Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), University of León (Spain), Macquarie University (Australia), Scuola Lorenzo de’ Medici (Italy), University of Urbino (Italy), and Rangsit University (Bangkok, Thailand). 
  • Developed  and coordinated short-term programs in Belgium, Italy, France, England, Spain, Austria, Hungary, Mexico, China, Thailand, Japan and India. 
  • Assisted faculty in developing short-term overseas programs for students. 
  • Responsible for supervising Global-Learning staff and overseeing an annual operating budget of $700,000.
  • Created Global-Learning crisis management plan, faculty guidelines for developing and running overseas programs, and study abroad contract for students. 
  • Initiated Long Island Partnership for Study Abroad with St. Joseph’s College [Patchogue  and Brooklyn] (May 2000).
  • Coordinated  faculty exchanges with the Catholic University of Uganda (Kampala, Uganda), St.  Martin’s College (Lancaster, England), Mariam College (Manila, Philippines) and Catholic University of Leuven (Leuven, Belgium).
  • Counseled  students regarding long-term and short-term study abroad opportunities.

Director of Service-Learning [1995-1998] 
  • Founded the College's Service-Learning office in September 1995. 
  • Assisted faculty members in developing service-learning component to classes.
  • Counseled students on service-learning opportunities in greater New York area.
  • Supervised the activities of the Community Outreach and Mentoring Offices. 
  • Developed and taught interdisciplinary service-learning course in “The Civic Community:Theory and Practice” for departments of philosophy, sociology and political science. 
  • Created a “Homelessness Immersion Program” for the departments of philosophy, sociology and social work to raise student awareness of the problem of homelessness on Long Island.
  • Developed  and taught service-learning course in “Poverty in Rural America” in Naugatuck, WV (1996, 1997, 1998).
  • Co-Founder of Molloy College Center for Social and Ethical Concerns (June 1998), the Center responsible for coordinating all service and peace and justice activities on campus.
  • Developed and supervised the following service programs for students: Volunteer Program, Community Work-Study Program, Molloy Big Brothers and Sisters, Rising Star After School Program, Rising Star Leadership Camp, Appalachia Project.
  • Applied for and received $135,000 in grant funds to promote service-learning and
    mentoring activities on campus (April 1998 – present).
Instructor in Religious Studies and Ethics
Sacred Heart High School (9/88-6/91) 

Adjunct  Lecturer in Philosophy
Iona College (1/91-6/91)

Part-Time Program Assistant
Westside Federation for the Homeless (9/87-6/91) 

Campus Minister/Chairperson
Department of Religious Studies, Academy of Mt. St. Ursula (9/87-6/88)
"Mindfulness and Creative Expression."  Learning and Teaching Creative Cognition.  Ed. Marjorie S. Schiering.  Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2015.

"Beyond Gods and Reason:  Towards an Experiential Approach to Ethics."
Paper Presented at the 2014 Bounds of Ethics Conference (Bangalore, India, January 2014).

"Contemplation and Creative Self-Inquiry." 
Presented at 12th Biennial  Colloquium of Dominican Colleges and Universities at Dominican University, June 15, 2012).

“Why We Protest: Youthful Voices from Occupy Wall Street.”
Film  and presentation delivered as part of “Occupy Wall Street: The Movement,  The  Meaning, The Controversy” (Molloy College, November 16, 2011).

"Who  Killed Socrates: Academic Pedagogy and the Death of the Philosophical 
 Profession."
Paper Presented at Long Island Philosophical Society Conference (New York, April 2010).

“Roads to the Enchanted Kingdom: A Metaphorical  Approach to Comparative Religious Philosophy.”
Paper delivered at the First  Annual Asian Philosophical Congress (New Delhi, March 2010).
Picture
Interfaith Zen at St. Ignatius