Leonard O’Brian Resumé
Position:
Professor of philosophy, Scottsdale Community College, 1998-present
Email:
Telephones:
- 480.423.6212 (office)
- 480.231.4471 (cell)
Address:
- Scottsdale Community College
Social and Behavioral Sciences Building
9000 East Chaparral Road
Scottsdale, Arizona 85256
USA
Previous Positions:
- Professor of philosophy, Mesa Community College, Mesa, Arizona, 1989-1998
- Lecturer in philosophy, Ripon College, Ripon, Wisconsin, 1988-1989
- Adjunct Lecturer in philosophy, 1978-1988, Harper College, Palatine, Illinois; Elgin Community College, Elgin, Illinois; College of Lake County, Grayslake, Illinois
- Minister, Unitarian Universalist Church, Elgin, Illinois, 1974-1978
Credentials:
- Bachelor of Science, English, Illinois State University, 1966
- Non-degree Rotary Fellowship, philosophy, Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1967-1968
- Master of Theology, theology, University of Chicago, 1970
- Master of Arts, rhetoric and speech, University of Illinois, Urbana, 1972
- Doctor of Ministry, theology and philosophy of education, University of Chicago, 1974
- Master of Arts, philosophy, University of Chicago, 1992
Professional Affiliations:
- Member, American Philosophical Association, 1989-present
- Adjunct Member, American Philosophical Practitioners Association, 2003-present
- Member, Community College Humanities Association, 1991-2000
- Founding member and coordinator of the Mesa Interdisciplinary Colloquium, Mesa Community College, 1995-1998
- Editorial Board, Contemporary Philosophy, 1992-1997
Arizona Teaching Certifications:
- Philosophy
- Religious Studies
- English
- Communications
Courses Taught:
- Introduction to Philosophy
- Philosophy of Religion
- Introduction to Ethics
- Introduction to Logic
- Philosophical Psychology
- Biomedical Ethics
- Social and Ethical Issues in Medicine
- Story, Identity, and Truth
- Philosophy of Humanities
- Philosophical Analysis
- Philosophy of Sex
- Business Ethics
- Senior Thesis
- Introduction to Speech
- Introduction to Humanities
- Introduction to Psychology
- English Composition
Publications And Presentations:
- “Wisdom, War, and Doubt,” Social and Behavioral Sciences Teach-in, Scottsdale Community College, 20 April 2006.
- Journeys of Janus: Explorations in Irish Philosophy, this website under “Philosophical Writing,” 2004.
- “Religion as Cosmic Metaphor,” this website under “Philosophical Writing,” 2003.
- “A Contemporary Celtic World-view,” lecture and workshop for the Phoenix Friends of Jung, presented with Dr. Barbara Bagan, psychotherapist, 14-15 May 1999.
- “Metaphors as Interrogatives,” Community College Humanities Association, Fort Worth, 23 October 1998.
- “Why Poetry Is Not Technology: The Inexplicability of Metaphor,” Community College Humanities Association, New Orleans, 1 November 1997.
- “Seamus Heaney’s Use of Poems as Metaphors,” Community College Humanities Association, Salt Lake City, 12 October 1996.
- “Toward a Philosophy of Educational Risk,” Community College Humanities Association, Washington D.C., 11 November 1995. Subsequently published in the ERIC Clearinghouse for Community Colleges.
- “Toward an Ethic of Desires,” Community College Humanities Association, Colorado Springs, 7 October 1994.
- “Black Elk: Religious Healing for the Human Community,” Community College Humanities Association, San Antonio, 1993.
- “Can Native American Thought Solve the Problem of Evil?”, Community College Humanities Association, Scottsdale, 1992.
- “On the Purpose of Sport,” Contemporary Philosophy, Vol. XIII, No. 7, Jan./Feb., 1991, pp. 1-3.
- “Aluminum Bats and the Purpose of Baseball,” Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and the American Culture, (Meckler, 1990), pp. 386-399. Subsequently published in Elysian Fields, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1992, pp. 55-67.
- “The Impossibility of Faith as a Religious Mode of Knowing,” Wisconsin Philosophical Society, fall, 1989. Subsequently published in Southwestern Philosophical Studies, Vol. 12, spring 1990, pp. 53-60.
- “A Practical Perspective on Tom Stark’s Conception of Critical Thinking,” Association for the Development of Philosophy Teaching, Chicago, 22 October 1988.
- “Kai Nielsen and the Possibility of a Religious Ethic,” Association for the Development of Philosophy Teaching, Chicago, 24 October 1987.
- “Dyadic Similarity and Family Resemblance,” Southwestern Philosophical Studies, Vol. X, No. 1, spring 1987, pp. 71-78.
- “Is Part-time Academic Compensation Unethical?”, Association for the Development of Philosophy Teaching, Chicago, 12 December 1985.
- “A Shifting, Shimmering World: Photographic Futurist, John Grady,” Darkroom Photography, Vol. 2, No. 5, Sept. 1980.
Professional Activities:
- Member, American Philosophical Association, 1989-present
- Adjunct Member, American Philosophical Practitioners Association, 2003-present
- Member, Community College Humanities Association, 1991-2000
- Founding member and coordinator of the Mesa
- Interdisciplinary Colloquium, Mesa Community College, 1995-1998
- Editorial Board, Contemporary Philosophy, 1992-1997
Award:
- Excellence in Teaching, National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development, Austin, Texas, June, 2006