COMPASS at Michigan 2021
October 1-2 and 8-9, 2021, held virtually via Zoom
Paper discussion sessions
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“Autonomy and the Secular” from Decolonizing Universalism by Serene Khader (facilitated by Abdul Ansari and Ariana Peruzzi)
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“Philosophy as Humanistic Discipline,” by Bernard Williams (facilitated by Paul de Font Reaulx)
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"Another Letter Long Delayed: On Unsound Epistemological Practices and Reductive Inclusion," by Kristie Dotson and Ayanna De'Vante Spencer (facilitated by Julian Rome and Lindy Ortiz)
Panels
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Faculty panel on applying to graduate school (Ishani Maitra, Laura Ruetsche, and Janum Sethi)
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Graduate student panel on being a philosophy graduate student
See the full schedule here.
What the participants are saying....
It was a great experience, I appreciated the diversity of the participants and moderators, I really felt like my voice and opinions mattered. I appreciate how the PhD students were all humble and never discounted a comment.
It was great. I would recommend this for anyone thinking of attending a PhD program.
I was very hopeful that, of all the things COMPASS would provide, a robust network of connections would be one outcome. So far at least, this has appeared to be the case, if not only the foundation of some of these relationships. Again: I'm very thankful to have taken part in this, and would absolutely recommend COMPASS to folks in my same-ish situation.
I liked being able to fill in my mental void of "what do grad students work on?" I feel that I've personally had a lot of narratives in my mind about what I should be developing towards and how that worked - so it was helpful to see this!
For me, one of the best benefits of this workshop has been the ability to speak with others who have clearer views and understandings about the field and its norms. Additionally, a few of us have setup a discord channel where we are communicating with one another and doing zoom study sessions. That COMPASS has enabled this is amazing, and I'm very thankful for the connections which it has provided!
The faculty panel was an insightful way to get an idea of the /process/ of how applications are seen behind the veil.
I think the resources that COMPASS provided in the form of writing samples and statements of purpose was especially helpful.