Whipps receives Mellow Prize

Judy Whipps, chair of the Department of Liberal Studies and associate professor of philosophy, was awarded the Ila and John Mellow Prize from the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy. The announcement was made at the recent SAAP annual meeting at Michigan State University.

The award recognizes excellence in advancing the American philosophical tradition toward the resolution of current personal, social and political problems. The prize was awarded to Whipps for her paper, “Learn to Earn: A Pragmatist Response to Contemporary Dialogues about Industrial Education.”

Whipps said her paper draws from previous theories in a contemporary context. While extolling the virtues of bringing the texts and methods of the liberal arts into dialogue with one's vocation, caution should be exercised not to merely educate “workers” to become trapped in lower economic classes. Her paper promoted education and vocation together to enhance personal meaning, enrich and support democracy and promote equality between the economic classes.