Dr. Erin McKenna has been hired as a visiting professor at full professor rank, to replace Scott Pratt for the 2015-2016 school year (with the option of renewing for 2 additional years). Erin McKenna is a Professor of Philosophy, former Chair of Philosophy, former Chair of Women’s Studies, and former Chair of the Faculty at Pacific Lutheran University.

She specializes in feminist theory and American Pragmatism, focusing on issues of social and political philosophy. She has recently co-authored, along with Scott Pratt, American Philosophy: From Wounded Knee to the Present (Bloomsbury, April 2015). Her book Pets, People, and Pragmatism (Fordham UP, 2013) explores the history and ethical implications of humans’ relationships with other animal beings. She also co-edited a volume on this topic titled Animal Pragmatism: Rethinking Human Nonhuman Relationships (Indiana UP, 2004). Her book The Task of Utopia: A Pragmatist and Feminist Perspective (Rowman and Littlefield, 2001) focuses on the work of John Dewey. Some of her articles include “Pragmatism and Primates,” “Women, Power, and Meat,” “Feminism and Vegetarianism,” “The Occupied West Bank,” and “Some Reflections Concerning Feminist Pedagogy.” She has chapters in The Philosophy of the X Files (University Press of Kentucky, 2009) and Bruce Springsteen and Philosophy (Open Court, 2008). Erin McKenna also co-edited Jimmy Buffett and Philosophy for Open Court in 2009. McKenna has been teaching at PLU since 1992.