Sharon M. Meagher, Ph.D.,
Professor of Philosophy
Director of Women's Studies
Chair of the Department of Latin American Studies and Women's Studies
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This website is designed and maintained by Sharon Meagher (pronounced “Marr”), a full-time philosophy faculty member at the University of Scranton since 1989 and a founding member of the University's Women's Studies program, Dr. Meagher was promoted to the rank of Professor in 2003. She has served as Director of Women's Studies for several years and is the Chair of the University of Scranton's new department of Latin American Studies and Women's Studies (LA/W/S).
Both Dr. Meagher's teaching and research focus on interdisciplinary connections in three areas: 1) philosophy and the city; 2) philosophy and literature; 3) contemporary social and political philosophy, with particular emphases on feminist theory and women and development. What integrates these studies is a focus on ethics, public policy and social justice. While her work is grounded strongly in the history of philosophy, her research and courses tend to focus on contemporary social issues.
In her work away from the University, Dr. Meagher also has focused on public policy and social justice issues. From 1999-2001, she worked as Director of Education at The Union Institute's Office for Social Responsibility in Washington, DC, an academically based public policy center. There she worked on issues concerning university social responsibility, nonprofit organizations and democratic values, and women's issues. Dr. Meagher has been very active in the Scranton community, serving as the founding president of Mulberry Central Neighborhood Development Corporation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to coordinating services and development activities in the city's hill section.
As an advocate for the public relevance of philosophy, Dr. Meagher recently served on the board of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council and was a founding member of the American Philosophical Association’s Committee on Public Philosophy. She is the co-founder and co-chair of the Public Philosophy Network. Readers of this site who are interested in interactively engaging with one another should click on the link above and join the Public Philosophy Network, where I facilitate a working group (an affinity group) on philosophy and the city. The site additionally offers members the opportunity to create their own affinity groups and join the more than 30 that currently exist.
Dr. Meagher published a book on feminist analyses of public policy (Women and Children First, Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2005). Her anthology that collects the history of Western philosophical writings on the city was published in January 2008; it is entitled Philosophy and the City: Classic to Contemporary Writings (Albany: SUNY Press). She is currently completing a monograph that entails her philosophical analysis of the relationship between Western philosophy and the city that will be entitled Philosophical Streetwalking: Grounding Philosophy and the City.
She regularly teaches Introduction to Philosophy, Ethics, Feminism: Theory and Practice, Feminist Theories of the Body, Philosophy and the City, and Philosophy of Education, and courses on women and development. Dr. Meagher is also the co-facilitator of The University of Scranton’s faculty sustainability workshop, a project that assists faculty in integrating sustainability issues in courses across the curriculum.
Meagher also serves on the editorial board of the Routledge journal CITY. She also teaches in the master's degree program on Gender, Culture, and Development at the Kigali Institute of Education (Rwanda) as often as she can.
An experienced faculty development consultant, Meagher regularly offers workshops on: 1) infusing sustainability into the curriculum; 2) public philosophy; 3) civic engagement; 4) the utilization of performance for civic education.
The content of this site is the responsibility of Sharon M. Meagher and does not necessarily represent the views of The University of Scranton.
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