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Topic: Philosophy

Ann Obermann

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Ann Obermann, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of social work at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Since 2016 she has taught courses in direct family practice, family therapy, trauma, mental health assessment, trauma interventions and child maltreatment. In addition, she enjoys training child welfare and mental health professionals on topics such as trauma, adolescent development, leadership and supervision as well as family engagement.

Obermann is a licensed clinical social worker in the state of Colorado and has extensive social work practice experience working in human service management, community mental health and with at risk families and adolescents in both child welfare and mental health environments. She also managed an intensive evidence based program where she created and facilitated different trainings for online social work instructors to prepare them for socially just educational experiences. Obermann is also the coauthor of the book, “101 Careers in Social Work”.

Obermann received her Ph.D. in social work from the University of Denver in 2017, her master’s in social work from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2002 and her bachelor’s in social work from St. Olaf College in 1997.

Vijay Mascarenhas

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Vijay Mascarenhas, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Philosophy at Metropolitan State University of Denver. His areas of expertise include philosophy of mind and consciousness, ethics, and Just War theory. He currently teaches Introduction to Philosophy and Philosophy of Mind.

His published work includes “God and the Good in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics” in Epoché: A Journal for the History of Philosophy and “Intentionality, causality, and self-consciousness: Implications for the naturalization of consciousness” in Metaphyscia, among others.

He earned his doctorate degree from Yale University in 1999.

Kim Klimek

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Kimberly Klimek, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of History at Metropolitan State University of Denver. She teaches courses on the history of medieval England, medieval Europe, history of European women, medieval world, world civilizations to 1500 and women in world history.

Klimek has been teaching at MSU Denver since 2006. She received the Outstanding Women’s Award from MSU Denver’s Institute for Women’s Studies and Services in 2016. Klimek is a council member of Medieval Association of the Pacific, academic consultant for Professional Decorative Painter’s Association, member of Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association and member of Society of Medieval Feminist Scholars.

Her research interests include the intersections between gender and intellectual history, with a particular focus on women and their impact on historical writing. Klimek is also interested in mysticism, particularly as it relates to philosophical, intellectual, and gendered identities. She is currently working on projects surrounding a text in medieval world history, the use of graphic novels in history classrooms; and PTSD and medieval Crusade veterans. Klimek authored a chapter titled “War. War Never Changes: Using Popular Culture to Teach Traumatic Events” in the 2018 textbook “Leadership, Popular Culture, and Social Change.” She has also presented her work at many conferences and formal presentations around the country and in England.

Klimek received her doctorate in medieval and early modern history from University of New Mexico in 2009, a master’s in history from Colorado State University in 1997 and a bachelor’s cum laude in history and theatre from University of Colorado, Colorado Springs in 1993.

Adam Graves

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Adam J. Graves, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

Julian Friedland

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Julian Friedland, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the College of Business at Metropolitan State University of Denver. His areas of expertise lie in business ethics, corporate social responsibility, ethics and technology including artificial intelligence; moral psychology; and general philosophy. He currently teaches global corporate social responsibility.

Prior to joining MSU Denver, Friedland worked as a professor of business ethics at Trinity College Dublin and the University of Colorado Boulder. He has experience teaching philosophy as a visiting professor at the University of Hartford. Friedland has also done freelance work as a technology-ethics consultant. He is a member of the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics.

Friedland is currently conducting research in these interlinked areas: social-impact strategy, leveraging moral self-awareness as an incentive and new means by which the reflective mind may be activated through digital choice architectures. His work has appeared in a range of books and international journals, including the Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Organizational Behavior, MIT Sloan Management Review, California Management Review and Philosophical Investigations. Friedland also writes in national magazines and newsprint such as the New York Times, the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Conversation, the Humanist and the Forward. He gave a TEDx Talk at Trinity College Dublin titled “How AI Can Help Us Live More Deliberately” in March 2019.

Friedland received his doctorate in philosophy magna cum laude from the University of Paris I: Panthéon-Sorbonne in 2000, a master’s in philosophy from San Francisco State University in 1994 and a bachelor’s in philosophy from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1990. He earned a certificate in Teaching Critical Thinking during his master’s program from the State of California.

Caleb Cohoe

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Caleb Cohoe studied in Princeton University’s Interdepartmental Program in Classical Philosophy, receiving his Ph.D. in philosophy in 2012. He received a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Thomas Aquinas College in 2006. He has published articles on philosophy of religion, ancient philosophy, and medieval philosophy in leading journals including Phronesis, British Journal of the History of Philosophy and Faith and Philosophy. He has served as a speaker at leading universities including Oxford University, the University of Notre Dame and the University of Colorado Boulder. He has received grants for his research in the philosophy of religion from the Templeton Foundation. He is currently in his third year as an associate professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

Shelby Balik

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Shelby M. Balik, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of History at Metropolitan State University of Denver where she teaches courses in early American history, American religious history, American slavery and social studies education. She is a former high school social studies teacher and still works with pre-service teachers and remains engaged in issues that affect public education. Her areas of expertise include American slavery, historical memory and American political Philosophy.

Balik has published in the “Journal of Church and State,” the “New England Quarterly,” the “Massachusetts Historical Review,” and the “Journal of Social History.” Her book, “Rally the Scattered Believers: Northern New England’s Religious Geography” (Indiana, 2014), won the 2014 Phi Alpha Theta Best First Book Award, and she is currently researching a book on the politics and practice of household religion in eighteenth-century North America.

Balik earned her Ph.D. and master’s in early American history and religion from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2006. In addition, she also has a master’s in education from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1994.

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