Philosophy Department
Faculty and Staff

ABOUT THE FACULTY

Dr. Scott Davidson (Chair) – Ph.D., Duquesne University (2002); M.A. Duquesne University (1998); B.A. Kansas State University (1994).

Dr. Davidson currently serves as Chair of the Philosophy Department. He received honors from Duquesne University for his dissertation thesis “Reflected Freedom: Levinas’s Defense of Ethical Subjectivity.” In addition to his research on Emmanuel Levinas, his recent scholarship includes a translation of Michel Henry’s Material Phenomenology for Fordham University Press, the editing of a special issue on Paul Ricoeur for “The Journal of French Philosophy,” and an edited book project on Paul Ricoeur. He teaches courses in contemporary Continental philosophy, Ancient Greek Philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, and political theory. His spouse, Lupe, teaches at the University of Oklahoma, and together they have three children, Yannick, Kolya, and Yelena.

Dr. Robin Meyers - Ph.D. University of Oklahoma (1991); M.Div. Phillips University (1979); BA Wichita State University (1975).

In addition to being a professor of rhetoric in the Philosophy Department since 1991, Dr. Robin Meyers has been senior minister of Mayflower Congregational UCC Church of Oklahoma City since 1985. Mayflower, an Open and Affirming, Peace and Justice church in northwest Oklahoma City, is the fastest growing UCC congregation in the Kansas/Oklahoma Conference.Dr. Meyers earned a PhD from the Communication Department at the University of Oklahoma, for his work in the area of persuasion and preaching. His dissertation was published as a textbook for preachers, entitled With Ears to Hear: Preaching as Self-Persuasion (Pilgrim Press, 1993). Dr. Meyers has published three additional books, Morning Sun on a White Piano: Simple Pleasures and the Sacramental Life (New York: Doubleday, 1998), endorsed by Bill Moyers; The Virtue in the Vice: Finding Seven Lively Virtues in the Seven Deadly Sins (Health Communications, Inc., 2004), endorsed by Desmond Tutu; and Why the Christian Right is Wrong: A Minister=s Manifesto for Taking Back Your Faith, Your Flag, and Your Future (San Francisco: Jossey/Bass, in press), endorsed by Bill Moyers, Desmond Tutu, John Shelby Spong, and William Sloane Coffin Jr.

Dr. Meyers is a frequent speaker at church workshops, academic conferences, and political events around the country, and is an award-winning commentator for National Public Radio. He has appeared on Dateline NBC, The McNeil-Leher Hour, ABC World News Tonight, and numerous PBS programs. In 2001, he became spiritual advisor to the first woman executed in the state of Oklahoma, and is featured in an HBO documentary, The Execution of Wanda Jean. Dr. Meyers was the Earl Preacher at the Earl Lectures at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California; was named the Angie Debo Civil Libertarian of the year by the ACLU of Oklahoma, and has been a guest preacher at the Riverside Church of New York City. He writes a syndicated column for The Oklahoma Gazette, where he holds the record for the most angry letters to the editor. Dr. Meyers is married to Shawn Meyers, an Oklahoma City artist, and they have three children, Blue, Chelsea , and Cass.

Dr. Wade Roberts (Visitng Assistant Professor) – Ph.D., Duquesne University (2007). Dr. Roberts' research focuses on the later writings of Foucault. He teaches courses in Ethics and Political Philosophy, in addition to currently serving as the Philosophy Club advisor.

Dr. Leo G. Werneke

Dr. Werneke received his B.A. in philosophy in 1964 from Oklahoma City University, the M.A. in philosophy in 1966 from Northwestern University (Evanston, IL), and the Ph.D. from Queens College, Dundee University in 1984. Dr. Werneke’s primary interests are ethics, philosophy of religion, political philosophy, history of modern philosophy, phenomenology and existentialism. He currently serves as director of the PLUS program.