Philosophy and Religious Studies /philosophy UCA Fri, 03 Apr 2026 20:34:51 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.1 Ethics Bowl Team Places 4th at Texas Regional Championship /philosophy/2025/11/24/ethics-bowl-team-places-4th-at-texas-regional-championship/ /philosophy/2025/11/24/ethics-bowl-team-places-4th-at-texas-regional-championship/#respond Mon, 24 Nov 2025 15:14:33 +0000 /philosophy/?p=2392 The BT天堂Ethics Bowl Team placed 4th at the Texas Regional Championship at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio on November 15, 2025.

We are incredibly proud of their hard work and dedication!

A group of nine people of diverse backgrounds smile at the camera, seven are students and two are faculty. They stand in front of a blue St. Mary's University backdrop, and two people are holding one trophy in the middle. The mood is celebratory.

 

 

]]> /philosophy/2025/11/24/ethics-bowl-team-places-4th-at-texas-regional-championship/feed/ 0 Undergraduate Research Funding with Schedler Honors College /philosophy/2025/09/14/undergraduate-research-funding-with-schedler-honors-college/ /philosophy/2025/09/14/undergraduate-research-funding-with-schedler-honors-college/#respond Sun, 14 Sep 2025 19:57:26 +0000 /philosophy/?p=2338 Fall 2025

In Fall 2025, undergraduate philosophy major Nick Padilla will be working with Dr. Sharon Mason to develop a new undergraduate textbook for 17th and 18 century European philosophy (also called Early Modern Philosophy). Since 2018, Dr. Mason has been developing course resources that address the gap between current scholarship and available introductory textbooks for this course.聽After having presented her research聽at the APA Central in 2020, published two sections on the professional blog for the American Philosophical Association in 2022, and her acceptance to a prestigious NEH Institute in Summer 2022 on the topic, Dr. Mason will be聽taking almost 200 pages of typed notes she has聽written for her students over the past 8 years and turning them into a textbook that is available for widespread use. Nick will be working on聽organization and correct formatting of references, developing study questions for students, and giving a valuable student perspective on the effectiveness of various sections of the textbook as they develop. The assistantship is made possible by funding through the recently-developed Honors Undergraduate Research Assistant program.

]]> /philosophy/2025/09/14/undergraduate-research-funding-with-schedler-honors-college/feed/ 0 AI, Robotics, and Ethics Camp @ UCA /philosophy/2025/09/14/ai-robotics-and-ethics-camp-uca/ /philosophy/2025/09/14/ai-robotics-and-ethics-camp-uca/#respond Sun, 14 Sep 2025 19:44:06 +0000 /philosophy/?p=2308
A professor, Dr. Butler, stands in front of a tech lab instructing a group of students seated at desks with computers. The setting is educational, focused on hands-on learning of technology and robotics.

AI, Robotics, & Ethics Camp (2025)

The role of ethics in AI and robotics is growing rapidly, and the real experts are often in the humanities, as well as the science fields! Dr. Jesse Butler, Professor of and Religious Studies, co-led the AI, Robotics, and Ethics camp again this summer. He is seen leading a discussion with students (above).
聽Alec Brewer, a Philosophy and English major, and Kaylee Moeri, a Philosophy and Psychology major, served as camp counselors.
A BT天堂student in the department engages in a discussion with a diverse group of five high school students. The room is filled with gadgets and a whiteboard with writing is seen in the background. It is a collaborative learning environment.

Alec talks with camp attendees

A group of students watches a small robot car moving on the floor in the hallway of a BT天堂building. One student can be seen walking a distance behind the robot car with a controller, and another student raises their arms in triumph.

Kaylee times participants on her phone

Dr. Will Slaton, Professor and Engineering Physics Coordinator, directs the AI, Robotics & Ethics Camp, and Assistant Professor Lin Zhang of the Department of Physics and Astronomy (bottom right), co-taught the camp. Hosted by the BT天堂College of Science and Engineering, the one-week program “provides students with hands-on learning opportunities in the fields of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotics with an emphasis on the moral and ethical dimension of this technology. The camp is fully funded by the Arkansas Department of Education’s Academic Enrichment for Gifted/Talented in Summer (AEGIS) program. During the week, the students learned programming and hardware skills to build and test machine learning algorithms to train and autonomously test-drive a robot car.” The week culminated in a competition where teams built an AI powered self-driving car while considering the philosophical, ethical, and moral issues that come with this technology.
]]> /philosophy/2025/09/14/ai-robotics-and-ethics-camp-uca/feed/ 0 Congratulations to our Spring 2025 Graduates! /philosophy/2025/05/08/congratulations-to-our-spring-2025-graduates/ /philosophy/2025/05/08/congratulations-to-our-spring-2025-graduates/#respond Thu, 08 May 2025 14:58:47 +0000 /philosophy/?p=2153 A group of graduates in black caps and gowns holding diplomas, smiling under umbrellas on a rainy day. Professors stand behind the students, celebrating their graduation as undergrads.

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