David M. Holley, professor and department chair, has a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin. As an undergraduate, he majored in religion at Baylor University. He has participated in summer seminars, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities at the University of Virginia and Syracuse University. In addition he has held appointments as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Delaware and the University of Notre Dame. Before moving to Southern Miss. he taught at universities in Kansas, Texas, and Arizona.

He has published a book entitled Self-Interest and Beyond in which he develops an account of the proper use and limits of self-interested thinking. He has also written widely on topics in philosophy of religion, ethics, and moral psychology in numerous professional journals, including American Philosophical Quarterly, International Philosophical Quarterly, Journal of Value Inquiry, International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, and Religious Studies.

David is on sabbatical leave during the fall 2008 term to complete a book tentatively titled, Meaning and Mystery: What It Means to Believe in God. The book will be published by Blackwell Publishing, and it should be available in late 2009.

His wife, Joyce, teaches reading at Petal Middle School. David and Joyce went backpacking in Colorado in the summer of 2007, and they plan to return there in the summer of 2009. During their road trips, they frequently listen to a novel on CD.

His areas of specialization are American philosophy, philosophical theories of human nature, and ethics.

He is currently writing a book on evil. His daughter, Lisa, is a nurse in the Memphis area and he enjoys golf, antiques, and his yellow-headed parrot, Alfie.

Dr. Smithka teaches courses in philosophy of science, logic, epistemology, and introduction to philosophy for the department of philosophy. For the Honors College, she teaches the philosophy component of the World Thought and Culture course (sophomore colloquium).

She has a new book, Community, Diversity, and Difference: Implications for Peace, that she edited with Alison Bailey.

Her present research interests include philosophy of biology, philosophy of mind, and, in the area of social/political philosophy, the issue of tolerance and war and peace issues. She enjoys travel,  beaches, raising birds, and pocket billiards.

Samuel Bruton, associate professor, has a Ph.D. and an M.A. in philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and has taught at Southern Miss for the past eight years.
Dr. Bruton specializes in Kantian ethical theory and applied ethics. He has recently published articles and book reviews in the Journal of Business Ethics, Encyclopedia of Business Ethics and Society, The Philosophical Quarterly, Southwest Philosophy Review and other prominent journals. He is working on a book on Kant's virtue theory and regularly teaches courses in business ethics, research ethics, ethical theory, modern philosophy and political philosophy.

His wife, Beth, is a pediatric nurse practitioner at USM's Institute for Disability Studies, and he has two children, Ainsley and Davis. Dr. Bruton is also an accomplished jazz pianist and has appeared frequently with the USM Symphony Orchestra, John Wooton and Kaiso!, and Larry Panella.

Dr. Bruton's home page for his courses

Daniel Capper, associate professor, has a doctorate from the University of Chicago Divinity School as well as a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in religious studies from the University of Virginia.

Dr. Capper's areas of research include Tibetan Buddhism, religion and psychology, religion and anthropology, alternative religion in the United States, and religion and nonhuman animals.

Dr. Capper is the author of the book, Guru Devotion and the American Buddhist Experience, from the Edwin Mellen Press. This book is an ethnographic exploration of Tibetan Buddhist practice and guru devotion among non-Tibetan Americans.

Currently he teaches comparative religion, Buddhism, religion and healing, Himalayan religions, religions of the Caribbean, and mysticism. He is faculty adviser to the USM chapter of Amnesty International and leads a campus meditation group. He enjoys animals, social activism, sacred art, mountains, and travel.

Dr. Capper's Comparative Religion class site

Study Abroad in Tibet

Dr. Capper's Anthropology of Mysticism Web site

Chris Meyers, Assistant Professor, has a doctorate in philosophy from Loyola University in Chicago. Dr. Meyers specializes in ethical theory (especially meta-ethics), applied ethics, and contemporary philosophy. He has recently published articles in Journal of Social Philosophy, Social Theory and Practice, and Philosophical Studies. He teaches ethics, business ethics, and courses in 20th Century philosophy.

Professor Meyers also teaches a study-abroad course in Vienna on the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein in June 2008.

Morgan Rempel, Assistant Professor, has a Doctorate and a Master's Degree in Philosophy from the University of Toronto, as well as a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from York University. Prior to his arrival at USM, Dr. Rempel taught at Calvin College and the University of Toronto.

Dr. Rempel's areas of specialization include 19th/20th Century Continental Philosophy; the Philosophy of Religion; Psychoanalytic Theory; and the History of Philosophy.

In 2002 Dr. Rempel published a book, Nietzsche, Psychohistory and the Birth of Christianity, which examines the philosopher's unorthodox philosophy of religion in general, and his reflections on Jesus, Paul, and the first Christians, in particular. He has also published articles on Freud, Nietzsche, and the philosophy of religion.

Allan W. Eickelmann teaches religious studies on the Gulf Coast. He holds a D.Min. from McCormick Theological Seminary, an M.S. from George Williams College, an M.A. from the University of Chicago, an M.Div. from Bethany Theological Seminary and a B.A. from Northern Illinois University.

His academic focus is in the fields of religiously motivated violence, comparative religious ethics and religious experience. He is the lead editor of Justice and Violence, published by Ashgate in 2005. Dr. Eickelmann is also the chair of the Issues and Answers lecture series on the coast.

Dr. Eickelmann and his wife, Margene Minor, are temporarily living in Gulfport and are in the process of rebuilding their Ocean Springs home, which was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Dr. Eickelmann is co-president of the Interfaith Hospitality Network and is a past president and member of the Gulfport/Orange Grove Rotary Club. He loves cats, jazz and Cajun cooking.