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Alumni Achievements

Additional Alumni Achievements

Featured Alum
Amy Bernard, '08
Major: Philosophy

Career Path: Last December, Bernard received a master's degree in philosophy from the University of Melbourne. Her research area there was international justice ethics, specializing in genocide prevention. She currently is pursuing a J.D. at the University of Washington School of Law.

Why Whitworth? "I was drawn to attend Whitworth because of the amazing scholarship opportunities; the successfully running philosophy and theatre departments; faculty that seemed incredibly knowledgeable while still remaining actively involved in the lives of their students; and the idyllic campus."

Whitworth Activities: Multiple theatre programs and vocal performances; directed both the staged-reading program and the Whitworth's Road Company program. Bernard also was involved in Acting on Aids Club, and wrote the script for the STIGMA project. She was a member of Whitworth's ethics debate team, and she helped organize events for Amnesty International.

Quote: "Whitworth helped me prepare for a life in academics. I learned there how to write well, read critically, and study effectively. I have used all these skills to be successful in graduate school."

Influential Whitworth Experiences: "Forrest Baird told me that I should pick my major based on content, not the courses' professors. This advice allowed me to enjoy learning content for the sake of content; philosophy for the sake of philosophy—rather than solely because Keith Wyma and Forrest Baird were amazing lecturers. This enabled me to get through dry lectures in graduate school, and now in law school."

Career Goals: "I plan on getting my LL.M. in international law. After that, I plan on either going into international policy work or teaching international legal ethics."

Here's what some Whitworth graduates are doing with their philosophy degrees:

• Amy Whisenand, '09, received a Fulbright Fellowship to teach in Germany.
  
  
• Kelly Vincent, '09, is in the Ph.D. program in philosophy at the University of Colorado– Boulder.
  
  
• Lars Katz Garde, '06, is a Seattle-based indie-emo musician who released his first album, The Veil, in 2009.
  
  
• Logan Gage, '04, is in the Ph.D. program in philosophy at Baylor University, in Waco, Texas.
  
  
• Chris Atwood, '03 (philosophy and theology double-major), earned an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary and has completed a year of New Testament study in systematic theology at the University of Tübingen, in Germany. He was recently accepted into Wheaton (Ill.) College's Ph.D. program in New Testament.
  
  
• Shane Gronholz, '05, is enrolled in the Ph.D. program in philosophy at the University of Colorado–Boulder.
  
  
• Hilary Martin, '01, is a lawyer for Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Miller & Munson, in Juneau, Ak., after completing a law degree at Arizona State University with certificates in Indian law and environmental law; she also clerked for Alaska Supreme Court Chief Justice Dana Fabe.
  
  
• Andrew Bower, '05, is earning a master's degree in child development at the University of California–Davis.