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Daniel J. Philippon
Advising
I regularly advise graduate students in English and Writing Studies, as well as graduate students whose primary interests are in the human dimensions of Conservation Biology. In addition, I often serve on the examining and dissertation committees of students in a variety of fields who have an interest in the environmental humanities. Finally, I serve as an honors thesis advisor for undergraduate English majors who seek to graduate summa cum laude.
If you fall into one of these categories and would like to work with me, I would be happy to discuss your interests with you in more detail.
Current Graduate Students
Advisor
Matthew Kaplan, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Writing Studies; Dissertation: "Greening the Gamescape: How Virtual Game Worlds Convey and Affect Real-World Environmental Ethics" (Matt's blog, "Game in Mind")
Josh Mabie, Ph.D. candidate, Department of English
Heather Krebs, Ph.D. candidate, Department of English
Wilson Peden, M.F.A. Candidate, Department of English (co-advisor, Patricia Hampl)
Committee Member
Michael Rohde, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Philosophy (Valerie Tiberius, advisor)
Jessica Prody, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Communication Studies (Kirt Wilson, advisor)
James Brown, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of American Studies (Elaine Tyler May, advisor)
Matthew Schneider-Mayerson, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of American Studies (Elaine Tyler May, advisor)
Anne Roth-Reinhardt, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of English (Ed Griffin, advisor)
Amanda Kueper, M.S. Candidate, Program in Conservation Biology (Dennis Becker, advisor)
Current Undergraduate Students
Kelsey Kudak, honors thesis on fair trade coffee
Doctoral Students I've Advised
Brett Werner, Post-Doctoral Fellow in Environmental Studies, Centre College
Dissertation: "Pragmatic Ecocriticism and Equipments for Living," Department of Writing Studies, 2009
- seeks to develop an approach to pragmatic ecocriticism grounded in rhetoric and ethics
- integrates Kenneth Burke's notion of textual instrumentality into a Deweyan ethical framework
- examines Kathleen Dean Moore's The Pine Island Paradox, Scott Russell Sanders's Hunting for Hope, and Sandra Steingraber's Having Faith as examples of "pragmatic narratives" that can help readers navigate complexity and uncertainty
- explores these texts not only as forms of nature writing but also through the pragmatic genres of beach reading, self-help books, and pregnancy guidebooks, respectively
Salma Monani, Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Studies, Gettysburg College
Dissertation: "Nature Films and the Challenge of Just Sustainabilty," Department of Writing Studies, 2008
- seeks to understand how documentary films represent nature-human relationships and how these representations might contribute to just and sustainable living
- employs terms and concepts from ecocriticism and just sustainability
- categorizes documentaries into wildlife-nature films, adventure-nature films, and social-nature films
- examines the films March of the Penguins, Grizzly Man, An Inconvenient Truth, and Homeland: Four Portraits of Native Action, as well as three documentaries about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as a case study: Being Caribou, Extreme Oil: The Wilderness, and Oil on Ice
Amy Patrick, Assistant Professor, Department of English & Journalism, Western Illinois University
Dissertation: "Apocalyptic or Precautionary? Revisioning Texts in Environmental Literature," Department of Rhetoric, 2006
- seeks to understand a literary tradition concerned with public right-to-know, human health, and scientific uncertainty
- uses Carolyn Miller's theory of "genre as social action" to explore the merging of multiple genres to achieve rhetorical ends
- claims that "apocalyptic" is a limiting, inaccurate description of environmental texts and argues instead for the "precautionary tale" as a rhetorical genre
- examines Rachel Carson's Silent Spring; Colborn, Dumanoski, and Myers's Our Stolen Future; Sandra Steingraber's Living Downstream; and Edward O. Wilson's The Future of Life
Kelly Ball-Stahl, Director of Grant Development, St. Norbert College
Dissertation: "Environmental Values in American Popular-Culture Narratives," Department of Rhetoric, 2005
- seeks to understand how environmental fiction narratives may shape environmental values and human behavior
- employs "eco-ethical rhetorical criticism," a triangulation of critical perspectives derived from ecocriticism, ethical criticism, and rhetorical criticism
- classifies environmental fiction narratives into three categories according to their potential to influence an audience's environmental values: environmental allegories (low potential), new environmental stories (modeate potential), and engaged environmental narratives (high potential)
- examines two short case studies (the TV show Futurama and the film The Day after Tomorrow) and two extended case studies (the film Pocahontas and Barbara Kingsolver's novel Prodigal Summer)
Doctoral Students with Whom I've Worked Closely
Anthony Arrigo, "Imagining the Dam: The Visual Rhetoric of Hoover (Boulder) Dam in Popular and Public Print Media, 1920-1975," Department of Writing Studies, 2009 (Richard Graff, advisor)
Gina Rumore, "A Natural Laboratory, A National Monument: Carving out a Place for Science in Glacier Bay, Alaska, 1879-1959," Program in History of Science, Technology, and Medicine, 2009 (Sally Gregory Kohlstedt and Mark Borrello, advisors)
Emily Swanson, "Natural Arguments: Popular Discourse and Environmental Legislation, 1945-2007," Department of English, 2007 (Donald Ross, advisor)
Megan Casey, "Postcolonial Ecocriticism and the Cultural Politics of Nature in Belize," Department of English, 2007 (Robert Brown, advsior)
Brian Wolff, "Utilitarian and Environmental Ethics," Program in Conservation Biology, 2006 (Richard Philips, advisor)
Devin Corbin, "The Work of Belonging: Agricultural Improvement, Romantic Wilderness, and the Rise of Restorationism in U.S. Environmental Literature," Department of English, 2005 (Donald Ross, advisor)
Kimberly Byrd, "Of Wolves and Worldviews: Navigating the Social Landscape of Wolf Management in Minnesota," Program in Conservation Biology, 2003 (William Cunningham, advisor)
Kim Chapman, "Conserving Regional Biodiversity: Role of Reserves, Rural Lands and Suburbs in the Prairie-Forest Transition, Minnesota, United States of America," Program in Conservation Biology, 2001 (Peter Reich, advisor)
Master's Students I've Advised
Kristen Poppleton, M.S. Conservation Biology, 2009
Patricia Michaud, M.S., Department of Writing Studies, 2008
Michael Banker, M.A., Department of Rhetoric, 2007
Kristin Hines, M.A., Department of Rhetoric, 2007
Brett Werner, M.A., Department of Rhetoric, 2006
Ashley Lewis, M.S., Department of Rhetoric, 2006
Lynn Schuster, M.S., Department of Rhetoric, 2005
Teresa Sutton, M.F.A., Department of English, 2003 (Valerie Miner, co-advisor)
Heidi Erickson, M.S., Department of Rhetoric, 2003
Amy Herbert, M.S., Department of Rhetoric, 2002
Lee Thomas, M.S., Department of Rhetoric, 2002
Veronica Sheck, M.S., Department of Rhetoric, 2002
Master's Students with Whom I've Worked Closely
Alice Cascorbi, M.S., Program in Conservation Biology, 2009 (George Spangler, advisor)
Tatiana Abatemarco, M.A., Department of Philosophy, 2006 (Valerie Tiberius, advisor)
Marvin Taylor, M.A., Department of Rhetoric, 2006 (Richard Graff, advisor)
Jon Poppele, M.S., Program in Conservation Biology, 2005 (Karen Oberhauser, advisor)
Sarah Henderson, M.S., Environmental Health Sciences, 2001 (Deborah Swackhamer, advisor)
Undergraduate Students I've Advised
Emily Lind, honors thesis on Ernest Hemingway and religion
Emily Schnobrich, honors thesis on M.F.K. Fisher as memoirist
Laura Freund, capstone paper on globalization in Juarez, Mexico, 2004
Rachel Elsen, capstone paper on intentional communities, 2003
Jami Boehm, capstone paper on gray wolves, 2002
Kristina Thayer, capstone paper on organic food, 2002
Terri Weitz, capstone paper on urban sprawl and smart growth, 2002
Tyler Zickert, capstone paper on Henry David Thoreau and the simple life, 2001
Last Update: 11 November 2009
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