Department of Philosophy and Religion

1
Spring 2007
Department of Philosophy and Religion
Greetings again, friends and alums of the
Southern Miss Department of Philosophy and
Religion! New USM President! The
Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher
Learning (IHL) announced in a press conference
today that Dr. Martha Dunagin Saunders,
chancellor of the University of
Wisconsin-Whitewater, will serve as the ninth
president of the University of Southern
Mississippi, replacing Shelby Thames in late May
2007. Dr. Saunders is a Mississippi native and
Southern Miss alumna. Dr. Saunders is
currently the Chancellor of the University of
Wisconsin-Whitewater. Prior to that she was vice
president for academic affairs at Columbus State
University in Columbus, Ga., and Dean of the
College of Arts and Sciences at the University of
West Florida in Pensacola, where she also worked
as Director of the University Honors Program. Dr.
Saunders has her doctorate in the field of
communication, and she has numerous publications
in that field. Dr. Saunders earned her bachelor
of arts degree in French from the University of
Southern Mississippi her masters of arts degree
in journalism from the University of Georgia in
Athens, Ga. and her Doctorate of Philosophy
degree in communication theory and research from
Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla.
The fact that Dr. Saunderss background is in
the liberal arts is cause for hope for the
College of Arts and Letters and for our
department in particular.
Religion Course in Tibet - Dr. Dan Capper
One of the exciting new courses in the Department
of Philosophy and Religion is Religion in
Tibet. Taught for the first time at the end of
May 2007, this three-week study abroad course
travels across the globe to examine Tibetan
religion first-hand. Adding experiential
learning to the departments curriculum, this
course also contributes an Asian component to
Southern Misss study abroad menu. Further,
currently it is the only formal short-term study
abroad in Tibet option offered by an American
university, complementing the long-term offerings
of the University of Virginia. In 2007, the
course will consist of graduate and undergraduate
students from Southern Miss, Ole Miss, and the
University of South Alabama. (continued on p.2)
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p. 2
(Tibet Course, continued) The ancient
culture of Tibet provides the class with a
fascinating case study. Religion was and is of
paramount importance in the lives of Tibetans.
Over millenia they have developed a stimulating
blend of local nature worship, shamanism, the old
religion of Bon, Tantric Buddhism, and even a
little Islam. Famed for their spiritual prowess
and magical powers, Tibetan spiritual teachers
oftentimes have been considered the high priests
of northern Asia. Even today for many people
Tibet conjures images of mountaintop mystics sunk
deep in meditation.
Human Rights Conference -Paula Smithka

(Dr. Paula Smithka with John Prendergast)
The Department of Philosophy Religion helped
sponsor the Second Annual Human Rights Conference
of the Southern Miss Center of Human Rights and
Civil Liberties Genocide in the 20th and 21st
Centuries Cases, Causes and Cures. The
conference was held on the Southern Miss
Hattiesburg campus on 23-24 March, 2007. In
addition to sponsoring the conference, several of
our faculty were actively involved in the
con-ference. Paula Smithka served as a
con-ference organizer and wrote and received a
Mississippi Humanities Council mini-grant to
bring the keynote speaker, John Prendergast,
senior advisor at the International Crisis Group
in Washington, D.C. Mr. Prendergast areas of
expertise include African Affairs, conflict
pre-vention and resolution, Sub-Saharan Africa,
especially DR Congo, Sudan, and Uganda.
Prendergasts lecture was Confronting Gen-ocide
in Darfur. Michael DeArmey and Dan Capper
both presented papers at the conference
Genocide and the Cosmopolitan Response to
Genocide and More Marx than Thou Tibetan
Resistance to Genocide, respectively.
(continued, p. 3)
Seeking a better understanding of this
religiosity, students in the course will visit
Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, meditation caves,
pilgrimage destinations, sacred mountains, and
other sites of religious importance. Field trips
include visits to UNESCO World Heritage sites
such as the Jokhang Temple, Potala Palace, and
the Great Wall of China. One long field trip
will take students well into Tibets countryside
for overnight stays at a high-altitude sacred
lake in nomad territory and at a scenic
monastery. Getting to know as much as possible
regarding traditional and contemporary Tibet,
students should return to the United States with
enriching memories of an intense cross-cultural
encounter.
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p. 3


philosophical interests ranged from the
metaphysical thought of Whitehead to
philosophical issues connected with hunting. He
has written numerous philosophical articles and
two books. He has written numerous philosophical
articles and two books. Although he is officially
retired, he still serves occasionally on thesis
committees when the thesis deals with one of his
areas of interest. The Clayton Sullivan
Endowed Scholarship Fund in Religion is named in
recognition of the contributions of Dr. Clayton
Sullivan, who taught religion in the department
for thirty-four years (1966 -- 2000). His books
include studies in theological topics, such as
realized eschatology and biblical inerrancy, as
well as several novels. Since retiring from full-
time teaching, he has continued to publish at a
rate that puts many scholars to shame.
Although many departments in the university have
scholarship funds that are available for students
in their fields, the Department of Philosophy and
Religion has not been able to offer this kind of
aid. In recent years the need for scholarship
funds has increased as tuition costs have
consistently gone up at most universities. The
tuition increases at state universities have
largely been connected with decreased percentages
of support by state legislatures. Mississippi
universities have been hit particularly hard by
declining percentages of state support. Students
today often take on a heavy loan debt before they
finish their education, as well as working long
hours at part-time jobs. When we find promising
students with an interest in our fields, it can
mean a great deal if we are able to offer them
even a relatively small amount of aid. In
order to establish an endowed fund, we need
pledges of at least 10,000. So we are asking
former students and friends (continued, p.4)
(Rights Conference, continued) Graduate student
Derrick Leonard also presented a paper entitled,
Rosewood An American Tragedy, at a luncheon
held at the African American Military Museum, the
last stop on the Hattiesburg Freedom Summer Tour
in which many of the conference attendees
participated. Sam Bruton, Dan Capper, and
Allan Eickelmann served as chairpersons for the
sessions. Sam Bruton and Paula Smithka serve on
the board of directors of The Center for Human
Rights and Civil Liberties. The Second
Annual Human Rights conference was truly an
international conference with speakers from the
University of Delhi in New Delhi, India, and the
University of Ottowa in Canada, in addition to
speakers coming from all over the continental
US. New Scholarship Funds -David Holley
The Department of Philosophy and Religion is
establishing two new funds to provide aid to
students studying philosophy or religion. These
funds will be named in honor of two long-time
professors who have now retired Forrest Wood and
Clayton Sullivan. Over the years, these two
professors have strongly influenced numerous
students. When alumni of the department visit,
they almost invariable ask about one or both.
The Forrest Wood Endowed Scholarship Fund in
Philosophy is named in recognition of the
contributions of Dr. Forrest Wood, who taught
philosophy for thirty-eight years in the
department from 1966 -- 2004. For twenty-one
years he was department chair. Dr. Woods
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p. 4

• Scholarship Funds
• I would like to contribute to the (Check one)
• _____ Forrest Wood Endowed Scholarship Fund in
  Philosophy_____ Clayton Sullivan Endowed
  Scholarship Fund in Religion
• My pledge is for a single payment of _________.
• My pledge is for ________ over a period of
  _______ years (up to three).
• _____ I would like to be contacted by a
  representative of the U.S.M. Foundation to
  discuss the amount of my pledge.
• Name __________________________________
• Address __________________________________
• __________________________________
• Phone ________________________
• Signature
• ______________________________Please fill out
  the form and send it to Dr. David M.
  Holley, Chair Department of Philosophy and
  Religion University of Southern Mississippi
  118 College Dr. 5015 Hattiesburg, MS
  39406-0001

(Scholarships, continued) of the department to
pledge as they are able to one of these funds.
When we reach the required levels, we want to
have a dinner celebrating the contributions of
Dr. Wood and Dr. Sullivan to which we will invite
those who have pledged a contribution. At the
time of the dinner we hope to be able to present
to each of these professors a list of those who
have had a part in making these scholarships
possible. If all goes well, we would like to
have the celebration dinner in late spring of
2008. Pledges can be for a single payment or
for a period up to three years. The form below
is provided for those who would like to help in
this effort. All of the members of the
department are enthusiastic about this effort and
have indicated a desire to contribute to one of
these funds. We feel confident that students or
friends who have known Dr. Wood or Dr. Sullivan
will want to be a part of this effort. The
endowment will continue to aid students
interested in studying philosophy or religion
long after each of us is gone. Just as we have
benefited by what people in the past have done to
provide us with opportunities, we can do our part
to open some doors for those who will come after
us.

• Mississippi Philosophical Association Meeting
• In mid-April 2007 the University of Southern
  Mississippi hosted the Mississippi Philosophical
  Association Conference. It was the second time in
  three years that the annual conference was held
  at Southern Miss. The keynote address, The Case
  for Resentment, was delivered by our own Clayton
  Sullivan (professor emeritus). Other
  philosophical research projects delivered at the
  conference included papers on ancient and modern
  philosophy, contemporary metaphysics and
  epistemology, environmental ethics, and others.

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p. 5

Fairchild Lectures in Religion and Ethics
Dimensions of Contemporary Islam -Mark Wagner
With support from the Fairchild fund, Dr.
Wagner organized a lecture series on Islam in the
modern world.  The speakers he chose were
scholars who work mainly on the medieval Islamic
world but whose research interests include modern
Islam as well.  Thus, they were able to provide a
broad historical framework to explain recent
trends.  Each scholar delivered a public lecture
and guest taught Dr. Wagners Religion 445,
Islam and Politics course. On Monday, Feb.
12, Bernard Haykel, who is associate professor of
Middle Eastern and Islamic studies at New York
University, gave a lecture entitled The
Wahhabis and Radical Islamic Networks.  Dr.
Haykel spoke about the rise of the Wahhabi
movement in the Arabian Peninsula and its
development.  In hislecture he pointed out the
theological issues that distinguish Wahhabis from
other Muslims, notably a strong opposition to
various forms of popular religion and a
Protestant-like attitude towards Islams
Scripture.  He detailed the complex relationship
between the domestic legitimacy of the Saudi
regime and their advocacy for Wahhabi Islam.
 While visiting the Islam and Politics class, Dr.
Haykel analyzed Saudi Arabias role in the
intellectual development of radical Islam.
David Cook, assistant professor of religious
studies at Rice University, lectured on March 5
on Evangelical Prophecies in Islamic Garb. Cook
spoke about apocalypticism (systematic thought
regarding the cataclysmic end time) in the
medieval Muslim world, then detailed the
efflorescence

Dr.s Wagner and Capper with Shawkat Toorawa of
such thought in the contemporary Islamic world.
 He described the wide-ranging interests of
writers of Muslim apocalyptic, which included the
writings of Christian evangelicals like Jerry
Falwell.  Cooks conclusion was that Muslim
apocalypticists share with evangelical
apocalypticists a focus on the state of Israel as
the site of a cosmic historical drama.  While
Christian evangelicals see Israel as Gods
instrument, their Muslim counterparts view it as
representing the Muslim Antichrist, or dajjal.
 Dr. Cook discussed his book, An Introduction to
Jihad, with the Islam and Politics class, who
had read it in advance of his visit. On
Monday, March 19, Shawkat M. Toorawa, associate
professor of Arabic literature and Islamic
studies at Cornell University, spoke on The
Compatability of Literature and Revelation
Modern Muslim Writers and the Quran.  Toorawa
lectured on the role of the Quran, Islams Holy
scriptures,in the work of contemporary Muslim
writers.  He gave examples of novelists and poets
throughout the Islamic world who reinterpreted
sections of the Quran through their work, acts
which sometimes got them in trouble with
religious and political authorities. He led a
discussion of a work by the early
twentieth-century Urdu poet and philosopher
Muhammad Iqbal in the Islam and Politics
course.
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p. 6

News From Alum Dr. Roland Haun, (B.S. 1960) Dr.
Haun is now a professor at Eastern Kentucky
University formerly director of the Kentucky
Association of School Super-intendents
(1993-2005) superintendent of schools, Ft. Knox,
Ky. (1976-1993). In 1994, he was president of the
American Association of School Administrators.
He writes I took my first philosophy course
as an elective my junior year. I enjoyed it so
much that I took enough courses in religion and
philosophy to have a major. I continue to study
philosophy as a hobby. Mary West-Quinn, (M.A.,
2004) Ms. West-Quinn currently teaches at Hinds
Community College. She is also pursuing an
interest in photography. She writes I
received another scholarship to the Santa Fe
Photography Workshops and I just returned. I
worked with Norman Mauskopf for a week. I think
you would like him because he has a subtle way of
merging philosophy and photography. And he has
one of the computer brains that can spontaneously
compare a great thinker from the 1910s to a great
photographerhe was fascinating! Evan Walker
(B.A.) Mr. Walker is in law school at Loyola
University in New Orleans. He writes I
accepted a summer position with a law
organization located in Shreveport, La. As soon
as exams are over (the last date is the 17th of
May 2006), I plan on leaving New Orleans for
Shreveport. I am excited at this opportunity and
also the fact that my hardest year of law school
will be over in two weeks.
Send Us Your Business Cards! The question
we are asked fairly often is What can I do with
a degree in philosophy (or a degree in
religion)? While we have our answers, we
thought it might be instructive to show some of
the inquirers examples of what people who have
studied with us have done. We plan a display of
the business cards of various alums that will
show the variety of things, academic and
nonacademic, that philosophy or religion majors
end up doing for a living. Were also
interested in how you might answer the question.
So if you get a chance, send us the kind of
response you might give to someone who is asking
what studying philosophy or religion might do for
you professionally (or personally). First-person
responses to the question that tell what you have
found to be true should be particularly valuable.
Thanks for your help
Your We Need Your Help! Contributions to
two funds managed by The USM Foundation help
support our programs. One is the Tommy Blanton
Philosophy and Religion Fund, which is directed
towards current needs for equipment, professional
development, student awards, special projects,
and lectures. The other is the John F. Nau
Endowment in Philosophy and Religion, which we
are hoping to build to a level where it can
provide continuing support for undergraduate and
graduate scholarships. We appreciate whatever
help you can give us. Please include the
name of the fund with your contributions and send
them to The University of Southern
Mississippi USM Foundation 118 College Drive
10026 Hattiesburg, MS 39406-0001
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Alumni Response Form Wed like to hear from you!
Let us know what you are doing now, so that we
can add you to our alumni news section in future
editions of our newsletter.
Name _____________________________________________
_________________ Degrees ________________________
_______ Year awarded ______________ Address
(corrections only) _______________________________
____________ _____________________________________
_______________________________ E-mail
__________________________________________________
____________ Current Activities
__________________________________________________
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____________________ _____________________________
_______________________________________ __________
__________________________________________________
________ _________________________________________
___________________________ ______________________
______________________________________________ Re
flections on your training in philosophy _________
__________________________________________________
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____________________________ _____________________
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________________ _________________________________
___________________________________ Mail Your
Response to Newsletter Editor The University of
Southern Mississippi Department of Philosophy
and Religion 118 College Drive
5015 Hattiesburg, MS 39406-0001 Or e-mail your
info to cd.meyers_at_usm.edu
Southern Miss
8
The following is a list of those graduates with
whom we have lost contact. We would be grateful
for any help you can offer in locating any of
them.
Mr. William Harrison Mr. Harold Wilder Mr. Gerald
Bridges Rev. Oscar Petty Ms. Mary Stewart Rev.
George Horn Mr. Charles Barker Jr. Rev. James
Ramey Jr. Mr. Robert Alexander Rev. Jack
Troutman Rev. Joseph Cothern Mrs. Julia Long Mr.
Wilton Carter Mr. Henry Parker Mr. John Coker
Sr. Mr. John Middleton Rev. Lawrence Goff Mr.
Roscoe Redd Jr. Mr. Malcolm Solomon Mr. John
Hoelzer Ms. Sharon Faughn Mr. John Krauser Mr.
Edgar Patterson Jr. Mr. Thomas Wallis Mrs. Fran
Colmery Mr. Charles Schofield Dr. Donald
Mangum Mr. Eugene White Jr. Mr. Richard
Zachary Mr. David Pease Mr. William Flint Mr.
David Waits Jr. Mr. Clay Bradley Mr. Isaac
May Ms. Elizabeth Boyle
Mr. John Hughes Mr. James McMichael III Rev.
Howard Lips Mr. Mitchell Hedgepeth Ms. Laura
Myers Ms. Ingrid Ellerbee Ms. Brenda Brown Mr.
James McMillon Mr. Ronald Jordan Mr. Scott
Hetrick Ms. Edie Lundy Ms. Angela Hilton Mr.
David Tims Mr. James Spiegel Mr. Patrick
Wallace Mrs. Sharon Samson Mr. Andrew Thomas Mr.
Xing-Hui Tan Mr. Michael Mcneese Mr. James
Reed Mr. Peter Grady Mr. Gene Lawrence Mr. Robert
Engler Jr. Mr. David Burgess Mrs. Christine
Brown Mr. Scott Pfaff Dr. Mildred Lowrie Mr.
Carlisle Henderson Mr. Heath Hudson Ms. Jennifer
Dooley Mr. Shawn Lowrey Mr. Alvin McDonald Mr.
Robert Landrum Mr. Andrew Evans Ms. Barbara
McLeod
Department of Philosophy and Religion 304
Liberal Arts Building Phone [phone] Visit
our Web site www.usm.edu/philrel/ AA/EOE/ADAI