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.

His latest book, entitled Meaning and Mystery: What It Means to Believe in God, is scheduled for publication by Wiley-Blackwell in early 2010. In this book he argues against the view that the best way to reflect about belief in God is to think of God’s existence as an explanatory hypothesis, proposing instead that it needs to be considered in the context of deciding a about a life-orienting story.

In a previous book called Self-Interest and Beyond he develops an account of the proper use and limits of self-interested thinking. He has published articles 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.

His wife, Joyce, teaches English at Petal Middle School. David and Joyce went backpacking in Colorado in the summer of 2009, going from about 9000 feet to about 13000 feet. 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. in philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has taught at Southern Miss for the past eleven years.

Dr. Bruton specializes in Kantian ethical theory and applied ethics. Most recently, he has published articles in the Encyclopedia of Business Ethics and Society and the Journal of Business Ethics. He is working on a book on Kant's ethical theory and regularly teaches courses in business ethics, research ethics, ethical theory, modern philosophy, philosophy of music 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 an accomplished jazz pianist who performs frequently with various local artists.

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 India
Dr. Capper's Anthropology of Mysticism Web site

Chris Meyers, Assistant Professor, has a doctorate in philosophy from Loyola University in Chicago. He specializes in ethical theory, applied ethics, and contemporary philosophy. He has recently published articles in Social Theory and Practice, Philosophical Studies, and Synthese. His book, The Fetal Position: A Rational Approach to the Abortion Debate, will be published in the spring of 2010. He teaches Ethics, Healthcare Ethics, Environmental Ethics, Business Ethics, MetaEthics, Moral Psychology, and Human Nature.

Professor Meyers will be teaching Environmental Ethics in Jamaica as part of U.S.M.'s Caribbean Studies program in January 2010.

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.

Dr. Hardman's specialties are in Islam in North Africa and Europe, Islamic Mysticism and Christian-Muslim dialogue. He teaches courses in Comparative Religion and in Islam. He has also taught courses in Religion and Literature.

In 2009, he published Islam and the Métropole: A Case Study of Religion and Rhetoric in Algeria which explores the colonial policies of France regarding Islam and the lingering effects they had on religious ideology in the early days of Algerian independence.

Before coming to USM, Dr. Hardman lived and worked for over a decade in Tunisia and Algeria.

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. Dr. Eickelmann has developed several new courses for the USM curriculum, including "Religion and Violence," which he is currently teaching. 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, and the host of the radio program, As a Matter of Faith, which is aired on WUSM in Hattiesburg

Dr. Eickelmann and his wife Margene are living in their Ocean Springs home which was rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina. Dr. Eickelmann is a member of the Ocean Springs Rotary Club. He loves cats, jazz and Cajun cooking.