Welcome to my homepage. I am Eric Thomas Weber, assistant professor of Public Policy Leadership at the University of Mississippi. Since June of 2010 I am also a freelance columnist for The Clarion Ledger, Jackson, MS's major newspaper. I earned my Ph.D. in Philosophy in 2007 and have been teaching since 2002. I serve as Executive Director of the Society of Philosophers in America, whose Web site you can visit by clicking here. I am also Associate Chair of the American Philosophical Association's Committee on Public Philosophy, whose Web site you can visit here.

As a scholar, teacher, and citizen, I make the greatest use I can of philosophical inquiry and clear, persuasive communication for the advancement of freedom, opportunity, and respect for my fellow citizens in a number of areas. These include quality public education and life opportunities for poor and disabled persons. I study and write about intelligent, democratic inquiry into the practices and principles of ethical and visionary leadership. My writing, teaching, and public engagements all relate to these goals in one way or another.

I have put this site together in order to post information for students, scholars, news writers, and community leaders. Information about my research can be found under the "Writings" link at the top of this page. For my curriculum vitae, visit the "Bio" page. For information about my teaching experience, current courses, and students' success, visit the "Teaching" link.

RECENT NEWS

In this section, I am excited to announce a number of projects and engagements that have gone well since the summer of 2010 (I need to cut this down soon, since some of it is not quite so recent anymore!). These items are listed from most recent to oldest.


In May of 2011, I was honored to receive the Cora Lee Graham Award for the Outstanding Teaching of Freshmen from the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Mississippi. You'll find more information on this development on my Teaching page, under the section titled "Honors," which you can find by clicking here.


In April of 2011, my second book, Morality, Leadership, and Public Policy, was released in the United Kingdom with The Continuum International Publishing Group of London. It will be released in the United States in June of 2011. For more information about the book, visit my Writings page's section that describes the book.


Also in April of 2011, an interview I gave for the Tehran Times was published, titled "Philosophy Inspires a Life of Careful Thinking," April 21st, on page 15 of the paper. You can read the article by clicking on the title here or on the thumbnail photo included here on right. I am honored to have the chance to talk about philosophy and about freedom in the major English language newspaper in Iran.

In March of 2010, I delivered the final edits to the typeset proofs for Morality, Leadership, and Public Policy to Continuum Press. The book will be published either in April or May of this year, 2011. Also in March, I learned that Continuum has been honored with two distinguished awards. The first is the 2011 Independent Publisher of the Year Award and the other is the 2011 Ingram Academic and Professional Publisher of the Year Award. You can learn about these awards on the Independent Publishers Guild Web site here.

On February 22nd of 2011, The Tehran Times published an interview with me about my field of study, philosophy. The piece was titled "Freedom and Choice are Central to People's Happiness: Weber." To read the interview, you can click on the title, on the thumbnail image on right, or here. Also, the piece was published on the newspaper's Web site here.


On January 30 of 2011, I had a piece come out in The Clarion Ledger, Mississippi's major newspaper, titled "Liberty, Health Care Reform Fit," p. 13B. You can read an Adobe PDF scan of the file by clicking here or on the thumbnail photo on right.

A week later, the Enterprise Journal of McComb, MS, wrote a piece in its editorial section, which referenced my most recent Clarion Ledger piece. The editorial in the E.J. was titled "Editorial: Insurance Issue Has Ripple Effect," and was published on Friday, February 4th, 2011. You can read a printable PDF version of the article by clicking on the title here or you can visit the newspaper's page for the story. I am not certain whether the paper keeps their older articles online for long. Certainly the Clarion Ledger archives their older stuff, so if the link no longer works, just click here to read the PDF version I've put up here.

Also in January and February, I received three very exciting endorsements for my second book, Morality, Leadership, and Public Policy, one from Dr. Paul Rich, President of the Policy Studies Organization of Washington, D.C., one from Dr. David Schrader, Executive Director of the American Philosophical Association, and the third from Dr. John Lachs, Centennial Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University. You can read more about the book and read the endorsements on my Writings page here.

In December of 2010, I learned that an application I submitted to the American Philosophical Association on behalf of the Society of Philosophers in America was successful. The APA will support SOPHIA with a $4,000 award for events we are organizing for 2011. We are most grateful for the generous support of the APA. The intention of the fund is to encourage new developments in philosophy, including new ways for philosophers to become connected beyond the traditional practices of conferences and exchanges between universities.

SOPHIA is perfectly placed for the APA's support because SOPHIA's goal is precisely to put philosophers in conversation with fellow citizens on subjects of importance for everyday life. We organize conversational symposia and invite persons from fields relevant to the study of the shared problems. We also invite community members affected and interested in the subjects we choose. The first event in 2011 will concern ethics and disability. It will take place in Oxford, MS. Visit SOPHIA's Web site here for more information.

Also in December, an interview I gave for the Tehran Times, Iran's major English speaking newspaper, was published. The article was titled "Weber Says Philosophy Creates Stable, Adaptable Societies." It was published on December 6 on page 15 of the paper. Click here or on the thumbnail image on right to open an Adobe PDF scanned version of the article.

In November of 2010, the Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA) was awarded a $5,000 grant from the Mississippi Humanities Council to support one of our 2011 symposia. This event is called "Disability, Civic Responsibility, and Community Friendship," and will take place in Oxford, MS, on the lovely campus of the University of Mississippi on February 25 and 26, 2011.

In November 2010, I gave an interview for the Mehr News agency, which was first published on their Web site and then in the Tehran Times, the major English language newspaper in Iran. The interview article is titled "Difference is an important tool ‘for arriving at truth’: professor." Click on the link to see the printed version in PDF format. The Mehr News Agency Web page, where you can read the whole interview, is here. The printed piece was published on November 2nd, 2010.

In October I put together a piece on the current challenges to the healthcare law, which came out in The Clarion Ledger. The piece is called "Health Law Repeal Would Toss Out Baby with Bathwater" and was published on October 23rd, 2010, on page 9A. You can read an Adobe PDF scan of the article by clicking on the name of the article or on the small photo of the scanned article included here on right. You can visit the main page of The Clarion Ledger here.

At the national level, I was quoted in The Wall Street Journal, in an article that went in print on Saturday, October 9th, 2010. The article can be found online for now here(I think the older articles get archived and are available only to subscribers). I have a PDF file of the online article available for viewing or download here and a scan of the printed version available as a PDF file here.

Next, I have received a contract from Lexington Books for my third book, Democracy and Leadership: On Pragmatism and Social Intelligence. Lexington Books is a division of the Rowman and Littlefield Publishing Group. Click here or on the Rowman and Littlefield logo here on right to visit my Writings page's section on books and in particular the description of this new development.

In October of 2010, the Mehr News agency of Tehran, Iran, published an announcement in Persian on their Web site about the publication of my second book, Morality, Leadership and Public Policy. The announcement is in Persian here and can be read in a rough, computer generated translation into English here (thanks to Google).

I have been fortunate to have a number of engagements with media outlets in the summer and fall of 2010. I gave an interview for the Tehran Times, the main English language newspaper in Iran, on the subject of online education and its relation to traditional higher education. The article is called "Fundamental tool in education is communication: professor." You can read an Adobe PDF version of the file by click here or on the photo on right. You can read the text based HTML version of the page here. The question was whether online education might really present a threat that would render traditional education obsolete. My answer is no, but I do not oppose online education as an important development, a new tool for growing the options for education and the avenues for interaction generally.

On September 19th of 2010, The Clarion Ledger published a piece of mine on the subject of civility. The piece is called "Choosing Civility: The Lemonade Lesson." This piece is a short version of a larger project I am developing as a possible book project. The editors at The Clarion Ledger wrote a follow-up piece building on the same subject. You can click here or on the photo on right to open up an Adobe PDF file that is a scan of the article and the editors' piece. Or you can click here to visit my blogpost that has the photo of the graphic from the story, art which Marshall Ramsey created for this piece, an html text version of the article, as well as another link to the PDF file.

Also in September of 2010, ESPN released an extended version of a commercial that they filmed at the University of Mississippi. I had fun joining them to answer some questions and ended up in the extended version of their commercial, available on YouTube here.



In August of 2010, the Mehr News agency of Iran published an announcement about my first book, Rawls, Dewey, and Constructivism. The announcement is in Persian here. For an English translation of the article, visit my writings page where the book and promotional information is posted.

After this first announcement, the same agency interviewed me for a piece that was released in the Tehran Times, the main English language newspaper of Iran. The interview article was titled "Rawls revived idea of social contract theory: professor." You can click on the title here to read the article in PDF format or you can click on the photo on the right hand side.

At the end of July of 2010, my publisher, Continuum International Publishing Group of London, put out a blog post to announce the upcoming release of my first book, Rawls, Dewey, and Constructivism. My editor, David Avital, has some very encouraging things to say about the project. He has been a pleasure to work with on this first book.

In July of 2010, I wrote an article for The Oxford Eagle on the local effects of cuts to Medicaid on persons with disabilities. The subject was addressed masterfully at the national level in The Wall Street Journal by Clare Ansberry here. To read an Adobe PDF scan of my article, "Disability's Financial Crisis," click here or on the photo on the right hand side.

I am presently developing a grant proposal for the Kellogg Foundation with College of Liberal Arts Assistant Dean Stephen Monroe. Plus, I am working with a number of people on the creation of a radio show to serve as a forum for intelligent discussion about policy concerns for the nation and Mississippi especially. The show would feature faculty from the university and members of the surrounding community. More on this as it develops will be posted here soon.

In June of 2010, I put out an article in The Clarion Ledger, called "Cultural Divides: Barriers Remain to Educational Attainment." You can click here to read a scanned Adobe PDF version of the article. This article is a short introduction to a large project that I am developing for the next few years. I am working to establish what I am tentatively calling the Mississippi Expectations Project, an initiative that will examine and address cultural barriers to educational and economic attainment in poor regions of Mississippi. I will post more on this project as it progresses. For now, click on the photo on right or on one of the links I have just listed to read about the project. If you have comments, questions, or support you care to offer for this program, contact me at the addresses listed below.

If you have any questions for me, feel free to email me (etweber@olemiss.edu) or to call me at 662.915.1336. My full contact information is as follows: