Dr. Kevin Dodson is distinguished emeritus professor of philosophy and founding dean of the Reaud Honors College at Lamar University. He earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and his Bachelors of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Washington, where he graduated magna cum laude.  Dr. Dodson started as an assistant professor at Lamar University in 1991, and he was promoted to associate professor in 1997 and full professor in 2003. During his time at LU, he taught a wide array of courses in philosophy (logic, ethics, social and political philosophy, philosophy of law, philosophy of science, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of art), as well as the adjacent disciplines of cultural studies, criminal justice, Tolkien studies, and Islamic studies.

In 2014, he became the founding dean of the Reaud Honors College at Lamar University after having served for a decade as director and assistant director of the University Honors Program.  During this time, he was actively involved in the programs of the Great Plains Honors Council and the National Collegiate Honors Council, where he made numerous presentations.  In 2017, the Reaud Honors College hosted the Annual Meeting of the Great Plains Honors Council, of which he was vice-president.

Dr. Dodson’s scholarly interests include the Enlightenment, the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, Karl Marx, Existentialism and the Frankfurt School, and the fields of moral and political theory.  He has published widely in those areas in such journals as Political Theory, Social Theory and Practice, Southwest Philosophy Review, and Southwest Philosophical Studies.  He co-edited the text Ways of Knowing and was a founder of the On-Line Encyclopedia of Enlightenment and Revolution, 1690-1815. Among his many awards and honors, he served as president of the New Mexico/West Texas Philosophical Society, was awarded a Summer Language Fellowship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), and participated in the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute on the “Institutions of Enlightenment:  The Invention of the Public Sphere” at Stanford University. As service to the profession, he founded the Society for the Philosophy of History and organized the 28^th Conference on Value Inquiry. Dr. Dodson remains active in his field, publishing as both author and editor (international studies in philosophy), participating in professional organizations, and working in public philosophy.

Dr. Dodson is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the National Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, and the LU Beta Xi Chapter of the Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars.  He served for several years as president of Phi Kappa Phi’s Lamar University Chapter, which established a scholarship in his name.