Dr. Carla Fehr
Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies • 402
Catt Hall • Iowa State University • Ames, IA • 50011 www.public.iastate.edu/~cfehr •
cfehr@iastate.edu • (515) 451-6702
Associate Professor, tenured, Department
of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Iowa State University, 2005-present
Visiting Fellow, Center for the
Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, Spring 2006
Visiting Associate Professor, Center for
the Philosophy of Science, University of Minnesota, Fall 2005
Assistant Professor, Department of
Philosophy and Religious Studies, Iowa State University, 1999-2005
Affiliate Faculty, Women’s Studies
Program, Iowa State University, 1999- present
Ph.D.,
Philosophy, Duke University, Fall 1999
B.Sc., magna cum
laude (with honors in Philosophy and Biology), University of Saskatchewan, 1993
Areas of
Specialization Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of
Biology, Philosophy of Science, Feminist
Science Studies
Areas of
Competence Evolutionary
Biology
External
Grants
National
Science Foundation ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award, co-PI, $3,300,000
“Pragmatic mechanism and explanatory
pluralism,” National Science Foundation, Science and Technology Studies Scholar
Award, 2005, $73,000
Fehr, C., 2001, “The
evolution of sex: Domains and explanatory pluralism,” Biology and Philosophy, 16:2 145-170.
Fehr, C., 2001, “Pluralism
and sex: More than a pragmatic issue,” Philosophy
of Science, 68, S237-S250.
Fehr, C., 2004, “Feminism
and science: Mechanism without reductionism,” National Women’s Studies Association Journal, 16:1, 136-156. Reprinted in Jill M. Bystydzienski and Sharon R. Bird (eds.) Removing Barriers: Women in Academic
Science, Engineering, Technology and Mathematics. Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 2005.
Fehr, C. and
Rausher, M., 2004, “Effects of variation
at the flower-color: A locus on mating system parameters of Ipomoea purpurea,” Molecular Ecology 13 (7): 1839-1847.
Fehr, C., 2006, “Explanations
of the evolution of sex: A plurality of local mechanisms,” Scientific Pluralism, Minnesota Series in the Philosophy of Science,
eds. Stephen H. Kellert, Helen E. Longino, C. Kenneth Waters..
Schutler, D.,
Clark, R., Fehr, C. and Diamond, A., 2006, "Time and recruitment costs as
currencies in manipulation studies on the costs of reproduction: Evidence from
Tree Swallows,” Ecology, November
2006 87(11): 2938–2946.
Fehr, C., 2007, “Are
smart men smarter than smart women? The epistemology of ignorance, women and
the production of knowledge,” The 'Woman
Question' and Higher Education: Perspectives on Gender and Knowledge Production
in America, Ann Mari May, ed., Edward Elgar: Northampton, MA and
Cheltenham, UK.
Fehr, C., 2008, “Feminist
perspectives on philosophy of biology,” Oxford
Handbook on the Philosophy of Biology, Michael Ruse, ed., Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Fehr, C., 2008, “Thinking
ecologically about Bison,” Ethics, Place
and Environment, 2008 11(1), 56-65.
Papers
Forthcoming
Fehr, C., “What
is in it for me? The benefits of diversity in scientific communities,” Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of
Science: Power in Knowledge, ed. by.Heidi Grasswick.
Papers Under Review
“Feminist philosophy of biology,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
“Integrative pluralism or integrative monism: The
constraints of mechanistic explanation”
“Diversity of selves and diversity of situations:
The epistemology of ignorance and social objectivity”
“Naturalized constraints on social objectivity: The
challenge of good intentions”
“Picking a relevance relation: The role of local
criteria for the choice between unification and causal mechanism”
Journal Editing
Making
Philosophy of Science Socially relevant, co-editor, Synthese. Projected publication Fall 2009.
Book Contract
Pragmatic
mechanism and explanatory pluralism, Cambridge University Press.
Refereed
Professional Presentations
“Talking to scientists about diversity: Lessons from
the trenches,” Feminist Epistemology, Metaphysics, Methodologies and Science Studies
Annual Conference, South Carolina State University, Plenary Address, March 2009.
‘Are smart men smarter than smart women?” Social
Science History Associate Annual Meeting, Chicago Il. November 2007.
“Gendered perspectives in scientific communities: Deep
and shallow diversity,” Feminist Epistemology, Metaphysics, Methodologies and
Science Studies Annual Conference, Arizona State University, February 2007.
“Pluralism and mechanism: Concrete and ideal,”
International Society for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of
Biology, Guelph Canada, July 2005.
“Social conceptions of objectivity: How do we get
there from here?” Philosophy of Science Association Meeting, November, Austin,
Tx. 2004.
“The making
of bat woman: Ovarian authority and the credibility of women studying
reproductive biology,” Feminist
Epistemology, Metaphysics, Methodologies and Science Studies Annual Conference,
University of Washington, Seattle, November 2004.
“Attending to scientist’s bodies: Ignorance and
objectivity,” Conference on at Ethics and the Epistemology of Ignorance,
Pennsylvanian State University, March 2004.
“Epistemic authority of women and
minorities in scientific communities,” Iowa State University Women’s Studies
Lecture Series, 2004; Iowa Philosophical Society Annual Meeting, Grinnell, IA,
2003.
“Sex and explanatory pluralism: Is it a
case of causal mechanical versus unifying theories of explanation?” Western
Canadian Philosophical Association Annual meeting, Calgary, Canada, 2002.
“The evolution of sex: Pluralism that is
more than a pragmatic issue” Philosophy of Science Association 2000 Meeting,
Vancouver, Canada.
"From
'why questions' to 'what questions' about explanations of sex," Duke
University Women's Studies Graduate Research Conference, 1997.
"Theoretical
pluralism: The case of the evolution of sex" International Society of the
Philosophy, History and Social Studies of Biology, University of Washington,
1997.
"Sex,
evolution and essentialism," Duke University Women's Studies Graduate Research
Conference, 1996.
"Scientific
objectivity: Is there a gendered perspective?" Duke University Women’s
Studies Graduate Research Conference, 1995.
"Inessential
science" Duke University Women's Studies Graduate Research Conference,
1994.
Invited Lectures
and Seminars
“Implicit bias and negotiating gender in
early STEM careers, Iowa State University, Department of Plant Pathology
graduate student lecture, April 2009.
“What is in it for me? Diversity in
scientific communities,” University of Wisconsin –Madison Philosophy Department
lecture series, March 2009.
“ISU ADVANCE: Activist social epistemology,”
American Philosophical Association Pacific Division Meeting, 2008.
“Are smart men smarter than smart women?”
University of Calgary lecture series on feminism and philosophy, March 2008.
“Thinking ecologically about Bison,”
Author meets Critics Session on Ecological
Thinking by Lorraine Code, American Philosophical Association, Pacific
Division, April 2007, San Francisco, CA.
“Changing paradigms about feminism and
evolutionary biology,” American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division,
April 2007, San Francisco, CA.
"A social view of scientific
objectivity: How do we get there from here?" Duke University, March 2006.
“Integration or isolation? Explanation, pluralism
and sex,” Pittsburgh Center for the Philosophy of Science. February, 2006.
“Pragmatic mechanism: Pluralism and the evolution of
sex.” University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, November 2005.
“Innate differences (?) Ignorance, women scientists,
and the benefits of diversity,” Symposium for Women in the Biological Sciences,
Iowa State University, April 2005, Middlebury College October 2005.
“Ethical considerations for new faculty,” Iowa State
University Preparing Future Faculty Program, April 2005.
“A lab coat can cover more than your clothes:
Ignorance, objectivity and women scientists.”
“Feminist philosophy of biology: Explanatory
pluralism as a paradigm for feminist epistemology,” Pennsylvania State
University, 2003.
“Explanations of the evolution of sex: A
plurality of local mechanisms,” Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science
Workshop, October 2002.
“Feminist science: Mechanism without
reductionism,” Keynote address. Retaining women in early academic science mathematics
engineering and technology careers, Iowa State University, October 2002.
“The evolution of sex: A case of
explanatory pluralism,” Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science; University
of Western Ontario; University of Cincinnati; McGill University 2001.
“The evolution of sex: The need for a
new scientific ideal” Animal Ecology, Iowa State University, 2000.
“The
sociobiology of rape: A misapplication of the Newtonian Ideal” Women’s Studies
Research Seminar, Iowa State University 2000.
"Pluralism
in paleobiology: A confusion of explanatory intuitions" North Carolina
Philosophical Society, Annual Meeting, 1998.
Research Awards and Fellowships
“Perspectives on Molecular Evolution,” May
19-26 2004, Dibner Biological Seminar, Dibner Institute, MIT, Woods Hole Marine
Biology Laboratory.
“Ovarian
authority: Credibility of women studying female reproduction,” Iowa State
University, Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities Interdisciplinary
Research Grant, Summer 2004 (with Carolyn Komar).
“Feminist
Epistemologies Seminar,” National Endowment for the Humanities, Pennsylvania
State University, 2003.
Iowa State University, Summary Salary
Grant 2000, 2001, 2003.
Iowa State University, Science
Technology and Society Research Grant 2000-2001.
Duke University Women's Studies Research
Fellowship, 1998-1999.
Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada Post Graduate Fellowship, 1996-1998.
Graduate Scholar, Duke Women's Studies
Program, 1997-1999.
Tuition Award and Stipend, Duke
University Department of Philosophy, 1993-1998.
Natural Science and Engineering Research
Council of Canada Post Graduate Fellowship. 1993. I declined this award.
Canada Scholar -- Excellence in Science,
1988-1993.
Teaching
Awards
ISU Foundation Award for Early
Excellence in Teaching 2002
Shakeshaft Master Teacher Award 2002
Classes
taught
Feminist philosophy
Introduction to philosophy
Introduction to philosophy for science
majors
Moral theory and practice
Philosophy of biology
Philosophy of science
Departmental
Iowa State University Philosophy
Department, curriculum committee, 2007-2008
Iowa State University Philosophy
Department, promotion and tenure committee, 2007-2008
Iowa State University Philosophy
Department, internal lecture series coordinator, 2004-2005
Iowa State University Philosophy
Department, search committee, 2004
Iowa State University Philosophy
Department, speakers committee, 2002-2003, 2004-2005
Iowa State University Department
of Philosophy, faculty advisor to philosophy club, 2000-2001
Socrates Scholarship, selection
committee, 2000, 2003
Duke University Philosophy
Department, graduate student representative, 1995-1996
Duke University Philosophy
Department, faculty search committee 1995
College
Feminist Pedagogy Discussion
Group, 2000-2005, 2008
College of Liberal Arts and
Sciences Budget Advisory Group, 2006
Diversity in the classroom: A
panel discussion of challenges, strategies and objectives, Iowa State
University, April 2005
Bioethics Program, advisory
committee, 2004-present
Bioethics Program, program
committee, 2004-present
Iowa State University Women’s
Studies Program, program committee, 2000-2002
Women’s Studies, Retention of
Women in Early Science Mathematics Engineering and Technology (SMET) Careers,
conference organizing committee, 2002
Iowa State University Science
Technology and Society Program, executive committee, 2001-2002
Duke University Women's Studies
Graduate Research Conference, 1996 steering committee
University
ADVANCE research committee,
2006-present
ADVANCE team member, 2002-present
Developed and presented Diversity
Training Workshop for ISU ADVANCE, 2007, 2008
Iowa State University Faculty
Senate Faculty Development and Administrative Relations Council, 2004-2005
Iowa State University Faculty
Senate, representative for Philosophy and Religious Studies, 2002-2007
Graduate Student Mentor for
Preparing Future Faculty Program, 2000-2001
Speaker, ISU new faculty
orientation, 2000
Discipline
Conference organizer, Making Philosophy of
Science Socially Relevant” conference held in conjunction with Pacific Division
American Philosophical Association Meeting, 2008
Women’s Caucus, American Philosophy of Science
Association, 2007-2008
Program
Committee for American Philosophy of Science Association, 2007-2008
Association for Feminist
Epistemologies, Methodologies, Metaphysics and Science Studies, founding member, member of executive
committee, 2003-present
“Gender and
Evolutionary Theory” Session chair, American Philosophical Association, Pacific
Division Annual Meeting, 2000
Community
“Introduction to
Feminism,” ACCESS Assault Care Center Advocate Training Program, May 2006.
Association for Feminist Epistemologies, Methodologies, Metaphysics and Science Studies
International Society for History,
Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology
American Philosophical Association
Philosophy of Science Association
Philosophy
of Science Association Women’s Caucus
Reviewer
activities
Philosophy
of Science Association
Hypatia
Synthese
Oxford
University Press
Wadsworth
Press
Kluwer
Press