Philosophy and Religious Studies Faculty
Department Chairwoman
Sophie Berman, Associate Professor
BA, University of Paris-Nanterre
MA, University of Toulouse
Ph.D., Fordham University
Dr. Berman’s research interests focus on Descartes, Neoplatonism, and the notion of infinity. She has published “Aspects of Infinity in Plotinus and Descartes” in the Journal of Neoplatonic Studies, and lectured locally and nationally on Plotinus, Anselm, Nicholas of Cusa, and Descartes. Her lectures at the Second and Third St. Anselm Conferences, respectively “The Ontological Argument for God’s Existence: Descartes and Anselm” and “Human Free Will in Anselm and Descartes” have been published in the St. Anselm Journal. Dr. Berman is currently working on a book on “Descartes and the Infinite” for which she has signed a publishing agreement with The Edwin Mellen Press. At the College, she has designed three new courses: Women in Philosophy, Business Ethics (in collaboration with the Department of Management), and Neoplatonism. Dr. Berman became Chairman of the Department of Philosophy (now Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies) in 2000, and has served on five Faculty Standing Committees (on two of them as Chair). She is a member of The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, and an honorary member of the Duns Scotus Honor Society.
Gerald Galgan, Professor
BA, Cathedral College
MA, Fordham University
Ph.D., Fordham University
Professor Galgan’s recent work, focusing on technology and its effect upon human thought and action, stems from his interest in the bearing of medieval theological categories on the origin and development of modern philosophical thought. Co-editor of Perspectives on 9/11(Praeger Greenwood, 2004), Dr. Galgan has published articles in The Maine Scholar, Excelsis, American Philosophical Quarterly, Cross Currents, The New Scholasticism, The Political Science Reviewer, and Commonweal. He is the author of three books: Interpreting the Present (University Press of America, 1993), God and Subjectivity (Peter Lang, 1990), and The Logic of Modernity (New York University Press, 1982). He has appeared on the television show Dialogue on two separate occasions, a two-part series on “The Vision of St. Bonaventure” in 1994, and the 1993 six-part series, “The Mind of St. Augustine.” Senior member of the Department of Philosophy, Dr. Galgan began teaching at St. Francis College in 1966. He served as the Department’s Chairman from 1998 to 2000, and was Assistant Dean of the Humanities for St. Francis College from 2000 to 2002.
Frank J. Macchiarola, Ph.D., graduated from St. Francis College in 1962, returning to his alma mater and serving as president from 1996 to 2008. He is now Chancellor of the College. In addition to advising pre-law students and lecturing as part of the mandatory SFC 1001 course, Dr. Macchiarola has also taught religious studies courses. Among Dr. Macchiarola's accomplishments are serving as Chancellor of the New York City Public School system for five years, serving as dean and professor of law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law of Yeshiva University, being named president and chief executive officer of the New York City Partnership, Inc. and mediating the strike of Local 802 Musicians Union against the League of American Theaters and Producers, which had shut down Broadway.
Dr. Pedersen’s fields are comparative religious ethics and the religions of Asia. Her research interests include global ethics, interreligious dialogue and cooperation, human rights and the relevance of asceticism to ethics, especially environmental ethics. She is the editor of a special issue of CrossCurrents on “Asceticism Today” and Co-Editor of Earth and Faith: A Book of Reflection for Action as well as the author (publishing as Kusumita P. Pedersen) of articles on environmental ethics, interreligious questions, and Buddhism. She joined the faculty of St. Francis College in 1995 as Chair of the Department of Religious Studies, which merged with the Department of Philosophy in 2007. Before coming to the College she was Executive Director of the Project on Religion and Human Rights and Joint Secretary for Religious Affairs of the Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders on Human Survival. She has been involved in the worldwide interfaith movement for twenty-five years.
BA, St. Francis College
MA, The Catholic University of America
Ph.D., Georgetown University
Professor Udoff's scholarly work chiefly concerns the areas of Jewish thought (medieval and post-modern) and the Western philosophical tradition (classical, modern, and post-modern). He has been the contributing editor of volumes on Franz Kafka, Leo Strauss, and Franz Rosenzweig. His published essays include studies of Buber, Celan, and Amery, and questions dealing with ethics, metaphysics, and the Holocaust. Professor Udoff was formerly the founding editor of the series The Culture of Jewish Modernity (Wayne State University Press), and has served as an outside reader and reviewer for some two dozen academic presses and journals. During the course of his academic career, he has delivered more than seventy papers at conferences throughout the United States, Europe, and Israel. Among the Universities at which Professor Udoff delivered guest lectures are: Johns Hopkins University, The University of Amsterdam and Oxford University.
Bro. Owen Sadlier, Assistant
Professor
BA, St. Francis College
MA, Catholic University of America
MA, University of Notre Dame
Elaine L. Hurst, Lecturer
Alexandria Egler, Adjunct Professor
Brother Thomas W. Grady, Adjunct Professor