BA in Philosophy

Georgia Dennis

How did you choose your degree program?

I had always been interested in philosophy since high school. The school I was at did a great job in their humanities department but did not have a specific philosophy class or elective, so some friends and I created a club we called “The Salon” from there, I knew that is what I knew I wanted to study. After I graduated, I studied mainly ethics at my community college. I knew applying to George Mason that I wanted to study philosophy.

How did your academic experiences in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences impact you?

There is so much going on in our country and around the world, every day, it seems something I studied or was taught gets brought to the surface, some idea or theory. When I watch the news with a critical lens, or really many lenses, I can view situations critically. I also have a more analytical understanding of everyday life. I feel like, given the right moment and circumstances I will be able to apply what I appreciate in philosophy to the work I do. Some of the academic themes that run through my life right now are structural injustice, especially on the news and in my community, the idea that our society has inherent injustice might seem like a threat to some, to me, it is an opportunity to assist and understand, and this goes on though the world as well. Also, I found Ontology and connectedness, specifically, how we connect and communicate across cultural divides and how we united to defend what we believe in, and in general, how to act in a humane way and be a “good” human, with a critical outlook to be essital to my development as a human. Existentialism crops up often in understanding what I want my “project” in life to be, and understanding grey areas of the human experience without slipping in the nihilism.

What accomplishment(s) during your time at Mason are you most proud of?

I am proud of the work I did in my independent study with Dr. Jones, in “Relationality and Vulnerability” which was a venture into ontology and feminism and activism, and proud of what I learned through my Capstone on Humanitarian Health Ethics, with Dr. Eckenwiler, where I deep dived into structural injustice. If I did not have those experiences, I would not have such a rich curiosity and passion to understand the human condition. The human condition is something very valuable and fragile that can be always improved and recovered. My main area of focus right now is structural injustice, in saying that I have to admit that the best way to learn what you do not ‘know’ is to be vulnerable and open, but to understand my ethics with sharp insight into injustices. So together these experiences in both ontology and ethics made me appreciate who I am who I am not, what I can become, and what I can do for the world.

Are there faculty or staff members who made a difference during your Mason career? Please give an example of this impact if possible.

Yes. Everyone made a difference. I would say as I said above, it was the professors that I did my Independent Study with and my Capstone, Dr’s Jones and Eckenwiler, that made the biggest difference. I learned ‘life’ from them. I learned to appreciate the world, the structures, and the strain that the world operates under, the injustice, but also how the very act of being human is essential. I did both those

courses in my last year at George Mason, so they have stayed on my mind. What I appreciate about Mason is that professors are willing to assist to you to further yourself. That is not always the case elsewhere. I suggest anyone going into the program work hard and make the connections you need not only to further yourself academically, but also learn why philosophy is what you were drawn to and use that to give back to the world.

What are your current career plans following graduation? What are your long-term career goals?

I am going into my Master’s Program at Virginia Commonwealth University to get my Masters in Social Work. It is a clinical track with opportunities to assist asylees and other vulnerable populations.

I see the world as getting smaller as globalization expands, even as we experience backlash. Unfortunately, that backlash has created a need to help asylees as they try to navigate a very uncertain world. My dream is to apply trauma informed care around the world to asylees. I do not think I am someone to stay in one place and I feel like there is a world out there hurting now and I can do my part to help.