Faculty
Matthew Hagele
Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion
Chris Hatchell
Associate Professor of Religion and Stead Family Professor of Religion
B.A., Columbia University
Ph.D., University of Virginia
Email: chatchell@coe.edu
Phone: 319.399.8618
Chris Hatchell teaches in the field of Asian religions, with particular interests in Buddhism, Hinduism, and Daoism. His research focuses on Tibet, especially the Bön religious tradition. His current project is a translation of a Tibetan text known as the Zermik (Tibetan: gzer mig), which is a biography of Tönpa Shenrab, the legendary founder of the Bön tradition. Some of his other favorite topics are Indian and Tibetan tantra, Buddhist cosmology, contemporary Tibetan literature and film, digital initiatives in Tibetan Studies, and Tibetan music and games. At Coe he teaches introductory classes in Buddhism, Hinduism, Daoism, and has specialized classes in Tantra, Tibetan Religion, Caste & Untouchability, and the Chinese novel Journey to the West.
Jeffrey Hoover
Emeritus Professor of Philosophy & Religion
B.A., Eastern Mennonite College
M.A., Ph.D., University of Notre Dame
Email: jhoover@coe.edu
Phone: 319.399.8685
Tom Javoroski
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Philosophy
B.A., University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
M.A., Ph.D., University of Iowa
Tom Javoroski’s teaching and research interests include applied ethics (environmental ethics, biomedical ethics, business ethics), metaethics (he has soft spots for intuitionism, virtue theory, and various versions of care ethics), logic, mind and personal identity, and broader questions surrounding what it means to live ‘the good life’. He has been invited to speak on a variety of issues ranging from corporate personhood to bionic engineering of humans to the origin of human rights. He received his PhD in Philosophy from the University of Iowa, where he studied under an impressive array of scholars and still somehow managed to discuss the science of Star Trek in his dissertation. He previously earned a bachelor’s degree in English and Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, a troubled youth that he still sometimes reverts to (he has had a pair of short stories published to date). Tom has spent time as a graphic designer, technical writer, arborist, and bike mechanic. He spends his free time cycling, running, cooking, playing boardgames and role-playing games, and occasionally breaking out his drums or ukulele. Tom also happily serves as advisor to the Coe College Philosophy Club.
John Lemos, Chair
McCabe Professor of Philosophy
B.A., University of the South
Ph.D., Duke University
Email: jlemos@coe.edu
Phone: 319.399.8861
John Lemos teaches courses in logic, moral philosophy, ancient Greek philosophy, early modern philosophy (Descartes to Kant), and contemporary analytic philosophy. His research interests lie in three main fields of inquiry: philosophy of biology, especially the philosophical implications of evolution; neo-Aristotelian ethics; and the metaphysics of freedom and responsibility. He has published four books: Commonsense Darwinism (Open Court, 2008); Freedom, Responsibility, and Determinism (Hackett, 2013); A Pragmatic Approach to Libertarian Free Will (Routledge, 2018); and Free Will’s Value: Criminal Justice, Pride, and Love (Routledge, 2023). He has also published many articles in a variety of journals, such as Philosophy of the Social Sciences, The Southern Journal of Philosophy, Metaphilosophy, and Philosophia.