Public Engagement

I am a community-engaged teacher and researcher with significant experience in volunteering and organizing since my times in Vietnam and Singapore. I volunteered with the National Kidney Foundation and at All Saints Home eldercare facility in Singapore for many years. Together with some of my high school classmates, I raised about S$4000 for the Singapore Special Olympics which helped intellectually disabled athletes pursue their dreams. I also co-led a group of volunteers to teach English to my Vietnamese peers in summer 2012.

I am enthusiastic about making philosophy accessible beyond the college classroom through my public philosophy activities. For several years I have acted as a team liaison for Maryville High School and a judge at the Tennessee High School Ethics Bowl (THSEB). I enjoy coaching young people in critical thinking and debating skills. I believe it is a vital part of their education and helps to prepare them for life as adult citizens. Maryville High School was champion in THSEB 2022 and 2023 respectively. I also helped the team prepare for the National High School Ethics Bowl 2022. 

I am also committed to moving philosophy outside of academia and affecting real-world change through my community engagement. In 2022, I decided I wanted to do something about the distressing problem of homelessness, so I started volunteering with United Way of Greater Knoxville. My task was to review and evaluate grant proposals from various non-profit organizations. I conducted a site visit with Legal Aid of East Tennessee to discuss their proposed program titled “Housing Stability.” The organization was awarded a substantial grant (the amount is confidential) to pay the salaries of a full-time attorney and a paralegal who will offer free legal assistance to those at risk of being wrongfully evicted from their homes. 

I also participated in VOLBreaks Spring Break 2022 trip on the U.S. Housing Crisis in Atlanta. We partnered with various local organizations and participated in packing food for families in need, urban farming, drive-through food pantry, packing and delivering food to the homeless community, etc. My volunteering experience has enhanced my understanding of the homelessness situation in the USA and fed back into my teaching. For example, I begin the discussion of Jeremy Waldron’s paper “Homelessness and the Issue of Freedom” with an overview of the worsening homelessness situation both locally and nationally.

At UTK, I have served as President of the Philosophy Graduate Student Association (PGSA). The PGSA@UT fourth annual graduate conference on “The Relationship between Science and Ethics,” which I organized in Spring 2021, attracted a record number of attendees from institutions around the world for a PGSA event and increased the national and international visibility of the UT Department of Philosophy.