A 2021 survey reported results that bear out the impressive placement record of USC Philosophy. The survey found that we rank number 1 among all Philosophy Ph.D. programs in the English-speaking world in the percentage of PhDs who landed permanent jobs over two periods—the last 10 years, and the last 5 of those—in addition to ranking above the mean in the number of PhDs granted. The survey compared over 200 Philosophy programs measured on several dimensions, including their success in placing PhDs among a total of more than 6000 tenure track (or otherwise permanent) jobs in colleges and universities. The programs compared along this dimension include NYU, Princeton, Rutgers, Oxford, MIT, Yale, Harvard, Berkeley, Stanford, Michigan, and many more. The survey was conducted by Academic Placement Data and Analysis (APDA).

 

Our recent placement record is shown below, with Ph.D. recipients grouped by the year their degrees were awarded. All students from each graduating class have been listed, whether they obtained academic or private industry positions. Recent updates in former students’ placement are highlighted at the top. If you are a current or former Ph.D. student in Philosophy and have a new job you’d like to share with us, please email the information to philosophy@dornsife.usc.edu.

 

Recent Updates

Name Initial Placement Current Placement
Junhyo Lee (2022) Postdoctoral Scholar, Tempere University, Finland Postdoctoral Scholar, Heinrich Heine University
David Clark (2023) Postdoctoral Scholar, University of Arizona Tenure Track Faculty, University of Arizona
Vishnu Sridharan (2022) Postdoctoral Scholar, University of California, Los Angeles Tenure Track Faculty, University of Colorado at Boulder
Douglas Wadle (2023) Fixed Term Faculty, University of Kansas Tenure Track Faculty, Rochester Institute of Technology

2025 Graduates

Name Initial Placement Current Placement
Laura Nicoara Postdoctoral Scholar, Tempere University, Finland

2024 Graduates

Name Initial Placement Current Placement
Jaime Castillo-Gamboa Lecturer, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru
Lecturer, National University of San Marcos
Paul Garofalo Fixed Term Faculty, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Quyen Pham Fixed Term Faculty, Harvard University
Kin San Postdoctoral Scholar, New York University
Tenure Track Faculty, London School of Economics
Andrew Stewart Postdoctoral Scholar, Chapman University

2023 Graduates

Name  Initial Placement Current Placement
David Clark Postdoctoral Scholar, University of Arizona
Noah Gordon Non-Academic
Zach Goodsell Postdoctoral Scholar, New York University
Tenure Track Faculty, National University of Singapore		 Postdoctoral Scholar, New York University
Jasmine Gunkel Postdoctoral Scholar, National Institutes of Health
Tenure Track Faculty, Western Ontario
Frank Hong Postdoctoral Scholar, Hong Kong University
Mahmoud Jalloh Postdoctoral Scholar, St. John’s College, Santa Fe
Douglas Wadle Fixed Term Faculty, University of Kansas Tenure Track Faculty, Rochester Institute of Technology
Jesse Wilson Non-Academic

2022 Graduates

Name Initial Placement Current Placement
Sean Donahue Postdoctoral Scholar, Australian National University
Junhyo Lee Fixed Term Faculty, Seoul National University  Tenure Track Faculty, Hanyang University Korea
Daniel Pallies Postdoctoral Scholar, Lingnan University
Vishnu Sridharan Postdoctoral Scholar, University of California, Los Angeles Tenure Track Faculty, University of Colorado at Boulder

2021 Graduates

Name Initial Placement Current Placement
Michael Ashfield Postdoctoral Scholar, Utah State University Tenure Track Faculty, Utah State University
Tatyana Kostochka Tenure Track Faculty, Ashoka University

2020 Graduates

Name  Initial Placement Current Placement
Eleonore Neufeld Tenure Track Faculty, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Tenure Track Faculty, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Jonathan Wright Non-Academic

2019 Graduates

Name Initial Placement Current Placement 
Matthew Leonard Tenure Track Faculty, California Baptist University
Nathan Howard Tenure Track Faculty, Texas A&M University Tenure Track Faculty, University of Toronto

2018 Graduates

Name Initial Placement Current Placement 
Rima Basu Tenure Track Faculty, Claremont McKenna College
Maegan Fairchild Postdoctoral Scholar, University of Michigan Tenure Track Faculty, University of Michigan
Alexander Dietz Permanent Position, Cardiff University Private Industry
August Gorman Postdoctoral Scholar, Georgetown University
Postdoctoral Scholar, Princeton University		 Tenure Track Faculty, Oakland University
Keith Hall Production Editor, Annual Review
Woo Ram Lee Tenure Track Faculty, Seoul National University
Fixed Term Faculty, University of Duisberg-Essen		 Tenure Track Faculty, Seoul National University
Michael Pressman Law Clerk, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Research Fellow at the Civil Jury Project, New York University Law School

2017 Graduates

Name Initial Placement Current Placement
Ara Astorian Student, Harvard Law School
Matthew Babb Washington University Instructor, University of California, Los Angeles
Stephen Bero Permanent Position, University of Surrey Law School
Renee Bolinger Postdoctoral Scholar, Australian National University Tenure Track Faculty, University of Michigan
Michael Hatcher Valparaiso University, Indiana Permanent Position, FLAME University, Pune
Joe Horton Permanent Position, University College London
Caleb Perl Tenure Track Faculty, Shandong University Permanent Position, Australian Catholic University
Nicholas Laskowski Tenure Track Faculty, Duisberg-Essen University Tenure Track Faculty, California State University, Long Beach
Kenneth Silver Preceptorship, University of Southern California Tenure Track Faculty, Trinity Business School at Trinity College Dublin

2016 Graduates

Name Initial Placement Current Placement
Greg Ackerman Fixed Term Faculty, Date Scientist, Mobility Ware Corp.
Joshua Crabill Tenure Track Faculty, Southern Methodist University
Erik Encarnacion Fixed Term Faculty, Harvard Law School Tenure Track Faculty, University of Texas at Austin Law School
Michael Milona Postdoctoral Scholar, Cornell University Tenure Track Faculty, Ryerson University Toronto
Abelard Podgorski Tenure Track Faculty, National University of Singapore
Aness Webster University of Nottingham Permanent Position, Durham University

2015 Graduates

Name Initial Placement Current Placement 
Justin Dallmann Postdoctoral Scholar, University of Toronto Data Analyst, City of Edmonton
Alida Liberman Postdoctoral Scholar, University of Western Ontario Tenure Track Faculty, Southern Methodist University
Matthew Lutz Tenure Track Faculty, Wuhan University

2014 Graduates

Name Initial Placement Current Placement
Ben Lennertz Fixed Term Faculty, Davidson College Tenure Track Faculty, Colgate University
Shyam Nair Tenure Track Faculty, Lingnan University Tenure Track Faculty, Arizona State University
Indrek Reiland Fixed Term Faculty, Rice University Postdoctoral Scholar, University of Vienna
Yingying Tang Tenure Track Faculty, Sun Yat-Sen University Tenure Track Faculty, Shandong University, Qingdao
Kenny Pearce Postdoctoral Scholar, Valperaiso University
Permanent Position, Trinity College Dublin		 Tenure Track Faculty, James Madison University

2013 Graduates

Name Initial Placement Current Placement
M. Folescu Tenure Track Faculty, University of Missouri, Columbia
Justin Snedegar Permanent Position, St. Andrews University
Julia Staffel Postdoctoral Scholar, Australian National University Tenure Track Faculty, University of Colorado, Boulder
Tiffany Chang Private Industry

2012 Graduates

Name Initial Placement Current Placement
Hrafn Asgeirsson Postdoctoral Scholar, Monash University Permanent Position, University of Surrey Law School
Kory DeClark Student, Yale Law School Attorney, Supreme Court and Appellate Group at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
Brian Bowman Fixed Term Faculty, University of Southern California Non-academic
Hsin-Wen Lee Fixed Term Faculty, Tunghai University Tenure Track Faculty, University of Delaware
Johannes Schmitt Postdoctoral Scholar, University of Konstanz Private Industry
Eduardo Villanueva Tenure Track Faculty, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
Brandon Johns Fixed Term Faculty, California State University, San Bernardino
Xiao Wei Private Industry, SuperMicro

2011 Graduates

Name Initial Placement Current Placement
Geoff Georgi Fixed Term Faculty, University of Southern California Tenure Track Faculty, West Virginia
Ryan Hay Fixed Term Faculty, Occidental College Fixed Term Faculty, California State University, San Bernardino
Lewis Powell Tenure Track Faculty, Wayne State University Tenure Track Faculty, University of Buffal0 (SUNY)
Sam Shpall Postdoctoral Scholar, University of Southern California Fixed Term Faculty, University of Sydney
Robert Fixed Term Faculty, Santa Clara University
Jonathan Well Fixed Term Faculty, Stanford University High School

2010 Graduates

Name Initial Placement Current Placement
Daniel Kwon Fixed Term Faculty, California State University Fullerton

2009 Graduates

Name Initial Placement Current Placement
Brian Talbot Fixed Term Faculty, University of Colorado, Boulder Tenure Track Faculty, University of Colorado, Boulder
Shlomo Sher Associate, University of Southern California Levan Institute of Humanities and Ethics
Fixed Term Faculty, California State University Fullerton		 Fixed Term Faculty, California State University Fullerton
Sherri Zhu Tenure Track Faculty, Antelope Valley College

2008 Graduates

Name Initial Placement Current Placement 
Daniel Considine Fixed Term Faculty, Metropolitan State College of Denver Tenure Track Faculty, Folsom Lake College
Maryam Qudrat Fixed Term Faculty, California State University Long Beach
Fellow, University of California Irvine Center for Ethics and Morality		 Fixed Term Faculty, California State University Long Beach