Instructors

H. E. Baber, Ph.D. is Professor of Philosophy at the University of San Diego. Baber’s research has focused on the metaphysics of identity through time and across possible worlds, and its application to issues in philosophical theology and ethics. She has written on identity puzzles concerning the doctrine of the Trinity and the Real Presence doctrine and on issues concerning preference and modality, in particular, the problem of adaptive preference. She is the author of The Multicultural Mystique: The Liberal Case Against Diversity and articles in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Philosophical Studies, The International Philosophical Quarterly, Theology, The Anglican Theological Review and other scholarly journals. Her current book project, Preference and Modality, is a defense of the preference utilitarian account of well-being, in which it is argued that the capability of satisfying nearby-possible preferences contributes to well-being. In addition to her scholarly work,  Baber writes for The Guardian (UK) and is a regular columnist for The Church Times (UK). Dr. Baber has taught a variety of courses, including logic and contemporary analytic philosophy. Baber has also participated in team-taught philosophy/economics courses on women and work and on the economics and ethics of gender in development. She develops online textbooks for her classes, which are available to all internet users without restriction.

 

David A. Shirk, Ph.D. is an associate professor of Political Science and International Relations, director of the Master of Arts in International Relations (MAIR) program, and principal investigator of the Justice in Mexico program at the University of San Diego. Dr. Shirk conducts research on Mexican politics, U.S.-Mexican relations, and the U.S.-Mexican border, with a special emphasis on issues related to rule of law, transnational crime, and economic development. Dr. Shirk received his undergraduate degree in International Studies from Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Political Science at the University of California, San Diego. He was fellow at the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies from 1998-99 and 2001-2003. In 2009-10, Dr. Shirk was a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington, D.C.  From 2003 to 2013, in addition to his faculty position, he served as the director of the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego. He is also the author or editor of several books and numerous book chapters, articles, and reports, including Contemporary Mexican Politics (Rowman and Littlefiled, 2015) with Emily Edmonds-Poli.