Alumni network

Click on a photo for a fuller profile.

photo of Benjamin Parker
Benjamin Parker
BA 2014
Sports journalist/teacher

Further education I completed a single subject teaching credential program at San Jose State (English).

Favorite courses at Berkeley Philosophy of Mind, Aesthetics, Spinoza, and Plato were among my favorite courses.

Favorite professors Niko Kolodny, Alva Noƫ, Geoffrey Lee, Tim Crockett, and Klaus Corcilius.

How has your philosophical training influenced your life and career? Philosophy taught me how to write and critically think. As a sports journalist, those are two skills that you really need. It's also helped me craft interesting questions to athletes and coaches. I've found it to be one of the best majors to study for journalism. UC Berkeley's philosophy department did a fantastic job preparing me. In education, I feel like I've been able to better connect with the students I've taught because of the great professors I had at UC Berkeley. A lot of the methods they used with me have been effective with my students as well. Lastly, since graduation, I've found an interest in studying Asian languages: Chinese and Japanese. I think studying symbolic logic has really helped with that as logic introduced me to reading symbolic based languages, which is the foundation of both Chinese and Japanese writing due to all the characters that they use. That's been a fun connection to see as well.

Email ben.parker406@berkeley.edu

Web https://stanford.rivals.com

photo of Erick Bautista
Erick Bautista
BA 2014
Operations Manager and Controller

Further education Certificates in Data Science and Project Management

Favorite courses at Berkeley 12A Intro to Logic Intro to Modal Reasoning Intermediate Logic Plato

Favorite professors Holliday and Mancosu

How has your philosophical training influenced your life and career? I view business and management as applied philosophy. Profits are a logical consequence of having the right systems in place. Business is also fundamentally normative. Ethical dilemmas left and right. The logic and critical thinking skills I learned through the philosophy program play a major role in how I view the world and live my life. I'm till searching for Eudaimonia.

Any current engagement with philosophy? I still pursue self study on a regular basis. I usually have a philosophical book or two open at any given time.

Email ekbautista@gmail.com