Nicholas D. Tirone, Ph.D.

Philosophy of Teaching: Teaching is theater.  It involves the comic and the tragic.  Its goal is to draw the student into the play of the subject matter so much so that the student loses his or her place in the world of our everyday concerns and is transported into another world, in my case, the world of philosophy.   Some think that teaching is about conveying the information and material of the course to the students, but the material is merely a prop.  Teaching ought to be a transformative, not an informative, event.  Teaching is theater.

Special Areas of Expertise: Philosophy of Art; Contemporary Philosophy

Teaching Background: From my undergrad professor Fr. Ed Gannon, I inherited an insatiable love of wisdom and argument.  From my graduate school professor Dr. Liz Kraus, I inherited a sincere appreciation for the inquisitive minds of students.  And from Stephen Colbert’s Strangers with Candy character, high school teacher Mr. Noblet, I inherited a penchant for occasionally doing or saying the most unexpected or outrageous thing, just to keep them questioning their assumptions about everything, including who and what a teacher should be.