Four members of the Department of Philosophy have been named 2024 Marc Sanders Foundation Media Fellows: Andrew Chignell, Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor with appointments in Religion, Philosophy, and the University Center for Human Values; Post Graduate Research Associates Eleanor Gordon-Smith and Joy Shim; and Jason Yonover, the Desai Family Postdoctoral Research Associate.

The Marc Sanders Philosophy in Media initiative aims to increase the presence of philosophy in print, audio, and video media by training philosophers to write and produce for the public and by connecting philosophers to editors and commissioners in the media industry. Fellows are academically-trained philosophers of all career stages and from all areas of philosophy. 

The 2024 Media Fellows will receive workshop training this summer led by esteemed media editors, producers, publishers, and agents from industry leaders including The New York Times, The New Yorker, NPR, and literary agents Brockman Inc., in one of three areas: op-ed/ short essay writing and trade books, long-form magazine writing, or podcast production. Shim and Yonover will participate in the long-form writing workshop, Gordon-Smith in podcasting and Chignell in op-ed/trade books. 

The program is the brainchild of Sanders Foundation Associate Director Barry Lam *07, professor of philosophy at UC Riverside and host/executive producer of the Hi-Phi Nation podcast.  Lam has been actively involved in public-facing philosophy since 2015 when, on a leave of absence from teaching, he created the pilot for his very successful “Hi-Phi Nation” podcast. 

Last year, as part of the Department of Philosophy's professional development initiatives, Lam returned to Princeton to teach a course in podcast production and a graduate seminar in public philosophy. Modeled on the Sanders Foundation Philosophy in Media Initiative, "Public Philosophy: Inside and Outside of Academia" was similarly structured around the various ways academic crossover content appears in non-academic media: short-form opinion pieces, longform magazine pieces, regular columns, trade books, radio and podcasting. Guest lecturers – including authors who write about philosophy in each of those genres, along with editors and agents – served as both role models for different career paths and network connections. Seminar participants were ultimately invited to pitch ideas with several receiving commissions. 

Now, with another nod to public-facing philosophy, the Department of Philosophy has joined the University Center for Human Values and the Mellon Foundation in sponsoring the Media Fellows workshops for the next three years.