The American Philosophical Association is pleased to announce that Barry Lam, associate professor of philosophy at Vassar College, has been awarded a 2019–2020 Whiting Foundation Public Engagement Fellowship in the amount of $50,000 for Hi-Phi Nation, a popular philosophy podcast praised by the Guardian and the Huffington Post.
The Whiting Foundation provides targeted support for writers, scholars, and the stewards of humanity’s shared cultural heritage. The Whiting Public Engagement Programs aim to celebrate and empower early-career humanities faculty who undertake ambitious projects to infuse the depth, historical richness, and nuance of the humanities into public life. The programs include $10,000 seed grants for early stage projects and $50,000 fellowships for more mature projects.
Professor Lam was nominated by the APA for the Whiting Public Engagement Fellowship. Lam is known for his work in public philosophy through his podcast, Hi-Phi Nation. With support from the fellowship, Professor Lam will take a narrative voyage through the justice system from beginning to end, exploring the philosophical foundations of crime and punishment in season four of Hi-Phi Nation. The Whiting Fellowship will also help him bring the podcast to a new technical and editorial level by partnering with veteran podcast editor Julia Barton (Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History, Empire on Blood). This will continue to advance Hi-Phi Nation’s core mission: to give listeners an entrée into philosophical inquiry, making big ideas accessible through nonfiction storytelling and promoting philosophical literacy through deep thinking about values that underpin our lives.
