Dr. Lenore Wright

BIC Courses: World Cultures III and Examined Life III

After growing up in Grayson, Kentucky, a small rural town, Dr. Lenore Wright's introduction to scholarship at the undergraduate level began at Moorehead State University, thirty miles from her hometown. Intent on a pre-law track, she soon switched her major to philosophy through the influence of her Introduction to Philosophy professor and Plato's Republic. At the time, Dr. Wright was the only female philosophy major at the university. Upon completing her undergraduate work, Dr. Wright came to Baylor in 1994 to pursue a Master of Philosophy and subsequently met her husband, Professor Henry Wright. The two then traveled to State University of New York (SUNY) for Dr. Wright to pursue a Ph.D. in Philosophy. Returning to Baylor in 1998, Dr. Wright applied to be Assistant Director of the BIC. For the next five years she served in this capacity, until she began on tenure track in 2003 with the Philosophy Department and the BIC.

J. Lenore Wright, Ph.D., is Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies & Philosophy and the Director of the Academy for Teaching and Learning (ATL) at Baylor University. Wright’s scholarly interests include theories and modes of self-representation and feminist philosophy. She is the author of two books: Athena to Barbie: Bodies, Archetypes, and Women’s Search for Self (Minneapolis: Fortress Press 2021) and The Philosopher’s ‘I’: Autobiography and the Search for the Self (Albany: SUNY Press 2006). Other select publications include “Personal Jesus: Reflections on God’s Call,” co-authored with Andrew Arterbury, Religions 13 (11): 1095 (2022), “Panther Mystique: Demystifying Wakandan Feminism,” co-authored with Edwardo Pérez Navarro, Black Panther and Philosophy: What Can Wakanda Offer The World?, ed. Timothy E. Brown and Edwardo Pérez Navarro (Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons, Ltd., 2022), “Relationality and Life: Phenomenological Reflections on Miscarriage,” International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics, vol. 11 no. 2 (Fall 2018), “Sameness and Difference: Simone de Beauvoir and the Question of Female Identity,” Identity, Freedom, and Responsibility, Fall 2017, “Becoming a (Wonder) Woman: Feminism, Nationalism, and the Ambiguity of Female Identity,” Wonder Woman and Philosophy, ed. Jacob Held (Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons, Ltd., 2017), 5-18 (reprinted in The Philosophers’ Magazine, Issue 79, 4^th Quarter 2017, 64-69, and Introducing Philosophy through Pop Culture, edited by William Irwin and David Kyle Johnson, 2nd ed., 236-44,  United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell), “From ‘I’ to ‘We’: Acts of Agency in Simone de Beauvoir’s Philosophical Autobiography,” The Philosophy of Autobiography, ed. Christopher Cowley (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015), 193-216, and “Who’s Afraid of Naomi Wolf:  Feminism in Post-feminist Culture” Feminism and Popular Culture (2013). She serves as an expert reviewer for the International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics and a regular reviewer for Feminist Philosophy Quarterly. Wright is also engaged in the scholarship of teaching and learning and oversees teaching-related initiatives at Baylor. She has published in Teaching Philosophy and the Journal of Interactive Instruction Development. She is the co-editor of Called to Teach: Excellence, Commitment, and Community in Christian Higher Education (Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2020). She is an academic consultant for the International Organization for Student Success, publisher of the College Portfolio for Success. She received Baylor’s Outstanding Professor Award in 2008-9 for distinctive teaching.

Publications:

• The Philosopher's 'I': Autobiography and the Search for the Self (State University of New York Press 2006)
• "Relationality and Life: Phenomenological Reflections on Miscarriage" (International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics, vol. II, no. 2, Fall 2018)
• "Sameness and Difference: Simone de Beauvoir and the Question of Female Identity" (Identity, Freedom, and Responsibility, Fall 2017)
• "Becoming a (Wonder) Woman: Feminism, Nationalism, and the Ambiguity of Female Identity" (Wonder Woman and Philosophy, ed. Jacob Held (Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons, Ltd., 2017), 5-18 [reprinted in The Philosophers' Magazine, Issue 79, 4th Quarter 2017, 64-69])
• "From 'I' to 'We': Acts of Agency in Simone de Beauvoir's Philosophical Autobiography" (The Philosophy of Autobiography, ed. Christopher Cowley (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015) 193-216)
• "Who's Afraid of Naomi Wolf: Feminism in Post-feminist Culture" (Feminism and Popular Culture 2013)