Michael Popich, Ph.D
FULL-TIME FacultyProfessor
Phone: 801.832.2411
Email: mpopich@westminsteru.edu
Office Location: Foster Hall 401
Office Hours: MW 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m., TTh 1:00–2:00 p.m.
Degrees
Ph.D. SUNY Binghamton University
M.A. University of Notre Dame
B.A. University of Scranton
About
During his 40 years at Westminster, Michael served 8 presidents of Westminster College. He joined Westminster Faculty in 1981 after earning his PhD in Philosophy from Binghamton University. Michael served as Founding Director of the Honors Program, which became the nationally recognized Honors College. He also served numerous times as Chair of the Philosophy Program. Additionally, Michael worked on almost every faculty committee possible over the years and team-taught many courses with dear colleagues. In addition to teaching dozens of different courses in philosophy and honors, Michael teaches medical ethics for the School of Nursing and business ethics for the Bill and Vieve Gore School of Business and coaches the Ethics Bowl team, which regularly competes in national championships. Michael and colleagues in philosophy hosted regional Ethics Bowl competitions at Westminster College. Michael was awarded the Gore Excellence in Teaching Award and the Sears Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership Award. He co-sponsored a number of public conferences in philosophy and religious studies from Utah Valley University, the University of Utah, and Salt Lake Community College. As director of the Tanner McMurrin Lecture Series, Michael hosted internationally acclaimed speakers like Rene Girard, Michael Walzer, Diana Eck, Arvind Sharma, Michael Doyle, Elaine Pagels, Seyla Benhabib, Rabbi David Novak, Sr. Helen Prejean, and, most recently, Martha Nussbaum.
