William Rubel

Background

About William Rubel

I earned a PhD in English Literature at the University of British Columbia, with original research that connects the etho-ecological modernity advanced in 18th and 19th Century literature and philosophy with emerging twenty-first century ecologies. I graduated summa cum laude with a BA in English and minor in Philosophy from Columbia University, where I was honored to be a candidate for valedictorian, studying closely with pioneering eco-critic Karl Kroeber and forming the Columbia Society with Irish-American novelist Raymond Kennedy. My interests include ecological philosophy (climate philosophy, embodied philosophy, affect theory, speculative metaphysics, aesthetics, and process philosophy), ecopoetics, and posthumanist/decolonized ecologies. I am also an author of plays and works of speculative fiction. I have been a Mind & Life Institute visiting scholar at Amherst College, a presenter at the International Symposium for Contemplative Studies, a researcher/presenter at the Mind & Life Summer Research Institute, and a recipient of numerous awards, including the Francisco J. Varela Research Award. As an assistant professor, I have designed courses in ecological philosophy, moral philosophy, mythology, and literature. I have served as subject lead, and a member of cyclical review committees. I am the BCCAT Philosophy Chair for philosophy departments in British Columbia. At UCW, I was recently honored to deliver a commencement speech, where I received a Sustained Excellence in Teaching Award. I am currently adapting my dissertation, “Romancing Modernity: Poetry, Process, and Postsecularism” into a book on the long eighteenth century roots of posthumanist ecologies. I am a member of the Playwrights Guild of Canada and of the Blake Society, and have written and directed works for the stage and screen about William Blake.