Faculty Leaders

Eamonn Callan

Pigott Family Professor Associate Dean for Student Affairs

Professor Callan grew up in Dublin and went to University College of Dublin to study English and Classics and later, Education. He always imagined that he would become a high school teacher, but undertaking doctoral study was preferable to being unemployed when the market for teachers in Ireland was terrible. He emigrated in 1978 to begin a doctoral program at the University of Alberta in Western Canada, and eventually joined the faculty, and also met his wonderful wife Corinne (they now have two children). In 1998 a job opened up Stanford, and a friend told Professor Callan that it "described him perfectly." Eamonn had never been in California, but working at Stanford seemed like an exciting prospect. He started with Stanford in 1999 as a professor in the school of Education. When he got the job he was speechless with joy. 

He is a philosopher of education whose work draws heavily on contemporary moral and political theory. His principal interests are in civic and moral education, and in the application of theories of justice and democracy to problems in educational policy and practice. 

His current research focuses on Civic and moral education, ethical and civic dimensions of educational policy, and multicultural education and minority rights in education.

He has penned a number of professional journals and books, his most recent, When to Shut Students Up: Civility, Silencing, and Free Speech.

ACCOLADES:

• Member National Academy of education
• Former President of the Philosophy of Education Society
• Former chair of the Stanford Faculty Senate