Rate My Professor Miriam Byrd

Miriam Byrd is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Arlington. She earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Georgia in 2001, an M.A. in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1992, and a B.A. in Philosophy and English from Emory University in 1990. Byrd joined the University of Texas at Arlington as Assistant Professor of Philosophy in 2005 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2011. Prior positions include Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Western Michigan University from 2003 to 2005 and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the University of Georgia from 2001 to 2002.

Byrd's research specializes in ancient philosophy, with a focus on Plato's dialogues, including the Republic, Phaedo, and Meno. Her publications include "Mathematics, Mental Imagery, and Ontology: A New Interpretation of the Divided Line" in The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition (2018), "Dianoetic Education in Plato’s Republic" in Mediterranean Studies (2019), "The Summoner Approach: A New Method of Plato Interpretation" in Journal of the History of Philosophy (2007), "Dialectic and Plato’s Method of Hypothesis" in Apeiron (2007), and "Hypotheses and Mathematical Intermediates in the Republic" in Ancient Philosophy (2025). She co-authored "Standing in the Vestibule: Proclus on Intermediates" with Jeremy Byrd and contributed "Socrates’ Failures and their Implications for Moral Psychology in the Early Dialogues" to Knowing and Being in Ancient Philosophy (2022). Byrd has delivered numerous presentations at international conferences, such as the Mediterranean Studies Association, International Society for Neoplatonic Studies, Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy, and International Plato Society. Her honors include a Research Enhancement Program Grant from the University of Texas at Arlington in summer 2008 and the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award from the University of Georgia in 2000-2001.