Rate My Professor Robert Van Gulick

Robert Van Gulick is a Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy at Syracuse University. He earned his A.B. from Princeton University in 1970 and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1976, with a dissertation on functionalism as a theory of mind. Van Gulick joined the Syracuse faculty in 1976 as an assistant professor and advanced to associate professor in 1987 and full professor in 1995. He has held several administrative roles at Syracuse, including Department Chair from 2005 to 2008, Director of Graduate Studies from 2002 to 2005, Director of Undergraduate Studies from 1993 to 2001, and Director of the Cognitive Science Program since 1986. He also served as the William P. Tolley Distinguished Professor in the Humanities from 2008 to 2010.

Van Gulick’s research focuses on the philosophy of mind, with particular emphasis on consciousness, functionalism, reduction and emergence, and self-representation. He has authored numerous articles and book chapters on these topics, including contributions to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on consciousness, which he revised in 2014. His work has appeared in journals such as Philosophical Studies, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, and Journal of Consciousness Studies, as well as in edited volumes from presses including MIT Press and Oxford University Press. Van Gulick has received honors including two NEH Fellowships for University Scholars and the Outstanding Advisor of the Year Award from Syracuse’s College of Arts and Sciences. He has served in leadership positions in professional organizations such as the Society for Philosophy and Psychology.