Our Team
Dr. Sarah Vitale -- Director
Dr. Sarah Vitale is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Ball State University. She teaches classes on social institutions, contemporary philosophy, and critical theory. Her research focuses on Marx and post-Marxism, as well as contemporary feminism and gender studies. She is Co-Editor of the Radical Philosophy Review, the journal of the Radical Philosophy Association. Dr. Vitale started the Ball State Philosophy Outreach Program in the spring of 2016, and it has been one of the highlights of her life in Indiana. When she is not doing philosophy at Ball State or at a high school somewhere in Indiana, she is likely watching TV with her cat Lucy or planning a trip to a far-off land.
Mendim Akiti -- Social Media Team
Mendim is a senior from North Macedonia who is majoring in philosophy and religious studies. He is excited to teach others about how philosophy can help people to think critically. Mendim switches between three languages when he is talking to his family, which he finds completely normal while everyone around him remains confused. He reads too many books at a time and rarely finishes any of them. He encourages people to watch Looking for Muhyiddin (if they can find it), a three-hour Tunisian film, which he found on a questionable website and paid 30 dollars for U.K. shipping.
Hannah Bartholf -- Conference Team
Hannah Bartholf is a senior from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, double majoring in public communications and political science. Hannah’s long term goal is to live to be 103, because she will have lived through three centuries. She most identifies with Lorelai Gilmore from Gilmore Girls, whose quick wit, optimistic outlook, and fast-talking skills have inspired Hannah for years. In Hannah's spare time you will find her with a Diet Coke and chicken nuggets in hand, listening to a podcast about serial killers. It is truly a weird fascination!
Kasey Brandenburg -- Social Media Team
Kasey is a freshman philosophy major from Austin, Indiana. Kasey would eventually like to master the skill of hand balancing, mild contortion, and primitive building. She has an endless internal void that can only be fulfilled by becoming a wildly intense rockstar who performs across the cosmos. If she could, she would exist within a mythical and musical woodland forest alongside cacao trees that drip with the highest quality chocolate where she could dance, sing, play and connect with her family without the stress of tragedy and physical limitations.
Grace Dudas -- Outreach Team
Grace is a freshman from Hagerstown, Indiana. She is majoring in philosophy and creative writing. Her guilty pleasure is listening to the Cheetah Girls soundtracks. She would love to learn how to skateboard and is irrationally afraid of birds, which stinks because she thinks they're beautiful. She is totally addicted to the Andes mints from Olive Garden.
Daniel Klinestiver -- Outreach Team
Daniel is a senior philosophy major and Japanese minor from Indianapolis. He very much wishes he didn’t have to sleep. He likes to tell himself that he’d use the extra time to read all the books and watch all the movies that he’s promised himself he’ll get around to sooner or later. He suspects, however, that he’d waste all the extra time watching YouTube videos of bears or memorizing the lore for games he has no intention of ever playing.
Zoe Lawson -- Conference Team
Zoe Lawson is a junior with a triple major in philosophy, political science, and Spanish from St. Charles, Missouri. Her favorite philosophical area of study is masculinity studies and gender studies. She most identifies with Rory Gilmore from Gilmore Girls because she has a book addiction, is sometimes very awkward, and speaks almost exclusively in outdated pop culture references. She loves getting the opportunity to work with pre-college philosophy students and can’t wait for the conference!
Abbey Meus -- Outreach Team
Abbey is a senior religious studies major with a minor in philosophy from Bolingbrook, Illinois. Abbey feels like she was a bird in another life. She spends way too much time rerunning dialogues she had throughout her day in her head. Abbey yearns for harmony among all the world's creatures and is most intrigued by the question of free will versus determinism.
John Rash -- Outreach Team
John is a senior from Wanamaker, Indiana. He majors in philosophy with a minor in sociology. John's favorite philosophical concept is the intersection between ecology and domination/oppression. He believes that the most terrifying animals are geese, who, if they could communicate with each other, would overthrow us. If he could master any skill it would be rock climbing, because it would make his life so much easier.
Cameron Surdyk -- Outreach Team
Cameron is a freshman from Orland Park, Illinois, who is majoring in tele-communications. He suspects that the Canadian government is lying to us, and that the most useless invention on the face of the earth is currently the smart phone. One food he would eat for the rest of his life would be grapefruit, and he would like to master horseback archery. He is most likely to become famous as a failed comedian.
Dusty Troyer -- Outreach Team
Dusty is a junior philosophy major from Elkhart, Indiana, who is also pursuing a music minor. If Dusty could only eat one food for the rest of her life it would be curry. Dusti would love to go to Alagaesia from the Eragon book series, the Inheritance Cycle. Someday she would like to be known as an educator, activist, academic, and author.
Lexi Wood -- Outreach Team
Lexi is a junior from Indianapolis who is majoring in philosophy and creative writing. Her favorite color is orange, which is the most important color, thank you very much. In her spare time, she reads horror, fantasy, and Marvel comics. Lexi is currently rereading
A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy to recover from her time reading Pet Sematary. In high school, Lexi was a member of Philosophy Club, Game Design Club, and every music outlet you can think of where she played Bassoon and Alto Saxophone. Now, she has been an executive member of Ball State’s philosophy club for three years.