Dr. Heather Keith

hkeith1@radford.edu
McConnell Hall-Library 272
540-831-5974

Ph.D., Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

Dr. Heather Keith is Executive Director of Faculty Development and Professor of Philosophy at Radford University. She contributes to the growing "wicked problems" courses, minor, and initiatives at Radford, and is very excited about out of the box (often all the way out of the classroom!) teaching experiments.  She is the co-author of two books on ethics and intellectual disability, and the co-editor of a book on the philosophy of environmental, social, and personal resilience. Her research and teaching interests also include American philosophy, feminist theory, Asian philosophy, environmental ethics, and the philosophy of pop culture.

A native Nebraskan, Heather has what the Minnesota poet Bill Holm called “prairie eye”—an appreciation for the vast landscape, big sky, and “distance, clarity, and light” of the Great Plains. However, she also enjoys Southwest Virginia’s mountains and woods, particularly while hiking, biking, horseback riding, paddling, and walking her dog.

Selected Recent Publications:

Books

• Keith, Heather, and Kenneth Keith. 2013. Intellectual Disability: Ethics, Dehumanization, and a New Moral Community. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
• Keith, Heather, and Kelly Parker, eds. 2019. Pragmatist and American Philosophical Perspectives on Resilience. Lexington, MA: Lexington Press.
• Keith, Heather, and Kenneth Keith. 2020. Lives and Legacies of People with Intellectual Disability. Washington, DC: AAIDD Press.

Articles and Chapters

• Keith, Heather. 2023.  "Add some pop to your teaching: The value of pop-up courses to students and the world."  In The Teaching Professor, Jan. 2023.
• Keith, Heather. 2022. “Social Ethics for Ecological and Community Resilience: Jane Addams and the Environment.” In The Oxford Handbook of Jane Addams, edited by Maurice Hamington and Patricia Shields.
• Fesmire, Steven and Heather Keith.  2022.  “Out of Plumb, Out of Key, and Out of Whack: Social Ethics and Democracy for the New Normal.”  In The Deweyan Task Before Us.  The New Global Paradigm for Philosophy, Education, and Democracy Emerging from the Pandemic, edited by E. Kramer, and G. Spadafora.
• Fabrey, Christina and Heather Keith.  2021. “Resilient and Flexible Teaching (RAFT):  Integrating a Whole-Person Experience into Online Teaching.”  In Resilient Pedagogy:  Practical Teaching Strategies to Overcome Distance, Disruption, and Distraction, edited by T. Thurston, K. Lundstrom, and C. Gonzalez.
• Keith, Heather, and Christina Fabrey and Serena Eddy. Forthcoming, 2020. “Careers, Advising, Teaching: A Holistic Approach to Student and Faculty Development.” In Re-imagining Teaching to Maximize Student Learning: Case Studies of Faculty Development Centers, edited by O. Neisler, P. Looker, and M. Newman. 
• Keith, Heather. 2018. “The Dao of Dressage: Mysticism and Aesthetic Experience in Equestrian Sports.” Journal of Chinese Philosophy, Winter. 
• Keith, Heather. 2014. “Beyond Fixed Ends and Limited Moral Community: Aristotle, Dewey, and Contemporary Applications in Ethics.” In Dewey and the Ancients, edited by C. Kirby, London, UK: Bloomsbury Press. 
• Keith, Heather. 2012. “Natural Caring: A Pragmatist Ecofeminist Approach to Ethics in the More-Than-Human World.” In Contemporary Feminist Pragmatism, edited by M. Hammington and C. Bardwell-Jones, London, UK: Routledge. 
• Keith, Heather. 2008. “Transforming Ren: The De of George Herbert Mead’s Social Self.” Journal of Chinese Philosophy, Fall. 
• Keith, Heather. 2008. “Living in ‘My Hometown’: Local Philosophies for Troubled Times.” In Bruce Springsteen and Philosophy, edited by D. Anderson and R. Auxier, Chicago, IL: Open Court.
• Keith, Heather. 2008. “The Second-Coming of Kahless: Lieutenant Worf’s ‘Will to Believe.’” In Star Trek and Philosophy, edited by K. Decker and J. Eberl, Chicago, IL: Open Court. 
• Keith, Heather, and Steven Fesmire. 2005. “Our Place in the Cosmos: Faith and Belief in Contact.” In Movies and the Meaning of Life, edited by P. Tudico and K. Blessing, Chicago, IL: Open Court. 
• Keith, Heather, and Kenneth Keith. 2004. “Habits of Happiness: Positive Psychology and the Philosophy of William James.” Streams of William James, Spring. 
• Keith, Heather. 2001. “Pornography Contextualized: A Test Case for a Feminist-Pragmatist Ethics.” The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, Summer. 
• Keith, Heather. 1999. “Feminism and Pragmatism: George Herbert Mead’s Ethics of Care.” The Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, Spring. 
• Keith, Heather, and Richard Detar. 1997. “An Interview with Martha Nussbaum.” Kinesis, Spring