I’m associate provost for undergraduate affairs and special programs at the George Washington University. I’m also an associate professor in the Department of Philosophy and affiliated with the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy & Public Administration. From 2014-19 I served as associate dean for graduate studies in our Columbian College of Arts & Sciences, where I was responsible for 80+ graduate programs enrolling 2,800+ students. Previously, I was a visiting scholar in the Department of Bioethics, National Institutes of Health.
By training, I’m an analytical philosopher and attorney. My scholarship and teaching address moral, ethical, and legal issues that range from highly to moderately theoretical. Some of my research is interdisciplinary, infusing philosophy with legal scholarship and social science.
Publications before 2013 appear under my previous surname: Brand-Ballard.
Representative research questions
- Are judges morally obligated to be faithful to the law as they understand it, even when it requires seemingly unjust results?
- What are the moral limits, if any, on length of incarceration for particular criminal convictions?
- Are public officials morally responsible when others attempt to imitate their behavior, but foreseeably misunderstand their intentions and make mistakes?
- Are there certain actions that it would be immoral for you to take, even if doing so would have significantly better consequences for others than any alternative available to you?
Education
Ph.D., M.A. in Philosophy
J.D.
Visiting Student
A.B. in Philosophy, ΦΒΚ
Visiting Student
University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
University of Michigan Law School
Yale Law School
Vassar College
Mansfield College, Oxford University, UK