Rowan G. Tepper, M.A.

12 North Harrison St. 2nd Floor

Johnson City, NY 13790
(215) 317-9930 (cell)
rtepper1@binghamton.edu
dialdfordialectic@gmail.com

Education

Binghamton University (fall 2008 – present) Binghamton, NY

• Doctoral Student in Comparative Literature (Philosophy, Literature and the Theory of Criticism)
• Funded with a Teaching Assistantship in the department carrying full teaching duties for one course per semester,
including: World Literature (I & II), Literature and Society, Literature and Psychology and Beyond Seriousness:
Nietzsche and French Theory.
• Given dual appointment as Instructor for Winter and Summer term teaching.
• Dissertation entitled: “Kairoticism: The Transcendentals of Revolution..”
• Passed Qualifying Examination – Spring 2009.
• Professional Level French Proficiency Certified – Summer 2009.
• Coursework Completed with 4.0 GPA – Fall 2009.
• A.B.D. April 2011.
• Program completion and PhD anticipated – December 2011.
Boston College (fall 2004 – spring 2006) Chestnut Hill, MA
• M.A. in Philosophy; passed qualifying examination with distinction.
• Studied 19th and 20th century French and German philosophy; literary theory; critical social theory
• Completed coursework in other departments: French and English
The Johns Hopkins University (spring 2004) Baltimore, MD
• Completed three graduate courses through a cross-registration agreement.
• Studied the philosophies of Gilles Deleuze and Theodor Adorno with Profs. Paola. Marrati & Hent de Vries
• Studied modern American Political Theory with Profs. Jane Bennett and Richard Flathman
Goucher College (fall 2000 – spring 2004) Baltimore, MD
• Graduated with B.A. in Philosophy with honors thesis on Michel Foucault
• Deans List Fall 2000, Spring 2004.

Teaching, Research and Work Experience

Binghamton University (August 2011 – Present) Binghamton, NY

• Adjunct Professor of Comparative Literature
• Courses Taught:
• COLI 211B: Literature and Psychology: The Apocalyptic Imaginary – Toward A Psycho-Philosophy of History
Binghamton University (August 2008 – July 2011) Binghamton, NY
• Teaching Assistant / Instructor in the Department of Comparative Literature
• Courses Taught:
• COLI 110: World Literature I: Myth, History and the Story. Fall 2008
• COLI 111: World Literature II: Dissidence, Transgression and the Avant-Garde. Spring 2009.
• COLI 214B: Literature and Society: Writing in the Wake of Disaster. Fall 2009.
• COLI 497: Independent Study: Literature & Philosophy of the Margins. Fall 2009
• COLI 211Z: Graduate School & Job Applications: Style & Praxis. Winter 2010 / Summer 2010 / Summer 2011.
Distance-Learning Online Course. (Appointment through Continuind Education Office as Instructor for Winter &
Summer Terms).
• COLI 214B: The End of History: Writing in the Wake of Disaster. Spring 2010. Modified from Fall 2009. Revised to
include explicit study of relevant texts frequently referenced in previous version by Freud and Alexandre Kojeve.
• COLI 211B: Literature & Psychology: The Limit-Experience – Desire, Transgression & Eroticism. Fall 2010.
• COLI 321P: Beyond Seriousness: Nietzsche & French Theory. Spring 2011. Readings include major texts by Nietzsche,
Bataille, Klossowski, Blanchot, Deleuze and Foucault.
• Responsible for all reading selection, course and syllabus design, and all teaching duties. Courses fulfilled university
general education requirements in composition and the humanities.
College of Santa Fe (December 2007 – June 2008) Santa Fe, NM
• Adjunct Professor of Philosophy
• Teaching PHL 390: Readings in Philosophy – “Currents and Cross-Currents in Twentieth Century French Philosophy
and literature.”
• Course was taught at a distance, consisting of directed readings and research in twentieth century and contemporary
French Philosophy and Literature.
University of Rhode Island (August 2006 – January 2007) Kingston, RI
• Adjunct Instructor in Philosophy
• Courses Taught: PHL 217: Social Philosophy
• Independently developed course curriculum and syllabus, study materials and writing assignments
• Worked closely with students on an individual basis outside the classroom
Harvard University (June 2007 – October 2007) Cambridge, MA
• Research assistant to Professor Bradley S. Epps – Departments of Romance Languages and Literatures & Chair of
Women Gender and Sexuality.
• Assisted in course development for WGS1210qt : Queer Theory, Fall 2007. Contributed substantially with regard to
reading selections to be included.
Freelance Academic Writer (2004-Present) Boston, MA
• Researching and writing essays in literary theory, particularly concerned with theories of the short story, in a multi-
lingual, historical study, in collaboration scholars in the field.
• Co-authored work on the generic definition of the short story, demonstrated in the particular milieu of Portuguese
literature, and drawing upon theory and literature from the French, German and Anglo-American traditions. Research
and writing includes necessary usage of untranslated theoretical texts in French and German. Manuscript complete
September 2008; collaborative work commenced in August, 2007.
RT Solutions (April 2006 – January 2008) Cambridge, MA
• Current projects include developing Neural Network software, implementing dynamic memory allocation into
LIDORT and VLIDORT software packages & serving as final, pre-publication proof-reader.
• Major code translations of VLIDORT software package, from Fortran 77 to 90; code testing and optimization.
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (January 2004 – August 2004) Laurel, MD
• Responsible for performing missile trajectory modeling and statistical analysis of flight and radar data

Fellowships & Awards

• Goucher College Class of 1905 Graduate Fellowship.

• Awarded Masters Degree with Distinction, one among a total of twenty-four graduating students.
• Nominated for the Binghamton University Graduate School Excellence in Research Award – October 2010.

Publications

• After God - The Revolutionary Absolute. In The Immanence of Myth, James Curcio, Ed., (London: Weaponized, 2011).
• La vie dédoublée: Through Bataille's Looking Glass. Forthcoming. Preface to the Farsi translation of La Scissiparité,
contribution invited and to be translated by Peyman Gholami (http://www.schizocult.org/)
• Michel Foucault: Toward a Philosophy and Politics of the Event (Saarbrücken: LAP, 2010). 2010
• Par-delá la poésie: Blinding Immanence and the System: Poetry and the Unknown in Georges Bataille's Critique of Hegel and
Kojève, accepted for publication in Cosmos & History, 2007.
• Foucault's Apparatus, Senior Thesis at Goucher College, bound and published, in the collection of the Julia
Rodgers Library, 2004.
• “On the Validity and Significance of Nietzsche's Thought of the Eternal Recurrence”: in the Proceedings of the
Fourth Annual Towson University Undergraduate Philosophy Conference, 2003.

Translations

• Georges Bataille, Original manuscript version of the preface to L'impossible (1962). November 2008.
• Georges Bataille, Schizogenesis – Originally La Scissiparité (1949) in Œuvres Complètes III. January 2008.
• Georges Bataille, Manuscript version of L'Orestie (1942-45) – reconstructed from notes to L'Impossible in Œuvres
Complètes III. November 2007.
• Georges Bataille, I Imagine the Cold – Originally J'Imagine le Froid in Œuvres Complètes IV; Klee (1947) in Œuvres Complètes
XI. May 2007.
• Alexandre Kojève, Preface to the Work of Georges Bataille – Préface à l'œuvre de Georges Bataille(1950), in Georges Bataille,
Œuvres Completes VI. January 2008.
 Research Activities
• Dissertation entitled “Kairoticm: The Transcendentals of Revolution.” Pertinent research is principally
concerned with various conceptions of time in literature and philosophy, specifically when applied in personal
and political milieux.
• Research on the co-evolution of Frankfurt School Critical Theory and French Post-structuralism, focusing on
the historical convergence in 1930's Paris of Georges Bataille and Walter Benjamin around Alexandre Kojève's
lectures on Hegel's Phenomenology, in particular his lecture at the College de Sociologie of December 4th 1937,
which both Bataille and Benjamin attended.
• Senior Thesis: Foucault's Apparatus: in depth examination of the continuities in Foucault's philosophy and the
relationship of his thought to the philosophies of Gilles Deleuze, Martin Heidegger and Friedrich Nietzsche.
• Independent study. Fall/Winter 2002. “Nietzsche, Eternal Recurrence, Ethics”: A reading of Nietzsche's
doctrine of the Eternal Recurrence as an ethical thought.

Areas of Specialization

Post-structuralism, Literary Theory, 20th Century French Literature & Criticism,

Modern and Contemporary Continental Philosophy (French and German), Georges Bataille, Michel Foucault,
Walter Benjamin, Nietzsche, Critical Social Theory (Frankfurt School), Eschatology, and Political Theory

Areas of Competence

History of Philosophy, Ethics, Ancient and Modern Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Sociology, Social Theory,
Phenomenology, Hermeneutics, Existentialism, Kant, Hegel; Nineteenth Century French Literature

Languages

English, French (certified professional level proficiency), German (proficient; written/spoken), Ancient Greek (fair; written)

Lectures and Talks

• Podcast lecture version of “Kairoticism: Exemplary Acts, the Whatever-Messiah & Revolutionary Post-History,” for
http://www.modernmythology.net. April 10th 2011. http://www.modernmythology.net/2011/04/kairos-complete-
podcast-version.html
• “Toward a Kairology: Theses on Walter Benjamin's Theses,” presented during Professor Gisela Brinker-Gabler's Walter
Benjamin seminar, December 1st 2009.
• Invited lecture at on Immanuel Kant's Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals with particular emphasis on its
influence and implications in social and political philosophy, for Introduction to Modern Philosophy at SUNY
Cortland. March 2008.
• Gave talk on Gaston Bachelard's theory of the imagination at the request of Professor Kearney for his seminar
“Phenomenology of the Image,” October, 2005.
• Lecture: “Georges Bataille's Negative Dialectics of Desire” at the request of Professor Richard Kearney for his
seminar entitled “Divine Desire,” May, 2005.
• Lecture: “In the Time of Fascist Desire” at Northeastern University at the invitation of the undergraduate philosophy
club. April, 2005.

Conference Activities

• “Kairoticism: Exemplary Acts, the Whatever-Messiah & Revolutionary Post-History,” Binghamton University
Philosophy, Interpretation and Culture Conference, “The Revolution of Time / Time of Revolution,” March
26th, 2011.
• “On the Genealogy of the Ereignis of Knowledge,” Aletheia: The First Annual Goucher College Philosophy
Conference. April 10, 2004. Was also active in conference organization prior to peer-review process.
• Presented paper entitled “On the Validity and Significance of Nietzsche's Thought of the Eternal Recurrence”
at the Fourth Annual Towson University Undergraduate Philosophy Conference, April 2003
• Presented paper entitled “Nietzsche's Eternal Recurrence as Ethics” at Villa Julie College, April 2003
 References

William W. Haver, Associate Professor, Comparative Literature. Binghamton University tel: 607-777.3327 email: zenvampires@yahoo.com

Richard Kearney, Charles Seelig Chair Professor of Philosophy, Boston College tel: 617.552.3847 email: kearneyr@bc.edu

Brett Levinson, Professor & Chair, Department of Comparative Literature tel: 607-777.4962 email: blevins@binghamton.edu

Gisela Brinker-Gabler, Professor, Comparative Literature. Binghamton University. tel: 607-777.2890 email: gbrinker@binghamton.edu

Vanessa P. Rumble, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Boston College tel: 617.552.3865 email: rumble@bc.edu