Presidential Teaching Professor Seminar
Promoting Experiential Learning
Mylan Engel Jr., Ph.D.
Distinguished Teaching Professor & Presidential Engagement Professor, Department of Philosophy
Mylan Engel's teaching motto is "Philosophy Matters!" There is a caricature of philosophy that it's the home of unbridled, wildly fantastical, a priori speculations that have little-to-no practical importance, but Engel thinks nothing could be further from the truth. Moral problems, like global and local food insecurity, aren't just abstract problems; they are practical problems with practical solutions. When discussing these issues, it is important not just to present students with the problems, but also to empower them with real-world hands-on actions they can perform to help alleviate these problems.
For over twenty-five years, Prof. Engel has been incorporating experiential learning activities in his classes to bridge the gap between theory and practice. His first forays into experiential learning started with the goal of teaching his graduate students two critically important skills that they would need to succeed in professional philosophy – how to write a conference paper and how to write a conference commentary. With undergraduate students, he has focused on helping his students understand and appreciate the value of philosophy, its personal and practical significance, and the role it plays in helping us to live more authentic, meaningful lives.
In his Presidential Teaching Seminar, Prof. Engel will describe the hands-on activities that he uses to instill professional skills in his graduate students and how similar activities could be incorporated in graduate courses in almost any field. He will also discuss the activities his undergraduate students perform outside of class and how faculty can incorporate community-engaged experiential-learning activities in their courses.
Mylan Engel Jr. is Distinguished Teaching Professor and Presidential Engagement Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Northern Illinois University. He is also a Faculty Associate of NIU's Institute for the Study of the Environment, Sustainability, and Energy, a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, and the current president of the Illinois Philosophical Association.
As an NIU Service-Learning Faculty Fellow (2016-2018), he designed two community-engaged service-learning courses - Philosophy of Food and Environmental Ethics - both of which incorporate experiential-learning activities that address global and local food insecurity and global and local food justice.
He specializes in epistemology, philosophy of religion, and ethics. His work in ethics focuses on environmental ethics, sustainability, global justice, and the philosophy of food. He has published three books and over 50 articles and book chapters and has delivered over 300 conference presentations and public lectures throughout the U.S. and Europe.
Mylan Engel Jr.
Thursday, March 5, 2026
Sky Room, Holmes Student Center, 16th Floor
Noon - 1 PM
No registration is required - Everyone is welcome!
We invite everyone to bring their own lunch or snacks to enjoy during the presentation.