James Olsen

James (or “Jamie”) has an MA in International Affairs from George Washington University, with a concentration in conflict resolution and the Middle East, and a PhD in Philosophy from Georgetown University, with a specialization in the intersection of phenomenology and philosophy of perception.

Bio and Featured Works

His primary focus in recent years has been environmental philosophy. He was a founding faculty member of Georgetown’s Core Pathways Curriculum on Climate Change and has taught in both philosophy and the Environmental Studies Program. He is the former Assistant Director for Programs for Faculty and Graduate Students at Georgetown’s Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship where he spent nearly a decade working directly with faculty and graduate students, leading development programs, consulting on course and curricular-level design, educational technology, and planning and hosting university-level events. He specializes in course and instructional design, inclusive pedagogy, pedagogical development, and issues in sustainability. 

After fifteen years on main campus, he has recently transitioned back to Georgetown’s Qatar campus, where he earlier served as a Research Fellow. In addition to teaching philosophy, his duties include a variety of functions related to faculty development, instructional design, and educational technology.

Although caught up in living multiple lives at once, Jamie’s primary interest is his wife and children and their goal of building a permanent and fully sustainable home in Neverland.

About James Olsen

Expertise

Environmental Philosophy
Phenomenology and the Philosophy of Perception
Teaching Pedagogy
Technology for Pedagogy