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Law & Society Faculty

Faculty Advisory Committee Members:

Samuel Rickless
Professor of Philosophy
Director, Law and Society Interdisciplinary Program

Sam Rickless has wide-ranging interests in philosophy, including the history of Ancient Greek philosophy (particularly Plato), the history of Modern European philosophy (particularly John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume), non-consequentialist ethics, and legal theory. He was an undergraduate at Harvard (1982-86), a Marshall Scholar at Oxford (1986-88), received his Ph.D. in philosophy from UCLA (1996), and taught at Florida State University before coming to UC San Diego in 2001. In the area of ethics and the law, he has published articles on the Fourth Amendment and the right to informational privacy, the First Amendment’s establishment clause, legal interpretation, why doing harm is more difficult to justify than allowing harm, why intending harm is more difficult to justify than merely foreseeing harm, the moral status of enabling harm, the relevance of intention to criminal wrongdoing, moral responsibility for unwitting omissions, the proper definition of self-defense, how best to argue for liberalism, and the place of religion in a liberal society.

Marisa Abrajano
Provost, Earl Warren College
Professor of Political Science

The provost is a tenured member of the UCSD faculty who serves as chief executive officer of the college, including the interdisciplinary minors housed within the college. The provost is responsible for developing college curriculum, evaluating faculty for promotion, and overseeing all aspects of college life. The provost provides leadership for Warren College at UCSD as well as in the community, and serves as a link to college alumni around the nation.

Farrell Ackerman
Professor of Linguistics

David Brink
Professor of Philosophy

Fonna Forman
Associate Professor of Political Science

Kelly Gates
Associate Professor of Communication and Science Studies

Tal Golan
Associate Professor of History

Robert Horwitz
Professor of Communication

Sal Nicolazzo
Assistant Professor of Literature

Kwai Ng
Professor of Sociology

Patrick H. Patterson
Associate Professor of History

John Skrentny
Professor of Sociology

Glenn SmithProfessor of Law, California Western School of Law
Visiting Professor of Political Science