The Daily Bulletin Archive

Kimberly Blessing, professor of philosophy, initiated and hosted the first meeting of BLIP, Buffalo Ladies in Philosophy, on Friday, February 6, at Campus House. The group consists of 12 women, representing Buffalo State, UB, Canisius, Niagara, Daemen, and D’Youville colleges and universities, which exhausts the number of women working as full-time philosophers in Buffalo.

BLIP will continue to meet monthly. They are currently working on a summer 2015 seminar or workshop which will, among other things, address the underrepresentation of women in philosophy. Only about 20 percent of professional philosophers are women. At 50 percent, Canisius and Daemen are doing the best with gender diversity; UB has 15 percent women. At Buffalo State, Blessing is only the second female philosopher ever hired on a tenure-track line. BLIP hopes to take actions to improve these numbers in philosophy and provide this small number of Buffalo women with support and outlets.