The OU Philosophy Department sponsors a variety of colloquia, lecture series and conferences.
The OU Philosophy Department has an active program of lectures by visiting speakers and department members. Everyone is welcome to attend and to participate in discussion. Lectures are typically held on Friday afternoons.
The David Ross Boyd lecture series is a biennial event in which a philosopher of the highest distinction comes to campus for approximately a week to deliver a series of public lectures and (usually) an additional paper to the philosophy department. The 2007 David Ross Boyd Lecturer is Christine Korsgaard. The previous Boyd Lecturers were Hilary Putnam (2005), Julia Annas (2004), Bas van Fraassen (2002), Jerry Fodor (2000), Jaegwon Kim (1998), Martha Nussbaum (1996), Alvin Plantinga (1994), Joel Feinberg (1991), and Donald Davidson (1990).
Since 1996, the OU Philosophical Society (a group composed primarily of OU philosophy graduate students and undergraduate philosophy majors) has sponsored an annual Undergraduate Philosophy Conference. This event brings a number of promising undergraduates to campus to deliver papers that have been selected by peer review, as well as a distinguished keynote speaker.
In order to facilitate their own research, the faculty hold Faculty Research Workshops approximately once a month throughout the regular school year. At these informal gatherings, individual faculty members present a work in progress to the rest of the faculty to get feedback while the work is still in progress.
From time to time, the department organizes conferences on specific topics, attracting national and international specialists. The most recent was “Why Formal Epistemology?”, an international workshop with speakers Luc Bovens (London School of Economics and Political Science), David Chalmers (Australian National University), Branden Fitelson (University of California-Berkeley), Alan Hajek (Australian National University), Jonathan Kwanvig (Baylor University), Adam Morton (University of Alberta, Edmonton), Scott Sturgeon (University of London) and Paul Weirich (University of Missouri).