About Scott

Scott O’Leary received his Ph.D and M.A. in philosophy from Fordham University and his undergraduate degree in philosophy and history from Boston College. He is currently Director of Strategic Initiatives for NC State Continuing and Lifelong Education. Previously, he was an Associate Professor of Philosophy and the Honors Director at the University of Saint Mary (Kansas). Trained as an ethicist, Dr. O’Leary’s work focuses on human lived experience and examines the way emotional experience impacts our decision-making, values, and behavior.  His work has been published in The American Philosophy Quarterly, Balkan Journal of Philosophy, and Elements and he received a Templeton Foundation Cluster Grant to create an international working group studying emotion and religious experience.  He's taught workshops, delivered presentations and hosted panels on Moral Leadership in Nontraditional Spaces, human-emotion interactions, and ethical eating.  Beyond his academic interests, he spends his free time mentoring, coaching, and teaching yoga and mindfulness, as well as herding his cats, and learning about music from his partner, who is a classical pianist.