Sherri Irvin

Dr. Sherri Irvin joined the Graduate College in July 2018. As senior associate dean, she supports the Dean in the leadership of graduate strategic initiatives, supervises staff, and manages graduate student and postdoc concerns and formal appeals. She oversees several faculty committees and works with Graduate College staff on policy changes, data and analytics needs, and support for academic units. Dr. Irvin has a strong commitment to supporting graduate student flourishing and maximizing access for students from groups historically underrepresented in higher education.

Graduate students, postdocs, and faculty members are welcome to contact Dr. Irvin for confidential consultations and advice. To schedule, email her assistant, Danielle Talley.

Dr. Irvin is Presidential Research Professor of Philosophy and Women’s and Gender Studies. She holds a BA in philosophy from the University of Arizona, an MS in psychology from Rutgers University, and an MA and PhD in philosophy from Princeton University. Before arriving at OU, she taught in Canada at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University. She has an extensive record of research in aesthetics and the philosophy of art, with interests in how they connect to feminist philosophy and philosophy of race. In her book Immaterial: Rules in Contemporary Art (Oxford, 2022) she argues for a new understanding of the nature and meaning of contemporary artworks. Her multi-authored collection Body Aesthetics (Oxford, 2016) treats the aesthetics of the body in relation to social justice, art, evolutionary theory, race, gender, disability, sexuality and sport. Her research in philosophy of race pertains to the role of images, particularly moving images of police violence, in promoting or undermining racial justice. She serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Philosophy Compass, and the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

For more information about her research, visit philpeople.org.