About
John Gleaves, PhD graduated Maximum Cum Laude from Carroll College in 2006 with a majors in both Philosophy and Theology and a minor in History. He was also a member of the Honors Scholars program. In 2007, John enrolled directly into the Pennsylvania State University’s Department of Kinesiology doctoral program in theHistory and Philosophy of Sport. In 2011, he successfully defended his doctoral thesis and became an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the California State University Fullerton. In 2015, CSUF awarded John early promotion and tenure as an associate professor.
In addition to his educational achievements, John has received numerous awards and professional leadership roles for his research in the area of performance-enhancing drugs in sport. In 2010, John received the North American Society for Sport History’s Graduate Student Essay Award. As a professor, John has been awarded the CSUF’s College of Health and Human Development Faculty Scholar Award and received CSUF’s 2015 “Titan’s on the Rise” Early Career scholar award. He is also currently the Co-director for the International Network for Doping Research and the Center for Sociocultural Sport and Olympic Research. He serves as the Associate Editor for the international peer-reviewed journal Performance Enhancement and Health. In 2015, the members of the International Association for the Philosophy of Sport elected John the IAPS’s Conference Chair.
John attributes much of his professional success to the skills and learning that took place at Carroll. “Not only do I use the content I learned in my philosophy course work,” John explains, “But the skills—critical thinking, inquiry into large problems, debate with peers—have let me be successful in my professional career.” Additionally, John believes that philosophy provided a foundation that allowed him to adapt to new content areas. Now a professor of kinesiology, John finds that many of the problems he researches require the breadth of philosophy’s content areas. “It is amazing when you sit down with scientists, engineers, and lawyers to find that philosophy has much to say about the problems they are currently considering.”
John also finds that Carroll’s sense of service and mission continue to inspire his desire to educate. As a faculty member at California State University, Fullerton, John enjoys working with the campus’ diverse student body, many of whom are the first in their family to attend college. He annually takes twenty students to Greece for a study abroad course on the Olympic Games. He also serves as a faculty mentor for historically underrepresented minority students and is part of his campus’ LGBTQ Ally program.