By Eduardo Zermeno in College Days, Feature Story on March 25, 2025
Paul Jeffries, professor of philosophy, speaks of his history and his 19 years of academia at Ripon
Professor Paul Jeffries has, for a long time, been the chair and only professor in the philosophy department at Ripon College. After over 25+ years as a college professor, he has decided that his “ruthlessness” is over.
“My wife is a professor in Washington state, and so the joke I always tell my students is that I am ‘ruthless’ because I have been living without [Ruth] for the past seven years,” Jeffries said.
Jeffries’ path to retirement has been anything but typical for a college professor, from campus minister to humanities professor.
Paul Jeffries. Photo courtesy of Ripon College.
“After college, I went and worked for four years doing campus ministry. I thought I was going to be a pastor, and after working in a campus setting with students and helping them integrate their faith and academic work, I decided to spend more of my time in academia. I went off and did a degree at Yale Divinity School in theological ethics, and many of my faculty there encouraged me to get my PhD and teach,” Jeffries said.
In addition to ministry, he also taught at the University of Iowa in Dubuque before coming to Ripon. He noted there were different reasons for leaving and taking on the position here on campus.
Jeffries’ journey has been far from ordinary, yet that same journey led him to his home at Ripon.
“When I arrived here, I felt incredibly supported by the faculty, by the administration. It felt like I was coming to Ripon at a really wonderful time in its history. A few years before I arrived, Ripon had gone through an economic crisis, as several schools around the country had,” Jeffries said.
“I had great faculty colleagues, particularly Vance Cope-Kasten, who was the senior person in the department. He was wonderful to work with. We had another retired colleague, Spud Hannaford, who was still teaching as an adjunct. He had retired many years earlier and yet was still teaching. The faculty was just incredibly dynamic and deeply committed to the institution and the students,” Jeffries said.
Jeffries is known by his students to be an avid scholar of Socrates and he provided some insight regarding that inspiration.
“I like to follow Socrates and my goal is to corrupt the youth. I believe everybody’s a philosopher already in some way, shape, or form. I want people to think more carefully about what they believe and why they believe it. Additionally, I consider myself a sower of seeds. I throw ideas out there, and some of them may take right away. Some of them may sit and gnaw in somebody’s brain, and for some, it won’t make sense until 10 years down the road,” Jeffries said.
Vance Cope-Kasten, a colleague and close friend of Jeffries, was influential in the way Jeffries approaches education and his students. Jeffries explained that Cope-Kasten taught him a great way to get through to his students.
“Vance Cope-Kasten the chair of the committee that hired me [at Ripon]. He used to jokingly say, with a devilish grin, ‘How can I get out of the way and help the good students do good things?’ I have come to adopt that way of thinking,” said Jeffries.
After an extensive and prominent career at Ripon, Jeffries was able to point to a specific memory at Ripon that he would consider his favorite.
“My favorite moments are when my in-class tangents create really interesting and engaging class conversations. That’s what I love. In fact, I remember, in one of my intro classes where [my students] pushed me really hard on an issue were discussing. I like it when I’ve empowered students to feel comfortable to call me out when they think I’m wrong. Additionally, I always like it when my students go on and have success. That would probably be my highlight is when I see the good work of good students and know that I’m a little part of that,” he said.
Throughout the past seven years, Jeffries states that he is most looking forward to being reunited with his wife. He also states that he will continue to try to corrupt the youth in different ways.
“I plan on continuing to find ways to get people to think philosophically. I’ll be doing things like that, trying to find ways to get involved in the community, perhaps a philosophical book or ethical issue discussion group. I will of course continue my biking as it’s my addiction,” Jeffries said.
Jeffries offered the student body a piece of wisdom to help those who do not understand philosophy. He explained that the etymology of “philosophy”, in Greek, means “love of wisdom”.
“I encourage people to be passionate lovers of wisdom and find passions that really motivate you and let those be the things you pursue. Don’t just do something because it’s a job or study something because it will make you money. Find what you love doing and spend your life doing it with thoughtfulness and integrity,” Jeffries said.