Dr. Erin McKenna, University of Oregon
I am not sure when I first met Larry Hickman (sometime in the early 1990s), but I know my life got more interesting when I did. Our shared intellectual interests took us to conferences (along with Michael Eldridge) that included adventures such as sailing in Vermont and riding bikes in Berlin–both of which turned out to be great fun (but a bit risky). Hickman has been an important influence on my work, both in personal conversation and through print. I especially enjoyed my time as a visiting scholar at the Dewey Center in Carbondale, IL. As I was reading through Dewey’s correspondence (before it was published), Hickman was always open to hearing about what I was finding and thinking. We don’t always agree on things, but I have found ours to be an important transactional relationship that has shaped my philosophical work and my life more generally. His work in starting the Summer Institute in American Philosophy (SIAP) has also been transformative of the field. I have attended many SIAP meetings. In addition to allowing for more in-depth study and conversation than a normal conference, SIAP provided invaluable contact among generations of scholars. Hickman has always been a generous scholar and mentor. Though I could never join him in sipping tequila, I will always remember our SIAP trips winding through the Oregon wine country drinking good wine and discussing philosophy and life.”