The first time I met Jonathan (SDSU class of 2011) was when he entered my office, introduced himself and was armed with a “new” idea he had concerning an issue in philosophy of law. Although he was excited about it, I had to inform him that the idea was decades old and had been refuted. It was becoming clear to me even during that initial meeting that he showed signs of philosophical skill. He asked to take an independent study with me on the topic, I agreed, and our intense mentor-mentee relationship had begun. Over the years, Jonathan and I have had several philosophical discussions, and I have read numerous drafts of his many papers, from philosophy of law to Plato, and beyond, and provided extensive comments on most of them. He is one of the quickest philosophical studies I have ever witnessed, and he has achieved a level of excellence that I have not seen at the undergraduate level. His writing skills improved immensely over just a short period of time. As an undergraduate major, he wrote and has since already published an article in a professional academic journal (It is rare in philosophy that an undergraduate major would publish his or her own philosophy article in a faculty-level academic journal). No doubt this arduous writing experience has had a direct impact on his ability to articulate oral arguments and analyses rather clearly. And he has since gone on to begin his doctoral studies in philosophy at Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.

It was a pleasure to mentor Downtown Vincent Brown the past few years, from my philosophy 101 course, to my graduate-level Philosophy of Religion course, to the Special Study course wherein as a member of 2011 The Philosophy Laboratory and Team Ethics he co-authored with me "Coping With Doping" (an article that is published in a 2012 issue of the Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, the world's leading journal on the ethics of doping in sports), to the special study course on 19th Century European Philosophy after which he graduated (May, 2012). He never complained when I assigned him much work, and he did the work very well. Vincent is a fine example of what a student athlete ought to be. And now that he has been drafted by the San Diego Chargers, I am so happy for him now that he is living his dream. He takes his philosophical skills onto the field with him, and into life more generally. He is a fine person.

Marisa has set a new standard for graduate students in philosophy at SDSU, perhaps for the entire CSU system of philosophy graduate students. She was the finest graduate assistant I have ever had, including her important work as my assistant for The Journal of Ethics. But she also learned quickly the method of analytic philosophy. She made important contributions to some of my published work, including proofreading manuscripts for some books and articles. But in 2012 she published "Kraut and Annas on Plato" in Epoche, a respected faculty journal of philosophy (She did this as a member of the Philosophy Laboratory in 2010). This is an unusual feat by a philosophy graduate student. It was an honor to mentor her all these years, and I count her a good friend and superb person. She took a few Special Studies courses with me on various topics in ethics, and she was in my Plato seminar, my graduate-level Philosophy of Law course as well as my graduate-level Philosophy of Religion course. Mentoring Marisa was very special indeed. I will miss her no-excuses work ethic, her intellectual acuity, and her constant willingness to Socratically follow the arguments wherever they led her. The world is definitely a better place with her in it.

I first met Joshua Cangelosi on the first day of my Theory of Knowledge course in the fall of 2014. He had emailed me during the summer asking information about the content of the course, so I had a positive first impression that he was a serious student. But what awaited me on that first day was something I had never experienced in my more than 30 years of university-level teaching. After a few minutes of covering introductory materials for the course, I started in on the lecture material on Keith Lehrer’s book, Theory of Knowledge. It took only a few minutes before Josh raised his hand. When I called on him, he asked a question that demonstrated that he had studied the materials thoroughly! “It was the first day of class!” I said to myself! “What is wrong with this guy?” I was astounded that a student would arrive on the first day of class that well prepared. But that was simply a taste of what was to follow. You see, Josh was prepared that excellently for each and every class session of each and every course and seminar that he took with me during his two years of study as he completed his Master of Arts in Philosophy here at SDSU. Josh was also a student in my Plato seminar, my Philosophy of Religion course, my Theories of Ethics course, my Philosophy of Law course, and my seminar on Moral Responsibility. I must admit that I had to come prepared to classes as I did at no other time in my lengthy career in order to provide him with the educational experience he so richly deserved. But of course that is a good thing for everyone involved. I just pity the poor fools whose seminars and courses he takes at my PhD alma mater, the University of Arizona!  Josh wrote his MA thesis on Keith Lehrer’s epistemology, and it was one of the finest that I have ever had the pleasure of supervising.

Josh followed my guidelines for how to maximize success in preparing for PhD studies in analytic philosophy in the most highly ranked programs. And he confirmed the soundness of such advice. In the end, Josh shattered the record for success in terms of SDSU philosophy students who applied for PhD studies in philosophy. Unlike any other SDSU student before him, he secured multiple offers from well-ranked PhD programs in philosophy, and he has accepted an offer from the University of Arizona which is one of the elite such PhD programs. Josh will no doubt do very well there, and in due time join the profession as a productive faculty member. He has an incisive mind, and tremendous work ethic, and it was an honor to co-author with him our article, “Atheism and Epistemic Justification,” International Journal for Philosophy of Religion (2015). No doubt Josh will publish and teach excellently during his career, and the profession of philosophy and his several students will become the appreciative beneficiaries of his fine work.