Mike VanQuickenborne, the philosophy instructor here at EvCC, says one of the most common misconceptions about philosophy is that it’s “only able to be done by dead, white males.” If you have ever met him you will know that idea is untrue, as he is very much alive.

Since 1995 he has taught philosophy at schools in Los Angeles and Yakima before coming to EvCC in 1998. He grew up in California, but after his family moved to the Tri Cities and he followed, landing a tenured position at EvCC.

VanQuickenborne didn’t always plan for a career in philosophy; he was originally a math major until, while working on his undergraduate degree and taking a few philosophy classes, he realized that he was more interested in philosophy. They were small classes which gave him the opportunity to “dive in and talk about interesting things.” That opportunity made him realize that he would be able to learn about anything he wanted and respectfully argue with others, both things he loves to do, if he changed his path.

He loves to hear what his students think about topics and says that they give him new perspectives. When asked what the most rewarding part of his job has been he says “[…] working with students at Everett Community College has been the most rewarding.” Knowing he has had a positive impact on specific students he says “is tremendously rewarding.”

This quarter at EvCC he is teaching Symbolic Logic and Philosophy in the Cinema. He also plans to propose a new class, Ethic’s in World Cinema, which would use films to teach students about ethics.

Along with his full schedule of teaching VanQuickenborne has worked with Humanities Washington, which uses the humanities to help build a sense of community, on different projects. In 2008 they gave him a grant to run the world’s first philosophical film festival, where he brought different philosophers from all over the North West, coming from places between Oregon to Canada, to the Everett Public Library to show different films and discuss the different philosophical ideas in them after. He is still currently working with Humanities Washington as a part of their speaker’s bureau, where he travels around the state to present.

He is currently holding another philosophical film festival here at EvCC, Festival of Foreign Film & Philosophy. VanQuickborne spends a few minutes introducing the film at the beginning of the night and getting an idea who has been to the area and who has seen other films from that country to get an idea of the different perspectives of the people in the room. After the film is over he leads a brief discussion on what was just watched.

Krista Ryan, a student at EvCC says “It’s a good way to expand your horizon and see things from another person’s perspective.” Not only that but she says although she isn’t currently taking philosophy, she was able to make connections from the film to her classes here at EvCC so everyone can benefit from attending.