Political Science professor Cheryl Foster shares how she got into her career. Photo Contributed by: Cheryl Foster
Cheryl Foster, professor of philosophy and political science at the University of Rhode Island, is someone who thinks deeply about the meaning of life.
Foster teaches a humanities course on the experience of war and homecoming for local veterans in partnership with the Providence Clemente Veterans’ Initiative and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The course is designed to examine the experiences and mindsets of soldiers from ancient times to the present.
“[We give] them oblique ways to talk about the experience of war and homecoming that doesn’t mean putting your heart on the table,” Foster said. “We do literature, history, philosophy, art history and films.”
The course serves as an understanding and safe environment for soldiers to open up and bond over shared experiences of war and the process of coming home.
Foster earned her bachelor’s degree in philosophy and English from Bowdoin College, her master’s in humanities from the University of Chicago and her Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
Foster said that her favorite part of her career is knowing the impact that studying the liberal arts has on her students.
“The moment that comes back again and again is knowing that the chance to study the liberal arts made a substantial difference in the life of someone who might otherwise not have thought about who they are and what they want and what they hope for in life,” Foster said.
Foster also said that seeing the effect the study of liberal arts has on her students after their college careers is important to her.
She adds that stepping into the shoes of her own mentor, former URI political science professor Alfred Killilea, has been a very rewarding experience.
A first-generation college student, Foster started a National Fellowships Office designed to expand access and give students the chance to learn about opportunities they could apply for with the help and guidance of a mentor. This office has since grown into URI’s Professional Office of National Fellowships and Academic Opportunities.
Foster would like to reestablish an outreach center she initially started pre-pandemic on campus, which would serve as a resource for people of all ages in the community who have questions about life.
“I’m very interested in mortality and meaning,” Foster said. “The extent to which people hide from the fact of their own mortality which can lead to making inauthentic choices in life. I’d love for the University to set up an outreach center that people can turn to for everything.”
In this prospective outreach center, Foster would love to set up meetings between young people and senior citizens and have them ask questions and exchange thoughts and ideas. Foster envisions an outreach center that would benefit younger people by allowing them to make connections and form bonds with senior citizens, especially if their elderly relatives have passed on or live farther away.
In her spare time, she also enjoys reading and writing plays that she hopes to work on with professional and student actors.
Foster shared career advice for students in their undergraduate journey.
“I think it’s more important to know what you dread at this young age than what you want exactly,” Foster said. “It’s critically important to know what’s not you. It means being honest and looking at how you feel about certain things.”
Professor Foster discussed another important tool for students created by Jeannette E. Riley, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, called the Initiative for Opportunities in Networking (I.O.N).
“[It’s] helping students identify opportunities and supporting their applications for things on campus, for things regionally,” Foster said. “We’re taking that same idea of opening up access. Our dean is super committed to making sure liberal arts and arts and sciences majors know that you can still have a career and a life but you should harness these great opportunities while you’re still in college.”
Her favorite places on campus include the engineering coffee shop and the 193 Coffee House. She mentioned that she wishes there were more coffee places on campus because she feels it’s where ideas are promoted and people can connect over shared thoughts.
Foster also said she would love a giant croquet game to take place on the lawn by the Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences building.
If you’re interested in an idea or opportunity, but don’t know where to begin, Professor Foster has walk-in hours on Wednesdays from 4-6pm in Washburn Hall, Room 303.