Convocation Speaker

A graduate of Vanderbilt University, Dr. Tarver is a scholar of feminist philosophy, the philosophy of sport, and American pragmatism. She is the author of The I in Team: Sports Fandom and the Reproduction of Identity (University of Chicago Press), co-editor of Feminist Interpretations of William James (Penn State University Press), and has published over fifteen scholarly articles and book chapters. She is also co-editor of a forthcoming special issue of the journal Sport, Ethics, and Philosophy focused on ethical and cultural issues related to sports fandom. In addition to her scholarly work, Dr. Tarver is a frequent media contributor on the intersection of sports, ethics, politics, and identity. She has published opinion pieces in The New York Times, Salon, and Axios, and has been interviewed or quoted by ESPN, NPR, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Deadspin.

Since earning tenure, Dr. Tarver has been awarded the Jane Addams Prize in Feminist Philosophy (2022) by the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, the Emory University President’s Humanities Fellowship (2019-2020), and was a plenary speaker at the annual meeting of the British Philosophy of Sport Society (2024). She has served as co-Principal Investigator (with Interim Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Molly McGehee) on two Teagle Foundation Cornerstone Grants totaling $300,000, in which capacity she is co-leading the creation of the PATHS (Professional Advancement Through Humanities Study) program at Oxford. Dr. Tarver served a three-year term as Faculty Counselor to the Emory University Board of Trustees, has served as Humanities Division Chair since 2022, and is currently a HERS (Higher Education Resource Services) Leadership Institute Mellon Fellow.

Dr. Tarver’s first love is teaching, and she teaches classes in a variety of philosophical topics, from Logic and Ethics to Philosophy of Sport and Ancient Greek and Medieval Philosophy. She is a passionate believer in the value of a liberal arts education, and her proudest professional accomplishment is making a difference in the lives of her students, who have gone on to become lawyers, teachers, doctors, business leaders, activists, scholars, writers, and leaders of non-profit organizations. She lives in Atlanta with her partner and cats and is the proud aunt of two twin nieces (age 2), Renée and Kennedy.