A public philosopher bridging ethics, technology, and the inner life of decision-makers
Jeanne is a deeply and broadly trained humanities scholar whose education spans literature, visual arts, and the history of philosophy, allowing her to move fluently across disciplines and intellectual traditions. She completed her PhD at Universite Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, focusing on the pathologies of willpower from both philosophical and psychological perspectives.
She has taught philosophy in the United States for over fifteen years, including appointments at NYU and Fordham in New York, and most recently at the University of California, Santa Cruz – while actively expanding philosophical education beyond the academy through initiatives in places such as Rikers Island and San Quentin.
Jeanne currently serves as Vice President of the Public Philosophy Network and is slated to become its President in 2026. In this role, she helps shape national and international initiatives that bring philosophical inquiry into conversation with civic life, social change, and public debate. From 2023 to 2024, she was Director of the Center for Public Philosophy at UC Santa Cruz, where she led community-centered ethics programs and partnerships across academia, the arts, and civil society.
At UCSC’s Crown College, Jeanne is Academic Coordinator for the core course on the ethical and societal implications of emerging technologies, guiding students through questions about AI, justice, power, and responsibility. She has helped launch the first Tech Ethics Bowl in the Bay Area and continues to direct the Santa Cruz Night of Ideas, an annual public forum bringing artists, scientists, activists, and scholars into dialogue.
Her research explores ethics, feminist theory, aesthetics and the philosophy of technology, with a current focus on how AI reshapes intimacy, trust, and human connection. Alongside her academic work, Jeanne runs a philosophical counseling practice, helping individuals and leaders think more creatively about how they live and decide.
In her sessions, Jeanne draws on dialogical inquiry and phenomenological attention to lived experience, using close questioning, conceptual clarification, and reflective listening to help clients articulate the assumptions, values, and narratives shaping their lives. She works collaboratively to reframe problems, cultivate self-understanding, and open new possibilities for agency and meaning.