Alumna edits new book on individualism, isolation & community
N. Susan Gaines Laehn, PhD
N. Susan Gaines Laehn, PhD, is co-editor of a new book, Welcoming the Other: Student, Stranger, and Divine, set to release Jan. 31.
The collection of essays addresses efforts by philosophers, artists, caretakers and teachers to reestablish a foundation for community and political life. Contributors note that in a postmodern age in which the primacy of ego has reduced "community" to a mere assemblage of individuals, many individuals forge community and meaningful relationships with strangers—often in the classroom and public square.
Laehn, a 2005 graduate of the McConnell Scholars Program at the University of Louisville, is an adjunct political science professor at Iowa State University and a non-resident research fellow and lecturer at the McConnell Center. She was previously an assistant politics professor at the University of Leeds (United Kingdom) and taught at the University College London.
Laehn earned a PhD in Political Theory from Louisiana State University. Her current research interests include modern political thought, applied ethical theory and politics and literature. She has published in Political Research Quarterly and Social Science Quarterly.