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Lisa Heldke teaches in the philosophy department and the gender, women and sexuality studies program, of which she was a founding faculty member. Among her favorite courses to teach are modern philosophy (which, believe it or not, focuses on the eighteenth century); aesthetics; and gender, knowledge and reality. But her real passion is the philosophy of food, which she holds in the teaching kitchen of the Nobel Hall of Science, where students can cook together each week.

The philosophy of food is not only a teaching passion, it has also been a focus of much of her service work on campus. She is the co-founder of the Kitchen Cabinet, an advisory committee to the Gustavus Dining Service that works to enhance the ways it serves the mission of the College. The committee includes representation from all the campus constituencies, including students.

Food is also the focus of Heldke’s scholarly research; she is one of the first contemporary philosophers to treat food as a serious philosophical topic. She is the author or editor of a number of books in the field, including Philosophers at Table: On Food and Being Human; Exotic Appetites: Ruminations of a Food Adventurer; Cooking, Eating Thinking: Transformative Philosophies of Food; and (most recently) Parasitic Personhood and the Ontology of Eating. Her research has led to her being invited to teach each year in a master’s program at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy, a kind of “liberal arts college of food” founded by the Slow Food founder Carlo Petrini. Her scholarly work has also garnered her awards from the Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society and the John Dewey Society.

For ten years, she served as director of Gustavus’s Nobel Conference, a role she described as being the “chief learner” for this science-and-ethics extravaganza which is a highlight of the Gustavus academic year, and has brought more than 100 Nobel laureates to campus.

Her newest book project bears the working title “Yurtitude is Experience”; it’s a philosophical exploration of her summertime life in a yurt on the coast of Maine where she lives (mostly) off the grid with her Siberian husky, writing, baking bread in a wood-fired brick oven, and kayaking and sailing in Eggemoggin Reach. Winter finds her and her husky skijoring in the Gustavus Arboretum whenever the snow cover allows. 
 

Mary Westby is the Program Director for the Master of Athletic Training (MAT) program. She is responsible for the oversight of MAT, including working with the Clinical Education Coordinator and Research Coordinator to ensure curricular and clinical development, and implementation of the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE) standards and ensuring the preparedness of students to practice independently upon graduation. She serves as one of the primary advisors for MAT current students and prospective students interested in athletic training. She teaches Foundations in Athletic Training (ATP 500), Clinical Pharmacology (NUR 337 and ATP 537 – a joint course between MAT and Nursing students), and Therapeutic Interventions in Athletic Training I and II (ATP 511 and 512).  Her favorite topic to teach is therapeutic modalities – the application of physical agents and manual therapy to treat musculoskeletal injuries. This is also a research interest of hers along with assessment of student learning in athletic training programs. 

She is also an Instructor and Instructor Trainer for the American Red Cross, regularly certifying current MAT students, undergraduate students, and campus faculty and staff in various levels of CPR training. As the advisor for the Gustavus Athletic Trainers' Association and Iota Tau Alpha, the national honor society for athletic training, Mary gets the opportunity to encourage community and professional service among the students in the ATP. She enjoys her opportunities to interact with students and other faculty inside and out of the classroom. 

Mary is originally from Waconia, MN. She enjoys spending time with her family who are still in the area, including her niece and twin nephews. Mary, her husband and their son enjoy spending summers up north, fishing, and boating. During the long winter months Mary enjoys snowshoeing. 

She is a BOC-certified athletic trainer, licensed in the state of Minnesota and a member of the National Athletic Training Association. She is involved in the athletic training profession at the national and state level as a peer reviewer for the CAATE and a member of the Minnesota Athletic Trainers Association (MATA) Governmental Affairs Committee. She is also the co-advisor of the MATA student senate.  

Mary R. McHugh is a Professor in the Department of Greek, Latin, and Classical Studies. She is a social historian whose wide-ranging scholarship encompasses political history, intellectual and cultural cross-pollination, and the history of food production and culture. A recently published chapter examines how Plato’s Timaeus shaped conceptions of time and cosmology within the intellectual milieu of Western Greece. McHugh argues that its call for cosmological models influenced a tradition of mathematical and mechanical innovation, from Archimedes’ devices to medieval and Renaissance astronomical clocks.
McHugh is adept at pursuing leads and situating the particular within its broader context. She has taught courses at all levels of Greek and Latin to those spanning Near Eastern and Greco-Roman history to Chinese and Islamic cultural exchanges with the West. She also teaches courses in art and archaeology, bringing her expertise in material culture directly into her research.

Learn more about Gustavus Dining Service, like the Kitchen Cabinet, dietitian consultations, and food allergen information.