Kristina Mickens

World Languages and Cultures

A Stetson University Presidential Scholar and Corinne Lynch Scholar, Kristina is also a member of Phi Beta Kappa, American Philosophical Association, American Medical Women's Association, Amnesty International and Alpha Epsilon Delta. She comments, "It is without a doubt that I am most appreciative of the incredibly brilliant and kind faculty I have had the pleasure to work with. They have been the keystone to my academic experience at Stetson, and although I will never be able to fully express the extent of my gratitude towards them, I will spend the rest of my days trying." Kristina will attend New York University’s School of Global Public Health to earn a Master of Arts in Bioethics with a scholarship.

Philosophy

Kristina graduated from Stetson University in December 2022 with a double major in Philosophy and French and Francophone Studies. She has demonstrated her ability to meet complex challenges and her tremendous success in her academic pursuits. Kristina is a sophisticated philosophical thinker with solid argumentation skills.

Specifically, she engages scholarly literature with ease, and consistently demonstrates nuanced interpretations of both primary and secondary philosophical sources. Kristina can express her ideas clearly and effectively in both written and oral forms. In addition to her technical skills, Kristina has a unique ability to think critically and independently, always approaching philosophical problems with fresh perspectives and original insights. Kristina's focus in her Research in Philosophy seminar contained the seeds of her capstone project. She was most interested in the gap between socially valued traits and traits actually held by individuals, especially as mediated through institutions and popular images. Kristina wondered how to theorize the false or inauthentic belief that one holds traits they do not hold, and the pressure to connect with stereotypical images.

Indeed, her eventual Senior Capstone theorized that this is a form of delusion that can be overcome once a person recognizes features of their own situation. She also engaged in a sophisticated and spirited defense of her argumentation during an oral defense with the Philosophy Department faculty.