Patrick Standen, Commissioner of the State of Vermont’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, is also an Instructor of Philosophy and medical ethics at Saint Michael’s College. Standen is also board president of the Northeast Disabled Athletic Association (NDAA). Standen joins Melody Mackin and Mia Schultz as Co-Commissioners of Vermont’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission in April, 2023.
With an M.A. from Boston College and B.A. from the University of Vermont, Standen completed graduate studies in psychoanalysis and philosophy at Harvard University, the philosophy of education at the University of Vermont, comparative law at Harvard Law School and literature and politics at Boston University. Research interest included examining the philosophical and historic dimensions of disability, as well as studying the history of ideas and aesthetics.
In February, Standen was awarded the major faculty award for teaching during the Academic Convocation in September.
As an author, his book publication to his credit after spending years delving into research in the mornings, writing longhand in notebooks, typing a manuscript, and integrating research. The title is Disability: The Genealogy of a Concept from Prehistory to Mid-20th Century. Standen is now working on his second book.
In non-academic news, Standen was second in his division at the 2022 Vermont City Marathon.