Mary Purcell (Ph.D. in Philosophy ’30)

Degree: Ph.D. in Philosophy ’30

Project Teams: 

• Project Vox: The Second Decade (2025-2026)
• Project Vox: Expanding the Philosophical Canon in the Age of AI (2024-2025)
• Project Vox: Evolving Curricula for Digital Humanities Publishing (2023-2024)

What drew you to Bass Connections and this project in particular?

My path to Bass Connections is somewhat unusual because I joined Project Vox before coming to Duke. As an undergraduate studying philosophy, I discovered Margaret Cavendish, a philosopher who had not appeared on any of my course syllabi. In fact, none of the philosophers I studied were women. When I searched for information about Cavendish, Project Vox was the only accessible resource I could find written for someone at my level.

I used Project Vox for several years and later helped with its entry on Nísia Floresta, an eighteenth-century Brazilian feminist philosopher, while pursuing my master’s degree at Simon Fraser University. By the time I arrived at Duke, I was already a devoted supporter of the project and joining the team felt like a natural continuation of my commitment to its work. 

How has Project Vox evolved during your time at Duke, and how has your role on the team changed?

At Duke, I began as a team member working on the entry for Germaine de Staël, researching her relationships with the American Founding Fathers and the abolitionist movement. My role later expanded from research lead to project manager, and I now serve in both positions.

I organize the semester schedule with our team leader, lead weekly meetings, coordinate subteams, review undergraduate research and help students develop their drafts. I have become a primary point of contact for many students.

The project itself has also grown. We have developed international collaborations and translations, including a Portuguese translation of the Nísia Floresta entry and forthcoming French and Spanish translations of others. We have also created high school lesson plans, held a teacher workshop and organized Wikipedia edit-a-thons to improve the accuracy and accessibility of entries on women philosophers and other marginalized figures.

What do you enjoy most about your work for Project Vox?

Mentoring undergraduates is my favorite part. The students are exceptionally bright and invested in the project, and they bring perspectives that improve both our conversations and our writing. They can identify when our language becomes too specialized or relies on unexplained jargon — especially important because Project Vox is intended for audiences beyond philosophy and academia.

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I also value the project’s collaborative spirit. Project Vox lists contributors rather than ranking people as first or second authors. Everyone’s work is treated as part of a collective achievement, which feels very different from the individualistic model of graduate school and academic publications.

Working on something that is not solely under my name — and that is not produced primarily for the job market or my individual research agenda — has been liberating and intellectually invigorating. Project Vox has also made graduate school feel less isolating by giving me a community to work with and show up for each week.

What have been some of the project’s major accomplishments, and how have they connected with your doctoral research?

Our international translation work has been especially meaningful. The Nísia Floresta entry was translated into Portuguese, and we saw an increase in Portuguese-speaking users afterward. We have also developed a French translation of the Mary Shepherd entry and are working on one for Margaret Cavendish, the central figure in my dissertation.

The Cavendish translation has deepened my research. When the translator raises questions about how to render a passage or concept, I return to Cavendish’s work and think through it in greater detail. The collaboration has encouraged me to engage with her philosophy in ways I might not otherwise have done.

Another major accomplishment is our forthcoming entry on Anton Wilhelm Amo, a Black philosopher who worked in eighteenth-century Germany and is often described as the first Black professor of philosophy in Europe. Our collaboration with the Amo Collective in Germany has helped us think more carefully about how to present philosophical figures to different audiences.

More broadly, Project Vox has shown me that serious research can be combined with teaching, public engagement, digital humanities and collaboration. It has helped me see my dissertation not simply as an individual scholarly product, but as part of a larger effort to bring marginalized voices into public and academic conversations.

What unexpected challenges or turning points has the project experienced, and how did the team respond?

One significant challenge came when budget cuts led to the loss of Duke Libraries staff — including Will Shaw, Liz Milewicz, and Cheryl Thomas — who had supported Project Vox since its beginning. They provided essential technical expertise and institutional knowledge, so we lost not only additional support but also people who understood the project’s history. We have been very lucky to continue receiving support from all three whenever we ask, and Cheryl still generously volunteers her time to help lead our image research, among other things.

We responded to these hurdles by adjusting our leadership structure and taking on more responsibility among the graduate students and faculty. The experience forced us to communicate more clearly about workload, resources and realistic goals. 

What has this experience taught you about mentoring and collaboration?

Project Vox has shown me that interdisciplinary collaboration is essential. Although the project focuses on women philosophers, our team includes members from medicine, art history, computer science and other fields. The work involves more than just communicating philosophical concepts: we must share ideas and life stories with a broad public, design an effective digital resource and think carefully about visual representation.

Students with backgrounds in art history provide context for portraits and other images that philosophical or biographical research might miss. Students with technical expertise contribute coding and digital-production skills that I do not have. Each discipline helps us create a fuller and more accessible resource.

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Because our teams are small, I can work with undergraduates more closely than I typically could in a classroom. I get to see their interests develop and help them pursue those interests within the project. At the beginning of each semester, we establish team norms by discussing previous group-project experiences and setting expectations around communication and workload. Students should know they can ask for help or say when they cannot complete a task without being judged.

Finally, I have learned the importance of delegation. I care deeply about Project Vox’s high school education initiative, but I realized I could not lead it while managing the larger team and serving as research lead. My graduate student colleague Lindsay Huth now leads the education team, with Audrey Ledbetter playing an essential role in its work. This has allowed me to continue contributing while managing my workload and has given Lindsay the opportunity to develop her leadership experience. 

How has leading Project Vox influenced your professional goals?

Project Vox has clarified that I want a career combining teaching, research and public philosophy. I already suspected that teaching would be important to me, but the project showed me how compatible teaching and research can be when they are part of a larger public-facing effort.

Before encountering Project Vox, I had not fully understood public philosophy as part of an academic career. Now I see it as central to the work I want to do: developing classroom resources, collaborating with public organizations and making philosophical ideas accessible beyond academic specialists.

What advice would you give future Bass Connections students?

I would encourage every undergraduate and graduate student to attend the Bass Connections Fair and Showcase. With so many projects, students are likely to find a place where they can contribute a skill, pursue a passion or explore an interest not addressed in their regular coursework.

Once they join a team, students should communicate openly with team leaders. They should not assume they are expected to figure everything out alone. Asking questions, acknowledging when they need help and communicating when they cannot complete a task are essential to successful collaboration.

Most importantly, students should treat themselves as whole people. If they find a project that matters to them — even if it falls outside their discipline — they should give themselves permission to participate fully. Bass Connections needs many kinds of knowledge and abilities, and interdisciplinary perspectives often make the work stronger.

August 2026