LSU Touma stare UNIVERSE January 8, 2015 Dear Members ofthe Promotion Commit [write this letter in strong and unqualified support of Dr. Samantha Bankston’s promotion to the rank of Associate Professor at Sierra Nevada College. Ithas been my distinct pleasure and honor to know Dr. Bankston since we were ‘graduate students in Philosophy at the New School for Social Research (NYC). A that time, Dr. Bankston stood out in class discussions and presentations as a talented and uniquely agile thinker—able to critically assess and compellingly synthesize a wide variety of texts and discourses. She was as comfortable discussing the importance of Genet and Mallarme in 20% century Continental philosophy as she was dissecting the complex recursive structure ofa Platonic dialogue. Well-respecteé by her peers and professors at the New School's Graduate Faculty, Dr. Bankston went on to successfully complete here Ph.D. in Philosophy at Purdue, where her dissertation was nominated for a University distinguished dissertation award. After her year asa Visiting Lecturer in France (Grenoble), | reconnected with Dr. Bankston at the Americas Philosophical Association-Eastern Division meeting in 2012, after discussing her exciting work in feminist theory and French philosophy, 1 invited Dr, Bankston to givea talk to the humanities workshop I convened at Northwestern University, co-sponsored by the Alice Kaplan Center for the Humanities. In her compelling presentation on the notion of “becoming-women’ in de Beauvoir and Deleuze, Dr. Bankson argued persuasively that Deleuze—the philosopher most often zssaciated with che philosophical concept of "becoming. Wwomen’—owes an important but unacknowledged philosophical debt to de Beauvoir, | should note that the Q&A session was memorably vibrant, and Dr. Bankston unusually deftin responding to questions from senior faculty and graduate students. ‘Since then, Dr. Bankston has continued to produce important and exciting scholarly ‘work in the field of contemporary Continental philosophy and feminist theory, 2s is evidenced by her two book projects focusing on the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze, Deleuze and Becoming(s) forthcoming from Bloomebury and Deleuze and Zizek, ‘under contract with Palgrave Macmillan. In addition to her original scholarship, Dr. Bankston has initiated and completed several important translations of key ‘contemporary figures in French aesthetics and philosophy, notably a translation of Saivagnargues’ influential Deleuze and Art (Bloomsbury /Continuum Press)‘Asa scholar in contemporary French philosophy and feninist theory, I judge Bankston's scholarly work to be some of the best work "ve read among those working in our field. Moreover, | believe that Bankstons energy, talent and philosophical commitment will assure her continued success and recognition by her peers in the years to come. Dr. Bankston has clearly evslenced through the quality ofher scholarly work and the originality of her ideas that she deserves promotion to the rank of Associate professor. Please do not hesitate to contact me at dgoldgaber@Isuedu or at 312-523-8269 should you require any addition information or supporting documents related to Samantha Bankston's promotion. sy ly, Deborah Gbldgaber ‘Assistant Professor of Philosophy/WGS 102 Coates Hall Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, LA 70803,