Tangren Alexander (b. 1940), the first woman to receive a PhD in philosophy from the University of Oregon (1975), returned to her hometown as a professor of philosophy at Southern Oregon University from 1974 to 2006. She taught a full spectrum of courses, including Logic, History of Western Philosophy, and her specialties: Ethics, Death & Dying, and two courses she developed from scratch, Feminism & Philosophy and Women & Ethics.
Dr. Alexander has published in Teaching Philosophy; Hypatia, the Journal of Feminist Philosophy; Sinister Wisdom; WomanSpirit Magazine; The Encyclopedia of Women in World History; Adventures in Lesbian Philosophy, Claudia Card, ed.; and Our Lives: Lesbian Personal Writing, Frances Rooney, ed.
Tangren was a frequent contributor to WomanSpirit Magazine and is a long-time member of the creative women’s community in Southern Oregon. As “Pearl Time’sChild,” she is the author of short stories in Tee Corrine’s erotic anthologies: Intricate Passions, Riding Desire, and The Body of Love. She is a founder of the Southern Oregon Women’s Writers Group, Gourmet Eating Society, and Chorus, now in its fourth decade.
Dr. Alexander is a philosopher who believes in dolls. Her current work involves a move to visual language, as seen in her photographs of feminist dolls depicting women-powered stories. “Selene,” Z. Budapest’s story of a girl who becomes a bull-leaper in ancient Crete, enacted by Barbies and Skippers, was shown at a meeting of International Women in Philosophy.
Dr. Alexander is currently finishing a memoir titled Tenderly: Lesbian Meditations on Deborah Kerr. You’ll also find her lovingly focused on her unique doll photography.
Her other philosophical interests include 17th Century European Philosophy (Queen Christina of Sweden and René Descartes especially), the logic of dreaming, magic and philosophy, and ethics.