In Memoriam: Joan Callahan, 1946-2019

Joan Callahan, professor emerita of philosophy at the University of Kentucky, died last month. She was 73 years old and had suffered from liver cancer.

Dr. Callahan was a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, where she majored in philosophy. She held a master’s degree in humanities from what is now Simmons University in Boston as well as a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Professor Callahan began her professional career as an instructor at Louisiana State University. In 1986, she moved to the University of Kentucky, where she taught philosophy for the remainder of career. There, she was director of what is now the Gender and Women’s Studies Program from 1998 to 2002 and again from 2003 to 2007. She retired in 2011.

Professor Callahan was the author or editor of several books including Ethical Issues in Professional Life (Oxford University Press, 1988), Menopause: A Midlife Passage (Indiana University Press, 1993), and Preventing Birth: Contemporary Methods and Related Moral Controversies (University of Utah Press, 1989).