Arizona State University: Remembering Professor Elsie Moore

Press release from Arizona State University:

2022-03-10

Elsie Moore, a beloved Arizona State University faculty member and pioneer in diversity, equity and inclusion, died on Feb. 21 at the age of 72.

“Elsie shared her grace, intellect and love of learning with every person she encountered,” ASU President Michael M. Crow said. “She advanced against intellectual and cultural adversaries with wisdom, understanding and love. She made a difference here at ASU and in our broader world, and will be deeply missed.”

Elsie Moore offers opening remarks before U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor begins her conversation in front of a full ASU Gammage auditorium on Monday, Jan. 23, 2017, at the 18th John P. Frank Memorial Lecture. Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU News
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When she first came to ASU in 1981, she set out to provide leadership and improve the diversity at the university. Throughout her 40-plus year career at ASU, she accomplished this in a number of roles across the Tempe and West campuses, including as a professor, director, faculty head, vice provost and associate dean at the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences and the School of Social Transformation.

In addition to the formal positions she held at ASU, Moore was actively involved in a number of university committees, including as president of the University Senate, president of the Faculty Women’s Association and as a member of the Senate Personnel Committee and the Academic Affairs Grievance Committee. She was a founding member of the Faculty Women of Color Caucus and served on the women’s studies advisory board for nearly 10 years, helping to establish the program and hire the first director of women and gender studies.

“Elsie was a fierce advocate for positive change. She inspired people in all that she did at ASU and The College. As a mentor, leader, scholar and friend, Elsie leaves behind an incredible legacy. We hope to continue the important work she started,” said Patrick Kenney, dean of The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

In the ASU community, Moore was known for her commitment to teaching, mentoring and supporting faculty. Her dedication ensured that countless faculty members were successfully promoted and tenured. As a mentor, Moore served on over 30 dissertation and master’s thesis committees in her areas of specialization. 

She was recognized with numerous awards for excellence throughout her career, including YWCA's Racial Justice Award, the ASU Alumni Teaching Award, the College of Education Undergraduate Teaching Award and the Graduate Student Mentor Award.

Her vast body of research addressed inequities in educational settings and ensured justice and equality for students of color. She studied child development in the context of schools, challenging deficit models and the ways that tests were administered and test scores were used without regard to underlying race, socioeconomic or gender bias. Her research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Defense.

Moore received a bachelor’s degree in psychology and philosophy from Elmhurst College and a master’s degree and PhD in human development with specializations in child development and psychoeducational assessment from the University of Chicago.

Originally from Sussex County, Virginia, Moore moved to the Phoenix area with her husband, Aaron Wade Smith, who was a professor and chair of sociology at ASU. The two met while in graduate school, and married in 1977.

Loren Cannon attended Arizona State University from 2000 until 2006, when he graduated with his PhD in philosophy. Cannon is now a lecturer at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California, and published his debut book last month.

The book, titled "The Politicization of Trans Identity: An Analysis of Backlash, Scapegoating, and Dog-Whistling from Obergefell to Bostock," presents evidence and argues how the transgender identity was further politicized after the 2015 Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the court ruled that same-sex couples had the fundemental right to marry. He also discusses this politicization in light of the 2020 Supreme Court case Bostock v. Clayton County, where it was ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 extended protections to include sexual orientation and gender identity. 

Loren Cannon earned his PhD in philosophy from ASU in 2006.
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“I was teaching the first-ever funded class at my university on the topic of trans theory, called ‘Trans Lives and Theory,’ and was first funded in the spring semester of 2016,” Cannon said. “It became increasingly clear that legislation was being proposed across the nation that specifically targeted transgender and gender non-binary persons.

“As a transgender man and also a philosopher, I felt the need to both pay attention to what was happening and respond,” he said. “My specialization is in applied ethics and social philosophy, so it is with this kind of perspective that I employed in my analysis.”

He was surprised by the rapidity with which the anti-transgender sentiment took hold across the nation and by how seemingly few people were engaging with the topic through moral or social analysis. 

“The proposed legislation: barring individuals from using public restrooms, from adopting children, from receiving adequate health care, to being able to use gendered facilities, to changing their name, are all non-trivial harms,” Cannon said. “This politicization acts as a barrier to meaningful social participation and is unjustified and has broad negative implications.”

In conducting research, Cannon found the intersectional analysis as a key component to revealing how anti-trans hostility can be used as a tool to uphold other marginalizing systems such as racism and sexism.

“Interlocking and reinforcing systems of oppressions will continue to reproduce each other unless we recognize these interrelationships and respond accordingly,” Cannon said.

Although philosophy was not always an explicit interest for Cannon, journals from when he was young are filled with philosophical musings. But as a first-generation college student he didn’t know how to include philosophy in his life and earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics.

“I came to philosophy as a kind of second career,” Cannon said. “I had been teaching mathematics in the Maricopa Community College system before attending ASU. Specifically, I worked at Estrella Mountain Community College from about 1993–2000. I received my master’s in theoretical mathematics at Northern Arizona University in 1992.”

It wasn’t until his mid-30s when he started to formally study philosophy. The doctoral program for philosophy was brand new when he enrolled, and he was among the first to graduate with a PhD in philosophy from ASU. 

“I found the ASU philosophy department to be very supportive towards individuals and also in nurturing a community of inquiry generally,” Cannon said. “Many professors made a big impact on me while at ASU, including especially Dr. Shari Collins, Dr. Joan McGregor, Dr. Peter French, Dr. Jeffrie Murphy, Dr. Michael White and Dr. Margaret Walker.”

Cannon moved to the far north coast of California after graduating and continues to live there now. He specializes in trans-theory, feminist ethics, applied ethics, ethical theory and metaethics. 

He has published on the topics of trans-theory, feminist ethics and collective responibility and collective belief. For those interested in similar topics, he urges the importance of writing, even if the end result is unknown.

“It is so easy to assume defeat before even getting started,” Cannon said. “Researching and writing is a specific kind of practice, one I think should be approached with both integrity and humility.”

This press release was produced by Arizona State University. The views expressed here are the author’s own.