Dr. Fehr is Professor of Philosophy and Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy in the Philosophy Department at the University of Waterloo. She works at the intersection of Socially Relevant Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Biology and Feminist Science Studies. Her research is broadly interdisciplinary and has been published in journals ranging from Molecular Ecology and Ecology, to Philosophy of Science, to the National Women’s Studies Association Journal.  From 2006-2011 Dr. Fehr held a $3.3 million National Science Foundation ADVANCE Grant designed to test strategies for improving the recruitment, promotion and advancement of women in science and engineering faculty positions.

Her current research concerns ways that improving diversity within scientific communities leads to more creative and rigorous research, and to research that better meets a wide range of social needs. She explores barriers to improving institutional and workplace cultures for diverse community members and strategies for overcoming those barriers.  She also develops critiques of biological and psychological research that supports sexism and racism that leads to a chilly climate for women and minorities in our universities.

Dr. Fehr also has a research interest in the scholarship of teaching and learning, focusing on ways that team teaching involving philosophy of science and science faculty members contributes to life-long science literacy. She holds two awards for excellence in undergraduate teaching.

Dr. Fehr consults broadly on campus climate issues and on the development and implementation of flexible career policies. For more information about her consulting services, see Championing Women in STEM.

Selected Publications

• Carla Fehr and Letitia Meynell (2024) “Feminist Philosophy of Biology“, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.). [2011 Edition]
• Carla Fehr and Janet Jones (2022) “Culture, Exploitation, and the Epistemic Approach to Diversity.” Synthese. [Preprint]
• Carla Fehr (2021) “Doing Things with Case Studies,” in Heidi Grasswick and Nancy McHugh (eds), Making the Case: Feminist and Critical Race Theorists Investigate Case Studies, SUNY Press.
• Sara Weaver and Carla Fehr (2017) “Values, Practices, and Metaphysical Assumptions in the Biological Sciences,” Routledge Companion to Feminist Philosophy, ed. Ann Garry, Serene J. Khader, Alison Stone, London: Routledge.
• Carla Fehr (2011) “What is in it for me? The benefits of diversity in scientific communities.” In Heidi Grasswick (ed.), Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of Science: Power in Knowledge. Springer. pp. 133-154.
• Carla Fehr and Kathryn S. Plaisance (2010) “Making Philosophy of Science More Socially Relevant.” Synthese, 177(3): 301-316.

Websites

https://uwaterloo.ca/scholar/c3fehr/home
https://uwaterloo.ca/philosophy/profiles/carla-fehr
https://www.carlafehr.org/