Nicholson, Kelly (高天鹏)

Associate Professor

    A long-time author and educator, Kelly Nicholson arrived at Shantou University in the fall term of 2011. He teaches a wide range of courses in the Center for International Studies in philosophy and world religions. Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, he completed his B. A. degree with a dual major in philosophy and psychology, and later a public teaching certificate, from the University of Washington in Seattle.

   Kelly brings to STU an enthusiasm for teaching and a heartfelt desire to share philosophy in a global spirit with students on the campus. His teaching spans a range that includes formal logic, philosophy of science, applied and theoretical ethics, and multiple courses in the world’s major religious traditions. He took his Master’s degree in philosophy from UW and completed his doctorate in philosophy and religious studies in 1989 at the Claremont Graduate School in Claremont, California. In 1996 he taught in the Slovak Republic and was later a Visiting Fellow at the University of Wales at Lampeter. He completed a CELTA program in teaching English as a foreign language from Cambridge University at the Russian campus in Moscow. After receiving his degree at Claremont he taught English language and philosophy at the Nanchang Institute of Aero-Technology in the Jiangxi Province of China.

   Kelly’s publications include four books on philosophy and two on the history of prizefighting in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century. In the past eighteen months he has published extensive articles on the lives and ring exploits of Hall of Fame boxing champions Mickey Walker, Kid McCoy, and Gene Tunney. Since arriving at STU he has done extensive editing work on behalf of his colleagues and served as a language advisor on the play Dancing at Lughnasa for English Festival in December of 2011. Sine that time he has been involved in productions of several other works including Trifles, Madame Butterfly, A Marriage Proposal, and Romeo and Juliet.  On many occasions he has hosted gatherings for the appreciation of classic Hollywood film and vintage boxing matches.  A former firefighter and amateur boxer, Kelly worked for the U. S. Forest Service, stationed in Estacada, Oregon, during his years as an undergraduate. His son Chace McGwire Nicholson, who was born in 2001, currently attends high school in Utah.

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