UVU professor Shannon Musset returns from sabbatical with new book in tow

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“I love UVU. I absolutely love it,” Shannon Mussett, philosophy professor, said. “I still can’t believe that even though it keeps changing, morphing, and everything is always undergoing these transformations, it continues to be this really alive place.”

Mussett did her graduate work at Villanova University and has taught philosophy at UVU since 2003. She has served in many positions across campus and is currently the associate chair of the philosophy department.

Though Mussett was excited to come back West, as she is from Denver, she did not think she would end up in Utah.

“When I first came out to look for an apartment, it was August and everything was brown and dead. There was no one on the streets. I thought it was an abandoned city,” she said.

As soon as Mussett started working at UVU, she was won over. Now, she can’t think of another place she would go.

Mussett went on sabbatical for the 2017-2018 school year. During that year, she researched and wrote a book, which is being published by Rowman & Littlefield and is slated to come out next year.

This book is on “the metaphor and the philosophical idea of entropy,” according to Musset. Since the concept of entropy was not historically discussed in the same way it is now, Mussett has done work examining how entropy, as an idea, has evolved.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Mussett said. “It was amazing how hard it was to teach myself the science of it. Even though I’m just dealing with the metaphors, I really had to actually figure out what it was.”

She teaches many philosophy classes: 19th Century European Philosophy, Phenomenology and Existentialism, Ancient Legacies, Philosophical Issues in Feminism and plenty more. She loves teaching all of them, even lower division generals like ethics and values.

“The most rewarding things to teach is [Philosophical Issues in] Feminism because the students really get into it, appreciate it and I think they find a lot of value in it. Even though it is really difficult to teach, it is probably the most important thing I do for the school.”

Mussett said students should explore the things that interest them, since UVU is much more affordable than most college educations are.

“[UVU] has so many possibilities for the way you can pursue that education,” she said. “You should not feel compelled to rush through it, but that you should allow yourself time to explore all the possibilities. At least follow your nose into the things that you get introduced to, even in your generals.”