Philosophy Professor Everett Fulmer discusses his love for the finer things in life, including fine wine, philosophy, and spending time with his family.

What’s your astrological sign?

Sagittarius, though I put no stock in such things. If astrology was a reliable indicator of personality types, then people born near each other ought to have more similar personalities than those born in very different parts of the year. But experience says this is false. At the extreme, who hasn’t met twins with different personalities? If astrology indicates personality, then twins ought to nearly always have super similar personalities. But they sometimes don’t at all.

Who’s your favorite artist(s) to listen to?

I love music. And I am not aware of a genre that I wholly dislike. Nevertheless, I primarily listen to classical music (or orchestral music). In addition to the likes of Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven, I really like Puccini, Smetana, and going further back, Palestrina. In terms of more recent composers, I like Bernstein and Gershwin. But there are many others as well.

When did you realize you wanted to teach what you teach? And why to college students?

I think I wasn’t explicitly aware of my desire to teach till my own undergraduate studies. But sub-consciously, it started much early. I had a Latin teacher in 8th grade, Mr. Winn, who changed my life. He was the first person to convey the beauty and power of learning in a way that utterly captivated my young mind.

When and why did you become a professor at Loyola?

I started at Loyola in 2017. It was fortuitous luck, I suppose. But I have strong family connections to the Society of Jesus (my uncle, many dear friends, my daughter’s godfather, etc.), and I did my doctoral work at another Jesuit university. I am truly at home in Jesuit higher education.

In a different life, if you weren’t a teacher what would you want to do as a career and why?

I never fully let go of my childhood dream to be an astronaut. But more realistically, I would love to work in wine. I fell in love with wine during a study abroad semester in Italy while I was an undergraduate. I then worked in a wine shop back state side and read voraciously about the wine world. A bit later, I lived in Santiago Chile and ran wine tastings for English speaking tourists. It is wine’s ability to manifest it’s place, it’s people, and their traditions that I find so appealing.