When thinking about the strengths of Ashland University’s departments, Ashland’s business and education programs may be the first things that pop into one’s mind. While students will argue the viability and importance of their own majors, one area of study seems to be drawing less interest as years go by: philosophy.

What used to be one of the most intellectually challenging and honorable studies of centuries ago, is slowly becoming more and more passed up as a realistic option for a major in today’s world.

AU Students often turn to philosophy courses, however, to fill their core humanities credit. But within these core courses and the department of philosophy, students will find Dr. Louis Mancha to spark an interest in the lost art.

An associate professor of philosophy, Dr. Mancha has been teaching at AU since Fall 2003. In his time here, he has taught over eighteen philosophy courses that range from The Concept of Truth to Philosophy of Religion. And peaking students’ interests is exactly what Mancha aims to do.

“No one comes to Ashland to get a philosophy degree,” said Mancha. “But what ends up happening is [we] get a few students who take a couple core courses and realize ‘Hey, I like this.’”

Many of the philosophy department students are late-declaring majors, often adding on the philosophy major after taking the introductory courses. With the 24-credit-hour major picking up the majority of its students along the way, Dr. Mancha understands his role.

“My job of course is to interact with students,” stated Mancha. “I try to make my courses, to a certain degree, accessible to everyone.”

Senior Philosophy and English major, Conner Darsee, was just one of the students brought in to the department after finding dead ends in other areas of study.

“I came here as a Criminal Justice and History major,” said Darsee. “I ended up hating both of those.”

“My first philosophy class, I just took for core credit,” Darsee stated. “That kind of got my teeth sunk in a little bit.”

Now the president of the Ashland Chapter of Phi Sigma Tau, the Philosophy honorary, and the Philosophy Club, Darsee expressed that Dr. Mancha is not only important to the department, but the university as a whole.

Darsee explained, “He’s incredibly approachable. Just because he’s this character of a man, people are drawn to that, and then they want to interact with him, and they end up interacting about philosophy. I think he draws a lot of people to [the philosophy] major.”

While drawing people to the major here at Ashland University, Dr. Mancha has not always been caught up in the philosophical world, much like the students he may pull into the department. After several years of being an engineer during and after his undergraduate studies at Rice University, Dr. Mancha returned to Purdue University to continue his study of Philosophy.

“I went to grad school just because I thought I liked what I was doing with philosophy and really hated being an engineer,” said Mancha. “I didn’t have a plan about what I wanted to do, didn’t think ‘I want to be a university professor’ or anything. I just thought I wanted to go to grad school.”

During his years in graduate school, Dr. Mancha began to realize he enjoyed connecting with students through his teaching assistant positions. After receiving both his MA and PhD. from Purdue University, Dr. Mancha found his way to Ashland, Ohio.

Dr. William Vaughan, Chair of the Philosophy Department couldn’t be happier with Mancha’s impact in his time at the university.

“Any department likes a new faculty member; they’re young, they’re smart, they’re bright, and they bring fresh ideas and energy,” Vaughan said. “That’s why we hired him: to fill some holes in our curriculum, but also be good in the classroom. But he’s even better than we ever thought.”

Along with an iconic, philosophical beard, Dr. Mancha adds thought provoking questions and scenarios in to his lectures to ensure that students are questioning their beliefs and ideas.

“If you want to be an educated person, if you want to be able to understand how to defend yourself, how to read and write critically… that’s what philosophy is about,” claimed Mancha. “It’s about wanting to be aware of your environment, and wanting to be able to explain yourself to others.”

Despite the public’s lack of appreciation for philosophy, Dr. Mancha continues to push students towards excellence and hopes to inspire all who may cross paths with him.

“He’s a unique combination of a personable guy with a world class intellect,” said Vaughan. “You just don’t see that every day.”