Magdalena Bogacz

Dr. Magdalena T. Bogacz is an Assistant Professor of Military and Security Studies and a Course Director for War Theory and Philosophy course at the United States Space Force Schriever Space Scholars Program within the Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies, in Washington, D.C. She teaches courses on War Theory, Philosophy, Space Ethics, and Leadership. 

Dr. Bogacz received her bachelor’s degree in philosophy and psychology from the California State University, Bakersfield (2016), a master’s degree in philosophy from KU Leuven in Belgium (2017), where her studies focused on philosophy of science, specifically, competing types of scientific explanations and natural sciences’ epistemologies, and a Doctorate degree (2021) in Executive Education and Global Studies from the University of Southern California where her primary field of study was Leadership, Higher Education, and Philosophy.

Her multidisciplinary research explores philosophical topics in relation to war and peace, such as just war tradition, professional ethics, norms formation in space, and space ethics proper, as well as teaching and learning methodologies within professional military education with a specific focus on the relationship between higher education, innovation, and national security as well as ethics education. 

To that end, she published numerous articles on space ethics, space norms, professional military education, and philosophy in several prestigious journals, such as Philosophy of Science journal, Journal of Military Ethics, Astropolitics, and Joint Force Quarterly (see the list of publications for details).

Currently, Dr. Bogacz works on two projects: (1) developing a universal space ethics framework that would complement the five “tenets of responsible behavior in space”, with a special focus on norm violations and attribution of aggressive behavior and (2) reconciling the debate between just war traditionalists and revisionists and applying it to the emerging norms of space warfare.

Dr. Bogacz has been teaching in professional military education (PME) for four years after over half a decade of teaching in civilian institutions. Within her first year at the USSF Schriever Space Scholars (SSS) program, she received a Students’ Choice Award for the Professor of the Year (2023). Prior to joining SSS, Dr. Bogacz worked at Air University, where she won a Civilian Category IV Quarterly Award her first year. Before joining PME, she was a Philosophy Faculty member at the California State University, Bakersfield, and Bakersfield College. She taught a variety of courses in Philosophy and Ethics, including Critical Thinking and Advanced Composition, Logic, and Ethics of Living and Dying. Dr. Bogacz also serves as a Global Ethics Instructor at the Southern New Hampshire University.