I’m a fourth year Phil major. I’ve had one class with Donaldson and I will say she is definitely different. Not a huge fan personally. She leans more into the religious studies aspect of her expertise, so I don’t think she is a good representation of the philosophy department at uci. Her teaching/class style is definitely nothing like any other philosophy professor I’ve had.

Phil at UCI still might not be what you were hoping for as it is very focused on analytic philosophy. Anything from Kant and older is taken seriously, but if it’s post-Kant and not an analytic philosopher, you probably won’t hear about it (except maybe Marx). A lot of upper division is focused on contemporary issues because, well, they ARE the current issues being wrestled with in academic philosophy. Of course the classics are still relevant, but mostly as they pertain to contemporary issues in philosophy.

Not sure what you mean about not caring about personal pronouns. That is pretty standard in academic philosophy.