Dan DeNicola focuses his studies on philosophy of education, theories of the emotions, theoretical and applied ethics, and aspects of epistemology. He teaches such First-Year Seminars as "Designer Genes and the Ethics of Human Enhancement" and "Secrets and Lies," and advanced courses such as "Emotion," "Philosophy of Place," and "Philosophy of Color." He has taught a Senior Seminar in Philosophy on the topic of "Ignorance and Forbidden Knowledge." This year, he will introduce a new course titled "Choice, Chance, Luck, and Fate."

DeNicola authored the book,"Learning to Flourish: A Philosophical Exploration of Liberal Education," published by Continuum International (Bloomsbury) in August 2012. He is currently writing a book on ignorance. He has previously published on such topics as: liberal education; art and morality; educating the emotions; genetics, justice, and respect for human life; Immanuel Kant; John Stuart Mill; the interconnection of scientific theory and instrumentation; sociobiology and religion; supererogation (action beyond duty).

For ten years (1996-2006), DeNicola was Provost of Gettysburg College; he then served a year as Vice President for Program Development, leading both the Eisenhower Institute and the Leonard Bernstein Center for Learning. In earlier years, he had been Provost at Rollins College, where he had also chaired the Department of Philosophy and Religion. He has been a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University, and has led a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar on John Stuart Mill.