[2] He completed his dissertation titled, Doubt, certainty and the Cartesian Circle under committee chairman Fred Feldman.

[2] Later an administrator at Johns Hopkins University, he joined the faculty of Goucher College in 1989.

[4] From 2000 to 2001, Welch served as interim president of Goucher College, subsequently returning to his previous role as dean of graduate studies and lecturer in philosophy at the school.

[1] Welch died at the age of 71 on February 28, 2016, after suffering from cancer at his home in Baltimore, Maryland.

[2] After his death, Goucher named the Robert S. Welch Center for Graduate and Professional Studies in his honor.