Welcome Philosophy, Religion, and PPE Students!
The Philosophy and Religion Department and the PPE program are an active and socially and intellectually dynamic community. On this page you will find links to information about our department organizations and co-curricular programs, as well as contact information for faculty, peer mentors, advisors, and coop coordinators.

The department is located on the 4th Floor of Renaissance Park (1135 Tremont St.), which is the building next to Ruggles and across from International Village. We will have all sorts of meetings and events there throughout the year, the department student organizations meet there, and it is where you will find faculty offices. There is a common room with a study space, whiteboards, a (small but interesting) library, games, and more. You can study there, work with other students on projects, meet with faculty, or just spend time between classes.
Please do not hesitate to jump into the many programs, events and opportunities that we have going or to reach out to any professors with whom you would like to connect. Also, be sure to keep an eye out for emails about upcoming events and programs.
Welcome to Northeastern’s philosophy, religion, and PPE community!
Our undergraduate program directors work to develop, shape, and maintain our majors and minors. This involves things like approving course substitutions, evaluating courses for transfer credit, and creating novel combined majors with our half major templates. They are the people to reach out to if you have questions about your major.
- UPD Philosophy: Prof. Rory Smead
- UPD Religious Studies: Prof. Jung Lee
- UPD PPE: Prof. Adam Hosein
- Philosophy and Religion Department Chair: Prof. Serena Parekh
- PHIL 1000: Philosophy at Northeastern Instructor: Prof. Katy Shorey
Your academic and coop advisors are crucial to charting your Northeastern experience. Please reach out to them with any questions related to developing and implementing your academic and experiential education plans as well as questions related to meeting program requirements.
- Philosophy and Religion Academic Advisor: Heather Stellberger
- PPE Academic Advisor: Krissy Maloney
- PPE Academic Advisor: Alain Akasa
- Philosophy and Religion Co-op Coordinator: Michelle Zaff
- PPE Co-op Coordinator: Richard Conley
Peer mentors are upper class students within your major who are a resource for you to ask questions about your program, the Department, and the University. They also help to organize social and informational events for students.
- PHIL Peer Mentor: Timothy Stephens
- PPE Peer Mentor: Olivia Simpson
- PPE Peer Mentor: Lily Xu
- PPE Peer Mentor: Jacob Horowitz
- PPE Peer Mentor:
- PPE Peer Mentor: Taylor Lark
Faculty office hours are regular times when your professors are available to meet.
Contact information and office location are linked to each professor’s name. Please reach out to faculty if you would like to set up a meeting with them.
- Prof. Basl
- Prof. Bucar
- Prof. Caouette
- Prof. Castor
- Prof. Connors
- Prof. Fallis, Monday and Thursday, 10:45am to 11:15am and by appointment via Zoom
- Prof. Fazelpour
- Prof. Jerndal
- Prof. Hosein
- Prof. Illingworth
- Prof. Kelting
- Prof. Kopec
- Prof. Lee-Stronach
- Prof. Lisa McLeod
- Prof. Parekh
- Prof. Riccardi-Swartz
- Prof. Ricks
- Prof. Sandler
- Prof. Shorey
- Prof. Smead
- Prof. Smith
- Prof. Stump
- Prof. Winborne,
Thursdays 2:30-3:30pm - Prof. Wells
- Prof. Yelle
The Department and PPE program run many co-curricular events. These are meant to supplement your coursework and experiential education. They are a great way to learn new things from leading researchers, enrich your program of study, and interact with faculty and other students outside of your classes. We will send emails to you about all these events, and you can find information about them on our events page as well. Here are some things we have coming up this Fall.
- PHIL 1000 Welcome Week Meet-up (first-years only), Friday, September 15, 11:45 am – 1:25 pm | RP 426
- Welcome Lunch (all class years), Tuesday, September 12, 1:00-2 pm | Outdoors, green space in between Renaissance Park and International Village
- PPE Speaker, Margaret Burnham, September 20, 2022 from 10:00am-11:30am | Curry Senate Chambers
- Ethics Institute Speaker, David Friedell, September 23, 2022 from 12:00pm-1:30pm | Renaissance Park 428
Philosophy and PPE Clubs
These clubs are student led groups that meet weekly to share discussion. The goal of these clubs is to build community among majors and minors as well as students from outside the department. They also organize speakers and social events.
Sign up for the Philosophy Club email list here.
- PHIL Club Contacts: Ryan Baylon
- PPE Club Contacts: TBA
Minorities and Philosophy (MAP)
MAP is a national student led organization which aims to address structural injustice in philosophy and to support minority students and professors.
Sign up for the MAP email list here.
- MAP Contact: Katrina Hsu
Ethics Bowl Team
Ethics Bowl is a collegiate debate competition where teams of between 4-6 students present arguments on specific cases based on ethically complex and controversial cases. For more information about the program, please contact Prof. Benjamin Yelle.
Philosophy Tutoring Network
The Philosophy Tutoring Network is a space for philosophy students to improve their writing skills in a low-stakes, safe, and accepting environment.
– Contact the Tutoring Network at: PhilosophyTutoringNetwork.NEU@outlook.com
Philosophy Social Club
NEU Philosophy Social Club wants to make philosophy as accessible, welcoming, and inclusive as possible. Once a month, club members will have a social outing (social dancing, bowling, concert, etc.) with an associated philosophically-related video, reading, piece of art.
– Sign up for Philosophy Social Club email list here.
– Contact the Tutoring Network at: net.philsocial@gmail.com
- Environmental Ethics Working Group, Faculty Lead, Prof. Ronald Sandler
- Philosophy as a Way of Life, Faculty Lead, Prof. Jacob Stump
- Urban Studies Group, Faculty Lead, Prof. Matthew Smith
- Democracy and Social Choice Group, Faculty Lead, Prof. Rory Smead
- Rossetti Research Group, Faculty Lead, Prof. Rory Smead
- AI and Data Ethics Group, Faculty Lead, Prof. John Basl
If you want to see how some prior students have worked their way through our majors, combining courses with experiential education, please check out these pathways.