Major/Minor: Philosophy; Business Administration, Operations and Decisions Sciences Concentration
How did your Salem State experience impact your life and career?
My Salem State experience provided me with the opportunity to pursue a high-quality education at an affordable cost. I was guided by a plethora of amazing professors in both of my majors, who provided worldly and professional advice that has paid off in spades after graduation. Salem State is recognized as a legitimate and diverse (in terms of ideas, culture, and offerings) university that garners respect from employers in every field, and that is a definite feather in the cap of any prospective graduate. I now work as an analyst for Wayfair at their headquarters in Boston, and the critical reasoning and analytic abilities that I honed under both of my disciplines played an integral role in my securing the position. Every single day on the job I am employing the skill set that I learned under the disciplines I studied at Salem State.
How was your academic experience?
My academic experience was superb. I took a rather unorthodox track (double majoring in both Philosophy and Business) but was absolutely passionate about both. My professors and advisors pushed me to uncover the truth about myself, in terms of what my personal, professional, and academic passions and goals are, and my degrees and current employment are the end result. The faculty are truly student-centric and care deeply for their students’ situations and desires. Every time that I reached out for help or guidance, professors in and outside of my field of study were more than willing to answer the call and help me get to where I needed to be. I greatly enjoyed studying under both of my disciplines, and though the work could be demanding at times, I found great pleasure in watching my abilities grow and flourish under the program.
What is a favorite memory of your time at Salem State?
I actually have two favorite memories at Salem State, both in my final year. In the spring semester, the Philosophy Department organized and executed the North Shore Undergraduate Philosophy Conference, pulling in undergraduate authors from all over the New England area and abroad to present their work in an open forum. It was a lot of planning and work, but when the day came, the conference was a perfect success and the flow of back-and-forth ideas and discussion was just beautiful. As for my other memory, in the fall semester, I took the Philosophy Capstone, a Senior Seminar writing workshop, where I did a considerable amount of research in an attempt to answer the question of what makes an individual’s identity. That thesis was very personal to me, and the search for answers was a call in to my own soul. To be able to discover what I found, using my abilities in the way that I did with the level of depth and effort I had, was very profound for me. I feel like through that project, I had uncovered a lot about myself, that if I worked hard enough, looked hard enough, and opened my mind to any and all possibilities, I could find what I was looking for.
Learn more about the philosophy department at Salem State University.