We are proud to introduce our executive team for the 2020 spring semester!
President, Isaac Hicks
Isaac Hicks is a fourth year Honours Philosophy student from Devon, Alberta; having completed his first and second year of education at UBCO. His major fields of study within philosophy include logic, metaphysics, and political philosophy, specifically the areas of immaterialism, relativism, and totalitarianism. Isaac plans to join the Canadian Army after he graduates, and dreams of serving in the infantry before pursuing higher education at graduate school. Isaac enjoys cooking, conversing, and taking long walks on the beach. He is also single, ladies. Isaac’s favourite place on campus is Wreck Beach and can often be found hiking in UBC’s beautiful forests. Serving as President, Isaac would like to help develop the PhilSA into a successful and well-functioning students’ association by practicing responsible spending and promoting the study of philosophy on campus.
President, Lauren Alfrey
Lauren Alfrey is a fourth year Honours Philosophy student, and is also completing pre-med courses with the aim of attending medical school. Her main focuses in philosophy include philosophy of science, biomedical ethics, and metaphysics. Lauren hopes to help make the UBC Philosophy Students’ Association into a place where all UBC philosophy students can find a home and connect on an academic and personal level. She loves to cook (and eat!) good food, solve challenging puzzles, and play Dungeons and Dragons.
VP Academic, Vlada Asadulaeva
Vlada Asadulaeva is a fourth-year Honours Philosophy major from Moscow, Russia. Her main areas of philosophical interest include philosophy of mind and cognitive science, history and philosophy of science, and metaphilosophy. As a VP Academic, she hopes to enhance learning experiences of philosophy students and to promote undergraduate research in the Department of Philosophy. In particular, she expects to successfully relaunch the UBC Undergraduate Journal of Philosophy. Subsequent to her graduation, she hopes to spend some time teaching philosophy in a high school in Russia and to pursue graduate studies either in Philosophy or in Intellectual History. In her spare time, Vlada can be found in the Woodward Memorial Room reading Thomas Mann and learning languages. She also enjoys analog photography, travelling, and attending summer schools (last summer, she spent two weeks exploring the history of Naturphilosophie while living in the woods — and enjoyed it tremendously!).
VP Internal, Jackson Duckworth
Jackson is a fourth year undergraduate, studying Honours Philosophy with a minor in Law and Society. His main areas of focus are political philosophy, philosophy of law, stoicism, and applied ethics. After graduation, he intends to either pursue a PhD in philosophy or attend law school, mainly because those are the only two viable options for philosophy graduates. You can frequently find him at the JJ Bean on campus, sipping coffee and engaging in tasteful existential suffering, or at the club, getting lit and bamboozling some poor soul into a Socratic elenchus.
VP Financial, Charles Ding
Charles is a third-year undergraduate student majoring in both Philosophy and Political Science, while also minoring in Law and Society with the intent to attend law school. Charles’ interests in philosophy lies at the intersection of metaphysics and ontology, with a particular emphasis on religious philosophy. He loves to tackle theories for and against the existence of God, as well as investigate the most penetrating questions that invariably accompany a belief in or a rejection of God. He is also interested in ethics, particularly individual accountability. In his leisure, Charles loves to rep three plates on the bench or spend a relaxing weekend fishing. As treasurer, Charles hopes to preserve PhilSA’s key values of integrity and responsibility through sensible spending and thorough financial planning, and imparting to the student body the courage to think philosophically on the whole.