Introducing the PPES Program
By Hadass Silver, Ph.D. and Emma Slonina, Ph.D.
When higher education is at its best, it allows students to feed their curiosity while setting them up to pursue an intellectually and personally satisfying work-life after graduation. Holy Family University’s Philosophy, Political Science, Economics, and Sociology (PPES) program was designed with this in mind. In Fall 2025, The School of Arts and Sciences at Holy Family University will be introducing this new program. PPES will provide a home for Holy Family students interested in studying any and all of the above disciplines. Moreover, it will offer direction for students hoping to pursue careers in a vast array of fields, including law, government, public policy, academia, journalism, international relations, and more.
The creation of the PPES program allowed for Holy Family to bring us—Dr. Emma Slonina and Dr. Hadass Silver—on board to help develop and teach the curriculum. Before beginning at Holy Family this fall, Dr. Slonina earned her Ph.D. in Political Science from Michigan State University and spent four years as an Arthur J. Ennis Postdoctoral Scholar at Villanova University, teaching in the Augustine and Culture Seminar Program. In the year between graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a Ph.D. in Political Science and starting at Holy Family, Dr. Silver worked as a Visiting Faculty Fellow at the McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning at Princeton University.
As Assistant Professors of Political Science, we will focus on creating a track that ties political theory and political practice together. In our courses, we aim to equip students with the tools to thoughtfully discuss, examine, and intervene in political life, within their communities and beyond. In addition, we hope to give students the opportunity to speak about politics freely, comfortably, and open-mindedly—providing intellectual forums quite different from the online ones where so many of us practice our politics.
Holy Family’s forthcoming PPES program not only provided us with the opportunity to come to Holy Family University, it also attracted us both to our positions. In our interviews, we saw that we would be joining a team of scholar-educators dedicated to open and thoughtful dialogue, connecting their efforts to the world outside of higher education, and, most importantly, to their students. We also believe in the interdisciplinary mission of the PPES program. Understanding the world through multiple lenses will give our students the ability to better make sense of, and engage, with the world around them, no matter their life pursuits.
