In September 2025, the New Louisian Philosophical Society (NEOLOUPHIS), the student organization of the Department of Philosophy under the Saint Louis University (SLU) School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts (STELA) formally launched its two new initiatives: “QUEER Project”—an acronym for Quality, Undergraduate, Engaged, Exploratory Research– and “Project Innovation”.
The aforesaid projects serve as a concrete manifestation of the NEOLOUPHIS commitment to transformative learning, rooted in the philosophical spirit of inquiry and inclusivity. By producing quality, relevant, and insightful research outputs collaboratively authored by faculty and students of the Philosophy Department, the project affirms its dedication to critical engagement and scholarly excellence.
Recognizing research writing as central to philosophical formation, the QUEER PROJECT establishes a systematized, assistive, and collaborative environment for undergraduate Philosophy students. It aims to hone their analytical and writing competencies while nurturing their passion for research as a dynamic mode of philosophizing—beyond mere academic compliance. Recently, several research papers co-authored by undergraduate Philosophy students, assisted by their research adviser Mr. Nikky S. Garo of the Philosophy Department, has been successfully published in both institutional and international peer-reviewed journals. These scholarly outputs exemplify the department’s unwavering commitment to cultivating critical thinking—not merely as a theoretical ideal, but as a lived academic practice.
Through rigorous research mentorship and collaborative inquiry, the Philosophy Department empowers students to interrogate ideas, construct reasoned arguments, and contribute meaningfully to global academic discourse. With this project, these research opportunities will become more accessible to all philosophy students while fostering a more inclusive, friendly, and collaborative learning dynamic among students and their teachers.
Project Innovation, on the other hand, is a program that aims to provide an avenue for faculty and students where the “peripatetic” nature of philosophy is made possible. This project allows for the art of questioning and exploration—an essential component in the peripatetic “walking or journeying with” the other in the process of meaning-making. In light of this, the various outputs of Project Innovation showcase not only the reflective-intellectual capacity of philosophy undergraduate students but also highlight their expressions of authenticity as they integrate raw and varied experiences that bring life and extend beyond the confines of theoretical disciplines. This approach encourages a peripatetic methodology to learning, aiming to maximize the educational process by grounding everything in the attainment of the common good. Hence, the Project Innovation is ultimately an expression and celebration of creativity, novelty, criticality, and camaraderie.
The simultaneous launch of the QUEER Project (Quality, Undergraduate, Engaged, Exploratory Research) and Project Innovation by the NEOLOUPHIS reflects a unified commitment to transformative, inclusive, and critically engaged education—where the QUEER Project establishes collaborative, publication-driven undergraduate research as a mode of philosophizing, and Project Innovation complements it by fostering authentic, reflective outputs grounded in lived experience and peripatetic inquiry.
Aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the program advances SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions), and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). Through this initiative, NEOLOUPHIS reaffirms its role in fostering inclusive, reflective, and socially responsive scholarship within and beyond the university. The initiative also affirms the CICM advocacies on justice, peace, and dialogue. (Written by Marvin Paul G. Ludovico and Mark Valeros, NEOLOUPHIS)
