By H’Rina DeTroy
At the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, students find the flexibility and support to explore the human experience, think critically about fundamental questions in science and society — and discover the power of following their curiosity. Rose Amburose ’25 talks about transitioning from Business Administration to social work and philosophy, and how CHASS is supporting her goals of becoming a lawyer.
A Community of Collective Power
Social justice and making a positive community impact inspire many CHASS students. Rose Amburose is one such undergrad. Amburose calls Boone, North Carolina, her hometown in the U.S. while also being an international student from India. She’s a Park Scholar and a legal intern at The Child’s Advocate.
Initially, Amburose started a degree in business administration, but a philosophy course on existentialism taught by Marina Bykova led her to switch to pursue bachelor’s degrees in social work and philosophy. Amburose is in the philosophy of law concentration and wants to become a lawyer.
Interdisciplinary majors and minors in CHASS are designed to give their graduates the transferable skills they’ll need in various careers in the humanities and sciences fields.
“The fact that CHASS has unique concentrations like Philosophy of Law with professors who are interested in bridging the gap between theoretical philosophy and practical fields allows students to pursue interdisciplinary learning.”
Many CHASS undergraduates seek first-hand experiences with community engagement. They can find them through internships or undergraduate research on faculty-led projects that address challenges such as responsible automation and AI, cultural preservation or substance abuse through the opioid epidemic.
As a sophomore in 2022, Amburose founded the Progressive Student Task Force (PSTF) at NC State in response to the 2022 Supreme Court decision to overturn the constitutional right to abortion in the United States. Demonstrations and protests had erupted around the country, and Amburose and the other students of the PSTF were inspired to create a space to gather and protest at NC State.
“We call ourselves a task force because we want to do more than just talk about social issues. We want to do something about it,“ said Amburose, whose service and student leadership was recognized with the 2024 National Association of Social Workers North Carolina Chapter Equity and Inclusion Student Award and the NC State’s Council on the Status of Women’s Equity for Women Award in 2023.
With 200 attendees, the PSTF hosted a reproductive rights march and recruited U.S. Congresswoman Deborah Ross and North Carolina State Senator Natalie Murdoch to speak. Since then, the PSTF has addressed topics like gun violence, climate change and the war on Gaza.
“It was an incredible demonstration of the collective power that students have,” said Amburose.
Student groups can also petition the CHASS Council for funding, something the PSTF did to raise money for a 2023 event called Drag for Equality, a drag show to raise funds for the local LGBT Center of Raleigh.
The event demonstrated to Amburose just how practical her coursework has been. She had to put her study of philosophy to the test when engaging with ethical dilemmas like wanting to hold a drag show while acknowledging that the PSTF had limited funds to pay the artists. The organizers had discussions around the ethics of pay transparency and what represented appropriate wages. Including the performers in these discussions, PSTF found ways to provide ethical compensation through alternate funding sources like integrating tipping and mutual aid options.
“To solve these ethical dilemmas, or to at least find a way to discuss them, we have to use ethical principles like harm reduction, fairness, and more,” Amburose said.
By supporting student groups like PSTF, CHASS fosters meaningful learning outside the classroom. Amburose said that PSTF translated into transferable skills for its student members. Each event requires months of planning in marketing, logistics, drawing up contracts, and much more, giving its student members a means to build community and add leadership experience to their resumes.