Preferred pronouns: She/Her 

Graduation year: 2009 

Hometown: Ashland, Oregon 

Currently living in: Toronto, Ontario and Ithaca, New York 

Current occupation: Social Science and Humanities Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow, Cornell University  

  
What was your experience at CC like as a Political Science major?

As a Political Science major, I was able to study fundamental questions (What is human flourishing? Who should rule? Who gets what, and why?) from a variety of perspectives. I was particularly drawn to political philosophy and loved reading and discussing brilliant thinkers who have devoted their lives to these questions. One experience stands out: the department awarded me a grant to travel to the Himalayan Plateau to study irrigation management in Ladakhi villages. Before I left, a professor gave me Robert Dahl's "Who Governs?" and we discussed ways to think about authority and power in political communities. The field research was difficult and exhilarating, and it was such a privilege to have the department's support, even though I realized through the experience that what I really wanted to do was political philosophy!  
  
  
Why were you interested in focusing on Political Science as your major?

A Political Science department offers many opportunities to explore diverse interests, because you can take classes ranging from law to international relations to the history of political thought. I started out thinking I'd prepare for a law degree, but soon found myself utterly captivated and transformed by the study of political thinkers, from Plato to Rousseau to Nietzsche. As someone entering into independent adult life, and asking a lot of big questions about the purpose of my own life and what I ought to do in the world, political philosophy classes offered me a place to think deeply about my own life and the political world I live in, without needing to arrive at quick or easy answers.  
  

How are you using your major in your post-CC life?

During my senior year, I realized I wanted to continue studying political philosophy and, hopefully, become a professor as dedicated and inspiring as those I had during my years at CC. After graduating, I went on to earn an M.A. in Government at Georgetown University and a Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Toronto. I studied the history of political thought, and ended up focusing on democratic theory and practice. I am now a postdoctoral research fellow at Cornell University, where I am working on two book projects, one based on my doctoral research on ancient Athenian democracy, and the other on theater metaphors in politics from antiquity to the present day. My undergraduate studies have also informed my experience as a citizen (of the U.S. and now of Canada) and an engaged member of local communities. From studying the rise of populism in Latin America with Juan Lindau, to thinking about freedom and equality with Eve Grace or the dilemmas of Liberalism with Timothy Fuller, my studies as a Political Science major made me humbler and a better listener: I know how complicated things are, and how difficult the work of politics is. I've found this to be very valuable and perhaps under-celebrated outcome of my liberal arts education.