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How has majoring in religion been helpful for you?

It’s interesting that I have ended up in the math world, but so much of my work with students focuses on study skills, organization, executive functioning, and emotional regulation. The intense critical thinking I developed from the religion major has been so essential to the constant problem solving I need to do. Although more school and studying is in my future, I want to emphasize how meaningful my studies at º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ have been to my start in the education field. I’m so excited to see where this all takes me, but I know that my religion studies will always serve as a solid grounding for me to approach whatever comes my way.

What did you do right after leaving º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ?

After graduating from º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ in May, 2018, I worked as an immigration paralegal in Boston. I was hired to specifically work with “aliens of extraordinary ability,” such as scientists whose work the United States deems critical to the country’s national interest. However, I quickly took on a wide array of visas (including the R visa for religious guest workers!). While working as part of a team, I also managed a high volume caseload, interacting daily with foreign nationals and client contacts from around the country and world with varying skills, needs, and backgrounds, as well as communicating with many different governmental agencies amid the constantly changing federal immigration backdrop.

What can you do with your major?

Majoring in religion at º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ has provided me with both flexibility and discipline in tackling issues that I face, whether as a paralegal at a large law firm or as an organizer on a presidential campaign. This has ranged from being able to read critically through a “request for evidence” directive from Homeland Security and then formulating a rebuttal (as a paralega)l, to drawing on knowledge I gained from Professor Morrison's and Professor Pritchard’s classes, especially on the intersection of religion, politics, and culture, to understand large systemic issues (helpful when working on a presidential campaign).

What was your most memorable religion class?

"The Hebrew Bible in its World, with Peter M. Small Associate Professor of Religion Todd Berzon."

The class offers close readings of chosen texts in the Hebrew Bible, with emphasis on its Near Eastern religious, cultural, and historical context. Attention is given to the Hebrew Bible’s literary forerunners (from c. 4000 B.C.E. onwards) to its successor, The Dead Sea Scrolls (c. 200 B.C.E. to 200 A.C.E.). The class focuses on creation and cosmologies, gods and humans, hierarchies, politics, and rituals.

What have you been up to since graduating from º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ?

I am a financial advisor with RBC Wealth Management (find us @ AlbertInvestmentGroup.com), in addition to being married and a father of a very cute six-month-old baby girl.

Why did you choose to study religion?

I took a class on Judaism freshman year and having grown up going to a Jewish Day School K-8, I found it to be incredibly interesting to learn about my religion from an academic perspective. I got hooked, found some great professors, and ultimately ended up with the major.

What was your most memorable religion class?

Theories º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Religion, with Robert Morrison, º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ's George Lincoln Skolfield, Jr. Professor of Religion and Middle Eastern and North African Studies, and Director of Middle Eastern and North African Studies Program.

The class focuses on how religion has been explained and interpreted from a variety of intellectual and academic perspectives, from the sixteenth century to the present. In addition to a historical overview of religion’s interpretation and explanation, the course also includes consideration of postmodern critiques and the problem of religion and violence in the contemporary world.

What have you been up to since graduating from º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ?

I've spent most of the last several years in New York, where I worked for a bit and then went to law school. I'm currently completing a judicial clerkship, and in a few months, I'll go back to my old job (where I worked with another º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ Religion grad!) representing detained noncitizens in their deportation proceedings.

Why did you choose to study religion?

I think it was mostly on accident. I appreciated the professors and enjoyed the content so much that at some point I had satisfied most of the requirements for the major other than Religion 101.

What was your first job after graduating º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ?

My first job after I graduated from º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ in 2015 was with Pine Tree Legal Assistance, Maine’s largest legal services provider. I worked as a paralegal in Lewiston where I helped low-income people maintain their basic needs like housing and healthcare in cases ranging from eviction defense to eligibility for public benefits like MaineCare. I was particularly interested in working with Lewiston’s first- and second- generation immigrant population. This interest stemmed in large part from seeing the ways that cultural misunderstanding exacerbated the legal issues my clients faced. In too many cases, I noted the need to supplement our legal arguments by advocating for meaningful language access and basic cultural competency at agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services and local public housing authorities. Ultimately, I decided to apply to law school so that I could advocate for low-income Mainers in court.

How has religion influenced your post-º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ direction?

I recall leaving Professor Pritchard’s course on Citizenship and Religion senior year with a strong conviction in the value of service and volunteerism, which led me to pursue a position as a GIS specialist with AmeriCorps NCCC FEMA Corps. While I had to leave the program early, my time with AmeriCorps helped me secure an eighteen-month long fellowship at a community health focused philanthropy in my hometown of Houston, Texas. It was during this time that I applied to and received the Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship, which allowed me to pursue my MPP at UC Berkeley in preparation for a career with the Foreign Service.

What was your path after º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ?

In 2014, I enrolled in a doctoral program at University of Virginia. At the time, I planned to study Mormonism, an interest I developed at º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ working on an independent study. But, as is usually the case in graduate school, interests evolve. I am now completing a dissertation on women's ordination in mainline Protestantism, a project I have loved working on. Graduate school has been a wonderful way to spend the last six years. The dissertation-writing phase has been a highlight, so has working with undergraduates and introducing them to Religious Studies. I was also stunned by the incredible religious diversity of a religion department as big as UVA's, and the religious scene in Virginia was entirely different than what I was accustomed to.

Why did you major in religion and minor in English?

I had always loved texts, and knew I would major in English at º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ. But I chose to study religion as well after taking the introductory course with Elizabeth Pritchard. She organized the class around sacrifice, which we talked about in the context of multiple traditions. It was a great class, with a lot of theory.  I will never forget reading about , reading Geertz and Durkheim for the first time.  And at some point it occurred to me that the study of religion was, in part, about texts coming to life in people's lives. And after that I was hooked.  

What has been your path since graduating?

From Ruder Finn, a public relations firm, I joined MassChallenge, a nonprofit that helps entrepreneurs grow their businesses. From 2012-2016 I ran marketing activities out of our Boston office, recruiting 10,000 startups to apply to MassChallenge programs. In 2016, I moved into a “special projects” function, helping launch additional MassChallenge programs. In 2019, I transitioned again, this time into operations. Now I manage a team that supports the nine MassChallenge programs around the world.

How has the religion major helped your career?

Writing about religion—and all of its complicated and unfamiliar texts, practices, and cultures—turned out to be great training for public relations.

The religion department at º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ does a great job teaching students to think about and talk about complexity. The writing and research work done as a religion major proved a firm foundation for marketing, public relations, and other communications work. This is very useful to me in most of my communications roles—pitching new concepts, explaining how a product fits into a broader strategy, and branding for a public audience.

Who would you trust to communicate the value and wonder of a large (misunderstood?) corporation and its attempts to do good in the world through their various corporate social responsibility programs? I’d choose the religion major.

Why did you choose to study religion?

What was your path after º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ?

After graduation, I first had a brief stint as a contractor in Washington, DC, with the State Department. It was probably wise to take a hiatus from academia, but deep down, I still wanted to come back for a PhD, and I applied to graduate programs after a couple years of government work. I have been at the University of Chicago since 2014, first having finished my MA in Middle Eastern Studies before continuing on to the PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. My dissertation considers themes of sacral kingship, Sufism, and the esoteric sciences in the Bahmani Sultanate of medieval South India.

How did the religion major impact your learning?

The religion major at º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ did a great deal in shaping my own worldview, and I think about it often. Many of my current academic interests were, in one way or another, sparked by conversations I had with professors or classmates in my studies at º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ. On a practical level, the sorts of skills I learned at º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿ÊÒ are helpful in academia and beyond—the major taught me how to read texts in such a way that you try to figure out what they're hiding, so to speak.