Key Hartwick Activities: Honors Program, Pre-Law Program, Phi Alpha Theta, Pi Sigma Alpha, WRHO, Climate Change Academic Theme Committee, Honors Advisory Committee, Career Services Advisory Board
Career Plans: Attend law school and a graduate program in environmental management. My ultimate goal is to work in the environmental law/environmental policy field.
Most Influential Class: Undoubtedly, Professor Karl Seeley's Environmental Economics course. The course helped me to learn the importance of looking at environmental issues and identifying options with strong moral attributes and those with the greatest economic benefits. Perhaps more importantly, it helped me to learn that the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive. While as an environmentalist I often felt strongly about particular courses of action, this class reinforced that convincing an open market to pursue such avenues requires much more than a "because it's the right thing to do" justification.
Outstanding Experience: One of the reasons I came to Hartwick was because I wanted to be able to pursue my academic passions while also gaining experience as a jazz trombonist. As a result, I've greatly enjoyed the opportunity to play in various jazz groups at Hartwick, but especially off campus, with Oneonta musicians I've met through the Otsego Jazz Collective. The group is an eclectic mix of working professionals, well-known jazz musicians who get featured at shows, and young musicians like me who are presented with an awesome opportunity to learn and play.
About My Professors: Under political science professor Daniel Stevens, I had the opportunity to witness the genesis of a scholarly research project. In my Research Methods course, we conducted interviews of community members about their views on various political issues (as part of The Thinking Citizen Project, led by Stevens and former political science professor Andrew Seligsohn). The following summer, I worked as a research assistant to compile and analyze the many interviews my classmates and I had conducted. This was exactly what I was looking for in college—getting involved in the real underpinnings of what goes into a research project.
Ultimately, I co-authored a research paper summarizing the findings with Professors Stevens and Seligsohn (Princeton University) and Professor Barbara Allen (Carleton College), and I served as a panel discussant for the paper at the American Political Science Association national conference. Attending the conference was a great experience—tons of energy and the opportunity to interact with incredible people who are all interested in the same field. It was very exciting, and the whole thing was a pretty unusual experience for an undergraduate.
