Expanded Horizons

Fr. George Piggford took me under his wing as a sophomore in the SURE program and taught me what serious literary research looked like. I read all of Flannery O’Connor’s works that summer, and we traveled to Berkeley, California, to do additional research at the Graduate Seminary Institute.

Later that year, I enrolled in a course with Fr. Piggford and Professor Richard Finnegan—a true dynamic duo— focused on Irish literature and Irish politics. It was a wonderful opportunity to learn about my family’s culture, visit Ireland for the first time and bring our studies to life with poignant experiences like touring the Walls of Derry.

My junior year, I met Professor Anna Ohanyan after enrolling in her Peace and Conflict Studies course. The topic sparked my interest after studying the Troubles during my sophomore year. Professor Ohanyan proved to be the perfect mentor to build my knowledge in the field, and I took the higher-level courses she offered each semester. She served as my faculty sponsor for a directed study that examined the dynamics of ethnic conflict in Northern Ireland and Cyprus.

To expand my horizons, she then helped me secure an internship at the University for Peace in Costa Rica, where I learned alongside graduate students from 80 different countries and edited a book chapter about terrorism in the Middle East. Taken together, these experiences evolved into a full-blown double major in Interdisciplinary Studies in Peace and Conflict Studies.