Rowan Dorin '03

“I earned my undergraduate degree at Harvard, where I started off studying economics but ended up switching (quite unexpectedly) to history. I then won a scholarship to study at Cambridge University for a year, after which I returned to Harvard for my Ph.D. After two more years at Harvard on a postdoctoral fellowship, I moved to California and started a job at Stanford University as an assistant professor in the History Department – and that’s where I am now. I spend most of my time writing and teaching, so I’m eternally grateful to everyone who contributed to SJR’s speech and debate program (especially John Robinson), and also to teachers like Ray Grynol, Nancy Gillies ’76 and Wendy Owen, who really taught me how to write. And this might sound surprising, but the SJR Rock Show played a huge part in building my confidence as a performer in front of an audience – which definitely pays off for my lecture classes!”

“University-bound graduates face a lot of pressure to get requirements out of their way during their first and second years, but I would really encourage them to carve out space to explore new and unfamiliar fields along the way. Teaching medieval history in the heart of Silicon Valley was definitely not on my expected life path when I graduated from SJR, but I love my job and wake up every day excited to go to work – so I’m really glad that my path went astray.”