Liberal arts background leads Ariana Myers ’14 to Princeton University

The close friendships made with classmates and professors are the most rewarding aspect of her liberal arts education for Ariana Myers ’14. “With such a small residential campus, you really get to know your classmates well,” she says. “Many of the friends I made during my time at Ripon are destined to be lifelong.”

At Ripon College, she majored in history, Spanish and a self-designed classical languages major. “Without the training of Ripon’s top-notch language faculty, none of my career would have been possible,” Myers says.

She now is a Ph.D. candidate in history at Princeton University. She spent her first two years in the program taking classes and learning relevant languages to her research, such as Arabic and Hebrew. She also spent time in Spain reading 800-year-old parchments, mostly in Latin but some in Catalan, and fragments in Hebrew and Arabic.

Her academic adviser at Princeton is William Chester Jordan ’69, who also received his Ph.D. in history from Princeton and now serves as the Dayton-Stockton Professor of History, as well as a member of the Board of Trustees of Ripon College.

“He has been an incomparable mentor and has helped me to develop my research interests and understanding of the medieval world far beyond what I had imagined to be possible,” Myers says. “Under his guidance, I will continue to refine my research findings from this past year in Spain in order to write my dissertation, which is about how religious conversion between Islam and Christianity in the Crown of Aragon changed during the 13th and 14th centuries.”

Myers’ class of 2014 will celebrate its five-year reunion during the next Alumni Weekend June 27-30, 2019. She has been a loyal donor to Ripon College, giving each year since graduation, and she has been a guest lecturer for the Introduction to ARMS (Ancient, Renaissance and Medieval Studies) course.

“I give back to Ripon because I believe in its liberal arts educational model,” Myers says. “I originally picked Ripon over many contenders for my undergraduate education because it emphasized small class sizes, a wide variety of academic disciplines, and incredible opportunities for enrichment.

“In giving back to the College that helped me to pursue my lifelong dream of becoming a historian, I see myself as encouraging the continuation of the system that allowed me to learn five languages and experience such incredible summer opportunities as an archaeological dig in Greece, a tour of the castles of southern France, and more. None of that would have been possible without the kind of mentoring that Ripon’s model offered to guide me toward those opportunities and support me in my quest for scholarships and funding.”


Related Posts

Image of artwork by Mollie Oblinger

Professor of Art Mollie Oblinger has work in solo exhibit in Oshkosh

“Prolonged Current,” a solo exhibit of artwork by Professor of Art Mollie Oblinger, is on view through Feb. 29 at Annex Gallery at the University […]

Marta Ruiz Yedinak, Ripon College's 2023 Distinguished Educator Award Recipient

Ripon High School Spanish teacher will receive Ripon College’s Distinguished Educator Award

Marta Ruiz Yedinak, a Spanish teacher at Ripon High School, will be presented with Ripon College’s Distinguished Educator Award at the 2023 Commencement ceremony May […]

Clarissa Tucker Tracy

We celebrate Clarissa Tucker Tracy, ‘Mother of Ripon College’

As International Women’s Day is celebrated today, we honor Clarissa Tucker Tracy, a botanist and the first female professor at Ripon College. Her scholarship and […]

Matilin Arts, Sandra Polcyn

Ripon College, WACTE recognize area teachers for professional excellence

Teachers in the Ripon Area School District and the Kettle Moraine School District have been honored as outstanding educators by Ripon College and the Wisconsin […]

Ariana Myers '14

 


Related Areas of Study