Alumni Fields

  • Law

    • Rose Carmen Goldberg

      Deputy Attorney General
      Office of the California Attorney General
      Lecturer, Berkeley Law School

      Oakland, California

      “St. John’s nurtured my curiosity, and this inquisitiveness informs my work as a public interest lawyer every day.”

    • Joan Haratani

      Partner
      Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP

      San Francisco, California

      “St. John’s College gave me the quiet confidence of knowing that if I could navigate the Program successfully, nothing could intimidate me. It taught me to listen, to respect the views of others, to reject my preconceived ideas, to never stop learning and listening to the truth.”

    • Joanna Baron

      Executive Director
      Canadian Constitution Foundation

      Toronto, Ontario

      “The gravitas of seminar gave me a poise and confidence which served me everywhere from my first appearance in a criminal appeal to media interviews and everything in between.”

    • Derek Alexander

      Deputy General Counsel
      Stifel Financial Corp.

      Kew Gardens, New York

      “Researching the law and writing clean, direct, effective contracts and briefs is a craft; I enjoy making something that works, and the gradually built experience that goes into it.”

    • Shawn Watts

      District Court Judge
      Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation
      Law Professor: University of Kansas

      Lawrence, Kansas

      “The kind of thinking that’s required to get through the Program is the same kind of thinking you need in law school.”

    • Sara A. Blankenhorn Johnston

      Judge
      Taos Magistrate Court

      El Prado, New Mexico

      “I love my profession because it allows me to utilize my years of study in service of my community, and St. John’s was instrumental in me arriving here.”

    • Brian T. McGuire

      Policy Director
      Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP

      Washington, DC

      “The scope of my work [as a policy director] is as broad and interesting as America itself.”

    • Patrick Schaefer

      Lawyer, General Counsel

      Santa Fe, NM

      "St. John’s offers an unparalleled context for nurturing quality Fulbright candidates by amplifying their curiosity and increasing their ability to understand and articulate different systems for the betterment of humanity."

    • Gabriela Quercia Kahrl

      Associate director, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, Chacón Center for Immigrant Justice

      Baltimore, Maryland

      "You get a lot of ‘no’s’ doing this work. But you have to believe that if you keep listening, talking, and insisting, you’ll eventually get a ‘yes.’"

    • Jonathan Tincher

      Associate
      Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP

      Washington, DC

      “I can think creatively about complex issues because I did the same thing at St. John’s.”

    • Thomas Berry

      Research Fellow
      Cato Institute

      Washington, DC

      “St. John’s taught me that the way to have a lasting impact is to become part of an important conversation, and having some role in our country’s conversation on legal and policy issues is the most fulfilling aspect of my career.”

    • Johnathan Gooch

      Editor-in-Chief
      Texas International Law Journal

      Austin, Texas

      “The patience and authenticity that make [St. John’s] seminars successful have allowed me to navigate difficult leadership predicaments.”

    • Clayton “Tex” Pasley

      Associate
      Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym, Ltd.

      Chicago, Illinois

      Throughout his law career, Tex Pasley has dedicated himself to social equity, especially with the Shriver Center on Poverty Law.

    • Erin M. Page

      Senior Law Librarian
      Fastcase Legal Research

      Alexandria, Virginia

      “St. John’s gave me the experience needed to hear what a person is actually asking, instead of assuming, which is vital to fulfilling their needs.”

  • Education

    • Dr. Anika Prather

      Founder + Head of School
      The Living Water School

      Fort Washington, Maryland

      “I want to educate young people to [not only] know their history, but to also gain the tools to stand for equality.”

    • Mark D. Jordan

      Research professor
      Harvard Divinity School

      Cambridge, Massachusetts

      “One of the things St. John’s instilled in me was the courage to follow questions wherever they lead and not to worry about the property signs that people put up to fence off certain areas. So I started reading and just kept going.”

    • Dr. Jeffrey Seidman

      Associate Professor
      Philosophy
      Vassar College

      Poughkeepsie, New York

      As a professor at Vassar College, Jeffrey Seidman contemplates the intersection of moral philosophy, the philosophy of action, and the theory of practical rationality—as well as metaphysics, ancient philosophy, and more.

    • Dr. Daryl Haggard

      Associate Professor + Lab Director
      Physics
      McGill University

      Montreal, Quebec

      “St. John’s made me intellectually brave, and I use that [in my career] every single day.”

    • Karina Hean

      Visual Arts Chair
      New Mexico School for the Arts

      Santa Fe, New Mexico

      “...the [St. John’s] education values ideas, criticality, and expression, and builds leadership and collaboration through dialogue. These are real life skills in the 21st century.”

    • Dr. Andrew Hui

      Associate Professor
      Yale-NUS College

      Singapore

      “The education at St. John’s gave me the breadth and depth of the classical tradition [and] a firm grounding in humanities.”

    • Dr. Cecelia Watson

      Scholar in Residence
      Bard College

      “Language is a powerful tool to create a more open society, and more opportunities for more people … I just want people to have a sense of joy and freedom and fun in writing.”

    • Dr. Kyle Long

      Director
      Higher Education Research
      Hanover Research

      Washington, DC

      “I believe in the transformative power of education. It’s a cliché, but it also happens to be true.”

    • Melanie Kirby

      Founder
      Zia Queenbees Farm + Field Institute

      Taos, New Mexico

      “St. John's has continued to influence my interactions on a day-to-day basis. The curriculum and discussion format positively conditioned me to embrace my inquisitiveness and to bravely be at the helm of my educational pursuits.”

    • Matthew Lippart

      Principal
      One School Global

      Seattle, Washington

      “I think a big part of whatever success I have had can be attributed to my ability to communicate with all stakeholders, approach everyone from an area of mutual interest, and see how we can best move forward together. These were skills I honed at St. John’s.”

    • Theodore Hadzi-Antich

      Associate Professor
      Austin Community College

      Austin, Texas

      “It’s essential. I don’t want to be hyperbolic, but liberal arts education has a key role to play in preserving our democracy.”

    • Glen Olson

      Lead Instructor + Civic Engagement Coordinator
      Immigration Institute of the Bay Area

      Redwood City, California

      “As an educator, I am constantly drawing on what I learned at St. John’s ... It’s amazing how many trendy education terms and notions are already implicit in the way St. John’s classes work.”

    • James Hedberg

      Lecturer, Astronomer
      City College of New York

      New York, NY

      “Half the stuff I do now I wouldn’t have gotten exposed to if it hadn’t been for the St. John’s [Program]”

  • Arts & Media

    • Kate Bennett

      White House Correspondent
      CNN

      Glen Echo, Maryland

      “My career has included pop culture, glossy magazines, fashion, celebrity, politics, print, web, television, etc. And I honestly think I learned that curiosity and lack of conventional boundary at St. John’s.”

    • Zusha Elinson

      National Reporter
      Wall Street Journal

      Richmond, California

      “The practices that we learned in seminar [at St. John’s], such as listening openly and asking tough questions in a respectful manner, are some of the most valuable tools for a journalist to push beyond the simplistic divides in our country and find the most interesting stories.”

    • Lydia Polgreen

      Opinion Columnist
      New York Times

      New York, New York

      “I realized I wanted to look at and question the world just like I did at St. John’s. And to continue my inquiry because the world is open to interpretation. I had to go places and see things for myself.”

    • Salvatore Scibona

      National Book Award Finalist
      Guggenheim Fellow

      New York, New York

      “I am always asking myself if the work I'm doing matters, and if it’s true. Those are Johnnie questions, I find.”

    • Caitlin Cass

      Cartoonist
      The New Yorker
      Art Teacher: Buffalo Seminary

      Buffalo, New York

      “St. John’s helped me enter a conversation with ideas that I’m still engaged in with every comic I make and every class I teach. St. John’s gave me something to make art about.”

    • Devendra Contractor

      Founder + Principal
      DNCA Architects

      Albuquerque, New Mexico

      “I always tell people that St. John’s is the best education for architects… I firmly believe every architect should have a liberal arts undergraduate degree.”

    • Jane McManus

      Director
      Center for Sports Communication
      Marist College

      Ossining, New York

      Since 1998, Jane McManus has covered New York sports for ESPN, the Daily News, and more—experience she uses as the director of Marist College’s Center for Sports Communication.

    • Robert George

      Editorial Board Member
      Bloomberg Opinion

      New York City, New York

      Robert George’s career has spanned politics, stand-up comedy, and journalism—he currently works as a member of Bloomberg Opinion’s editorial board.

    • Sara Luell

      Director
      Communications
      St. John's College

      Annapolis, Maryland

      “One thing I feel we focused on at St. John’s was taking these complex and detailed works and translating them into what the essential idea is. That has been extremely helpful during my career.”

    • Danny Hakim

      Investigative Reporter
      New York Times

      Maplewood, New Jersey

      “I think that [the critical thinking skills acquired at St. John’s] really changed the way I looked at the world and thought about things in general. For a reporter, that’s a really important skill to have.”

    • Chris Horne

      Senior Associate and Product Manager
      Urban Planning, Technology, and Real Estate
      Keller Williams Realty

      Austin, Texas

      “My profession is an interdisciplinary, generalist field that synthesizes multiple specialties and resolves them through reading, writing, conversation, creative problem solving, and analytical thinking: framed that way, it’s not hard to see why St. John’s is an ideal preparation for my career path.”

    • Elizabeth Harball

      News Editor
      Anchorage Daily News

      Anchorage, Alaska

      “I needed to know to speak up when I didn’t understand at St. John’s; to be a journalist, that’s essential. I needed to have the tenacity to pursue answers when I didn’t understand something at St. John’s; that’s another essential skill in journalism.”

    • Sam Stewart

      Furniture Designer

      New York, New York

      “I didn’t think about literally translating my St. John’s education into a career when I graduated ... But I knew I had the confidence from St. John’s that I could teach myself anything and talk to anyone.”

  • Business

    • Joshua Rogers

      Founder + CEO
      Arete Wealth

      Chicago, Illinois

      “One secret about a St. John’s education is that all of the books you read are written by the wisest people to help understand people; and so if you read and listen carefully, St. John’s can be a laboratory that creates exceptional leaders.”

    • Miyoko Schinner

      Founder
      Miyoko’s Creamery

      Nicasio, California

      “At St. John’s, you learn how to learn, and you learn not to be intimidated.”

    • Jamaal Sebastian-Barnes

      Global Head
      Digital Talent Acquisition
      Novartis

      Cambridge, Massachusetts

      “I left the college with a type of reckless fearlessness about the nature of learning, and that has translated to an equally reckless fearlessness when it comes to diving into radically different industries.”

    • Jack Langworthy

      CEO
      NINAYO

      Tanzania

      “St. John’s requires students to read, write, speak, and think for themselves. That skill has been instrumental for getting NINAYO started and off the ground.”

    • Sean Di Ianni

      Cofounder + Executive VP
      Meow Wolf

      Santa Fe, New Mexico

      “On one hand [of my profession] is a problem-solving mentality, and on the other is an exploration … St. John’s really builds that capacity for discovery.”

    • Devendra Contractor

      Founder & Principal, DNCA Architects

      Santa Fe, New Mexico

      “I always tell people that St. John’s is the best education for architects."