Toward the end of her junior year, Hane floated the idea of attending Yale to Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Sarah Griffis, whose interdisciplinary work in the classics and religious studies aligns well with Hane’s own interests. She met Griffis the previous year when one of her courses, Sites of Divine Encounter, didn’t fit in her semester schedule. After explaining her interest in the material, Griffis agreed to work independently with her. Since then she has become Hane’s advocate and mentor.
“I told her that I had been considering applying [to Yale], and she was instantly fully on board,” Hane said. “[Griffis] helped me understand the campus and the people and develop a really good application. She got me very excited for a program that previously I didn’t really see myself at.”
Hane is most excited for the research opportunities at Yale Divinity School. During her sophomore year, she founded The Haley Classical Journal, which not only exposed her to a broader scope of research, but also helped her develop her writing and conference presentational skills.
Hane also cultivated her research skills in the classroom. Her classical and religious studies professors often gave her the freedom to take a term paper and transform it into a topic of interest. Through this, Hane realized her passion for studying early Christianity and its intersection with empire, identity, and perceptions of cultural others.
“What really drew me to the study of identity was just being able to see the marginal humans that have existed historically,” she said. “There are a lot of people left out of the historical record when you just talk about Greece and Rome. For example, especially now with all of the horrid anti-trans and anti-LGBT legislation, it’s critical to be able to look back and see that gender [issues] have always existed.”
Lizzy Hane ’22
Major: Classical Languages
Hometown: Williamstown, Mass.
High School: Mount Greylock Regional School
Activities: Classics Club; Haley Classical Journal
Hane’s passion for research fuels her future career goals. Though she wants to keep an open mind during her two years at Yale, she hopes to eventually teach and research at a professional level — specifically at a liberal arts college like Hamilton.
“I’m going into this eyes wide open and knowing it’ll probably be a challenging road,” Hane said. “But I think it would be very rewarding to continue this work and research as a career.”
