ANSO Elders

Meet our ANSO Elders. These students are Senior Advisors who serve as liaisons between students and faculty.  They help organize events for the major, solicit student input for hiring and staffing decisions and informally advise majors and potential majors on matters like course selection and departmental life.  Please feel free to contact any one of them if you have a question related to the student experience or the department.

ANSO Elders 2018-2019

2018-2019 elders from left to right: Gabriel Silva Collins ([email protected]), Anna Goldelman ([email protected]), Katie Loftus ([email protected])

ANSO Elders 2017

Meet our ANSO Elders for 2017. This year’s Senior Elders are Nicholas Dehn, Apshara Ravichandran and Mariana Garcia.

Nick Dehn

Hometown: Wilton, CT

Major(s): Sociology and English

What got you interested in ANSO:  My first foray into Sociology was Prof. Shevchenko’s course on Memory and Identity. I was hooked, and haven’t looked back since.  (In a truly subversive move, I have never actually taken SOC 101. Shhhh.)

Favorite Book: You Can’t Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe

Secret weakness: Pickle juice, bison jerky, and reading transcripts of obscure awards show speeches

Where you can be found on campus: Rehearsing with the Ephlats in Greylock or “working” in my second-floor carrel in Sawyer (his name is Steve Carrel).

Apshara Ravichandran

Hometown: Cleveland, OH

Major(s): Anthropology and Chemistry

What got you interested in ANSO: I took Anthro 101 on a whim freshman year and was amazed and astonished by Clifford Geertz.

Favorite book: A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

Secret weakness: reading my horoscope

Where you can be found on campus: those tables in Sawyer where no one really gets any work done

Mariana Garcia

Hometown: East Hartford, CT

Major(s): Sociology and English

What got you interested in ANSO: I started off in high school thinking that I wanted to study psychology but it wasn’t until I took a class on it that I realized I wasn’t entirely interested in how people think individually but rather on how the world works in the form of social groups.

Favorite book: Wuthering Heights by Charlotte Bontë

Secret weakness: Challah bread.  Oh my goodness…

Where you can be found on campus: Either working at Schow’s service desk and checking out calculators or hidden in a nook somewhere at Sawyer reading.

2016 Elders

Senior Elders 2016-2017

2016 ANSO Elders are Senior Advisors who serve as liaisons between students and faculty.  They help organize events for the major, solicit student input for hiring and staffing decisions and informally advise majors and potential majors on matters like course selection and departmental life.  Please feel free to contact any one of them if you have a question related to the student experience or the department.  This year’s Senior Elders are Rachel Waldman, Megan Maher, and Ryan Fajardo.

Ryan Fajardo

Hometown: Lenexa, KS

Major(s): Sociology and Economics

What got you interested in ANSO: my natural tendency to always obstinately disagree which leads me to always ask “why?” while performing the mundane acts of my life.

Favorite book: The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

Secret weakness: streams, creeks, and babbling brooks- really any moving body of water that I don’t need a boat to cross.

Where you can be found on campus: Schow service desk, assisting library patrons and sating my people-watching desires.

Megan Maher

Hometown: Montague, NJ

Major(s): Sociology & Psychology, Public Health Concentration

What got you interested in ANSO: I took Sociology 101 with Professor Nolan to explore something different and realized toward the end of the semester that I never looked at the clock to count down the minutes. Classic liberal arts story!

Favorite book: The Shack by William P. Young

Secret weakness: Cold Stone ice cream

Where you can be found on campus: walking around on a beautiful day, hanging out or praying in the chapel, or working on the third floor of Hollander or my carrell on Sawyer fourth floor (come visit!)

Rachel Waldman

Hometown: Bethesda, MD

Major(s): Anthropology and Chemistry

What got you interested in ANSO: I took Anthro 101 as a freshman and realized that I really enjoy reading ethnographies. I love that ANSO provides the opportunity to explore a wide range of different topics, places, religions, cultures, and social issues.

Favorite Book: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Secret weakness: Ice cream

Where you can be found on campus: Trying out as many different spots in Sawyer and Schow as possible — if I study for too long in one spot I get bored.