Lydia Winn ’15 may have graduated, but she hasn’t left the College just yet. Instead, she began working in the Office of Marketing & Communications. Along with her duties as Assistant to the Vice President and Project Manager, she still mentions German philosopher Georg Hegel regularly.
What was your favorite class?
I took so many amazing classes, but I think my favorite is still my first-year studies class, Marina Vitkin's “Philosophy: Varieties of Intellectual Dissent.” It was one of those classes where everything came together. The material had something for everyone—from Freud's Dream Theory to Shakespeare to Plato's Republic. Everyone in the class was really invested in it, so the discussions were always fully engaged, and the material were things that we were all struggling to think about for the first time. It was a uniquely transforming class.
What was your favorite conference project?
That's tough. I think it would have to be from the first Ancient Philosophy course I took with Michael Davis. I read Plato's Phaedo, a dialogue about what it means to live philosophically and what it means to die. I tracked the different Greek words that Plato used for the concept of dying as a way in to understanding the structure of the arguments. That conference project actually led to me enrolling in Ancient Greek the next year.
Are there any classes you wish you had taken?
There are loads of classes I wish I could have taken—that's the hardest thing about Sarah Lawrence's amazing pedagogy, choosing only three classes a semester! I always wanted to take one of Bill Shullenberger's classes and German with Roland Dollinger.
What has the transition from student to alumna (and also staff) been like for you?
The transition from student to alumna has been pretty seamless. Like a lot of alums, I'm still really close with a lot of my professors. The student-alumna-staff transition has probably helped the student-alumna transition because I've stayed so close to Sarah Lawrence. I'm still in a class and writing conference papers, and I still go to lectures and other events that take place at the school. Because of this, I'm fairly certain that I'll always feel completely connected to the College.
Do you have a favorite spot on campus?
It's a tie. Sheffield, because that's where my first-year studies class was, and because it used to house horses, which is just awesome. I also have a particular fondness for the Slonim Woods/Willow cluster area.