For this activity, I decided to interview Sherry L. Zane, Ph.D., an Associate Professor in Residence, and the Interim Director of the Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program at the University of Connecticut. We met over Zoom and our conversation lasted more than an hour. We first talked about the unconventional route she took regarding education, she said that she was raised in an environment that didn’t push for education past high school, so she never challenged it. It wasn’t until she turned 28 years old that she realized she couldn’t survive working four minimum wage jobs at a time, so she enrolled in college and double majored in history and English. After graduating she noticed that history has been dominated by old white men, and written in their views, so that inspired her to further her education by attending graduate school. She spent those years buried in archives, trying to find sources for her dissertation that weren’t only old white men, and that ultimately determined her career and focus of study.

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Starting off her career, Professor Zane worked as an adjunct professor, meaning that she only got paid about $5,000 for each section she taught and there was a point in time when she was teaching 7 classes to make ends meet. From there she progressed to be an assistant professor at UConn, earning about $45,000 then getting promoted to an administrator and associate professor, now earning about $85,000. Although she has many more responsibilities, she says that the best part of her job is being able to work with students, however, like many other educators, she despises grading. In a typical day (pre-COVID), Professor Zane would teach about three classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. One of her classes was made up of about 350 students and was led by teaching assistants, while others only had between 30 to 50 students. She describes her day to be extremely busy but is happy with the impact that she is making among her students.

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Talking to Professor Zane not only affirmed my career choice, but also made me feel much more confident in wanting to earn a college degree. She opened my eyes to other possibilities and made me consider doing a double major or a minor in human rights. Some advice that she gave me is to study something relevant to today, this kind of ensures that you will get a job after finishing graduate school. She also said that there are many free online conferences about history that I could attend to start networking with other historians and to learn more about other opportunities regarding internships and publications. Finally, Professor Zane gave me a different perspective on history and ways to approach it. I think many, including myself, think of history as one dimensional and believe that it’s the study of the past, however, there’s so much more to it than what meets the eye. After speaking with Professor Zane, I realized the important work she is doing through her publications and bringing light to the injustice that women and members of the LGBTQ+ community have faced. I am excited to further my education and I hope to have the same impact on others that Professor Zane has through her research and teaching.