What is your job/position?
Empirical Research Fellow at BYU Law School. I get to research and write about issues in constitutional law using empirical methods.
Describe the path that took you from your American Studies degree to your current career or life situation.
After I graduated with a joint degree in Economics and American Studies, I attended law school at the University of Chicago. During that first year, I loved my experience in Chicago, but part of my heart remained in Utah where my future spouse Leah was still a student at BYU. During my 1L year at Chicago, we decided to get married. Through several miracles, prayer, and fasting, I was granted a two-year leave of absence from the Law School to return to Provo while Leah finished her schooling. In another answered prayer, I ran into a friend at an academic conference over the summer who suggested I apply for a fellowship at BYU Law. I am now entering my second year in that position and loving what I do.
What are the specific competencies you cultivated as an American Studies student that you now use in your professional life and that set you apart from your colleagues?
American Studies gave me many opportunities to write in a variety of forms and contexts. Writing is the lifeblood of what I do every day in my job in addition to research. While attending Law School also helped in this regard, legal writing is much more formulaic than the academic writing I do now. My American Studies degree helped me become a versatile writer and engage with a variety of audiences and settings.
What are some of the surprising ways in which your American Studies degree has helped you in your professional or personal life?
My American Studies capstone paper ended up being published in a peer-reviewed academic journal and has since snowballed into another paper in the publication process.
What do you wish you had known as an American Studies student? What advice would you share with current students?
Regardless of your career ambitions, take every opportunity to write. For me, learning to write helped me to think better on any type of issue. I would also recommend developing relationships with faculty in any class you take. Seek their feedback on your writing, go to office hours with questions, ask for their advice about your career path. Some of the most valuable moments of my time at BYU were spent talking with faculty.
*You can contact Brady with questions about his American Studies story at brady.early@law.byu.edu.