Investigating Social Responsibility
Meet psychology & religion major Rowan Soeiro.
Hometown: Santa Fe, New Mexico
Thesis Advisers: Professor Megan Bruun [psychology] and Professor Chauncey Diego Francisco Handy [religion]
Thesis: “Death and Divine Order: Religion and Prosocial Responsibility in Presbyterian Communities”
What it’s about: Mortality salience in Presbyterian communities. Basically how aware people are of their own mortality, religiosity, and how those two factors contribute to prosocial responsibility. If everyone is predestined, if that’s already been decided for you, why care? Why do we need to be socially responsible to each other, or kind?
What it’s really about: If people are more aware of their death or more religious, will they be more socially responsible?
Outside the classroom: I worked with the Mental Health and Addiction Association of Oregon. The MHAAO has helped to fill in that dearth that we have in mental healthcare, because not enough mental health providers work on a peer basis. It’s people who have been through addiction and emerged from it helping other people recover.
Influential professor: Professor Kristin Scheible [religion]. I came to her with the idea for my major when I was a freshman. It doesn’t really exist, so I sat down and talked with her for hours, and she was like, “Okay, you know, yeah, let’s do it.” She’s inspirational, passionate—a very kind person.
Cool stuff: I studied abroad in Scotland. It was incredible. I think studying abroad and traveling, especially as somebody who hadn’t really been out of the country, really opened my eyes and broadened my perspective.
What gave me joy: I love the canyon. For me, being in nature makes me feel at peace and full of passion, and I love to hike and spend time with animals. I always tell tour groups that one of the reasons I chose Reed was because it was this beautiful balance of being right next to a pretty large city, but also having a forest on campus.
How Reed changed me: I know myself better. It’s not uncommon for a lot of people, including me, to spend a lot of their high school career being somebody they’re not. I know my values now, and I know that authenticity is the way you’re going to make it in life.
Financial aid: I simply would not have been able to go to college without it. Reed’s financial aid is really exceptional.
Help received along the way: My roommates—they know who they are. They really, really helped me find my place and thrive the past year.
Fellowships and awards: I was the recipient of the Daniel Healthcare Career Fund, and I worked with Wings Homeless Advocacy. They’re a houselessness advocacy group, and I helped them with the back end, where they help people find their vital documents, like birth certificates, Social Security cards, identification, the basic things people need to get an apartment. It was very investigative work.
Advice to freshmen: Be authentically you, not who everyone wants you to be. You will find your success there.
What’s next: I’m pursuing a master’s of science in global mental health and society at the University of Edinburgh.