Editor's note: This story is part of a series of profiles of notable spring 2022 graduates.

Bronwyn Elizabeth can't wait to see what the future has in store for her. This summer, she moves to London to study classical drama at the world-renowned London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), just a stone's throw away from Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. There, she will intertwine two passions: Shakespeare and academic studies. After accumulating successful acting roles, an internship in New York, scholarships and a bachelor’s degree in civic and economic thought and leadership from Arizona State University, the spring 2022 graduate is taking her dreams and skills to the next level.  Bronwyn Elizabeth earned a bachelor’s degree in civic and economic thought and leadership from Arizona State University this spring. Download Full Image

Bronwyn combines outstanding talent with an insatiable thirst for learning. Associate Professor Kent Wright, who has taught her over the years, said of Bronwyn, “I suspected from the first time I met Bronwyn — sitting in the front row of a CEL 100 class — that she was going to be the kind of student you learn a whole lot more from than you teach. Boy, was that ever right.”

During her tenure at ASU, the graduate of the Barrett, The Honors College at ASU received several accolades, including the Moeur Award, the President’s Scholarship and the Founders Scholarship.

The actress sat down with us to talk about where acting and her classical education from the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership (SCETL) will take her. 

Question: What drew your attention to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art graduate program?

Answer: I was a member of the core Southwest Shakespeare Company for a few years, and the company receives a grant through the city of Mesa, which allows it to hold great lectures. In my first year of college, I attended one of those lectures with the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art’s director, Rodney Cottier. Then I attended his lecture again the next year, and again this year. I kept falling in love with the ways that classical acting can be brought to life from an educational standpoint. Simultaneously, I really do love college. So that’s what drew me to the LAMDA program: the opportunity to combine theater and the academic environment. The only way to do something right is to do it in a way that is fulfilling to you. — Bronwyn Elizabeth, spring 2022 graduate of the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership

The only way to do something right is to do it in a way that is fulfilling to you. — Bronwyn Elizabeth, spring 2022 graduate of the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership

Q: What does the program look like?

A: LAMDA has an incredibly rigorous academic program, but they don’t expect students to write a thesis in a traditional sense. It’s an intense year of studies. We will dive into movement work, Shakespeare’s first folio, his romances, the English kings, the Spanish golden age, Jacobean literature, as well as learn incredible technique programs, such as stage combat, flamenco dancing, accent work, vocal techniques, etc. It’s an academic approach to acting, and I can’t wait to start! Bronwyn Elizabeth as Miranda in Shakespeare's "The Tempest" for the Southwest Shakespeare Company.

Bronwyn Elizabeth as Miranda in Shakespeare's "The Tempest" for the Southwest Shakespeare Company.

Q: Is there a particular area that you're interested in studying?

A: I love Shakespeare. I’ve worked with the Southwest Shakespeare Company over the last two years and I was their Ophelia in “Hamlet” and Miranda in “The Tempest.” It was incredible to embody these women who were at the foundation of archetypes of women in history. I am confident that my grandmother has read the words that I’ve said in “Hamlet,” and it feels great to be connected to history and lose myself in it. I am fascinated by Shakespeare’s women and other tragic women, and I am lucky to be able to learn a lot more about them in London.

Q: How did you hear about SCETL?

A: I learned about SCETL through my older brother, Cormac . He earned a double major in political science and civic and economic thought and leadership. When I was applying to college, he advised me to apply to SCETL. We are both drawn to discussions and are very similar. He had such a good time at SCETL and he was confident that I would, too. And so I did. The very first class I took was Shakespeare’s Leadership Lessons: Performance and Politics in the Pines , even before my freshman year started. During that course, I read “The Tempest” and fell in love with SCETL. Since then, I haven’t had a single class at SCETL with over 50 students, and it was always the right choice.

Q: Do the smaller class sizes resonate with you?

A: Absolutely. The discussion-based learning environment is fantastic. But more importantly, it was the general feeling that I was a part of the trajectory of the class, rather than the type of environment where you just take notes. I took Professor Kent Wright ’s CEL 100 course in my freshman year, then I took every single course he’s taught since then, every semester. He genuinely wants you to learn, instead of wanting to “bestow education” upon you. I felt special as a student at SCETL because the passion I have for learning was met with the passion the professors have for teaching. — Bronwyn Elizabeth

I felt special as a student at SCETL because the passion I have for learning was met with the passion the professors have for teaching. — Bronwyn Elizabeth

Q: How did the intersection between acting and philosophy develop throughout your college years?

A: Right off the bat, I was lucky to meet two professors who love learning: professors Carol McNamara and Kent Wright . They supported my passion for liberal education and acting, and they were instrumental in helping me get an internship with the Patrick Page Acting Studio in New York during the pandemic. They really believed in me and wanted to keep learning with me. And I am grateful for Frank Pina, my academic adviser. He helped make it work for me, was always straightforward and opened doors. When it came time to do my dissertation, Professor Wright sat down with me and said, “I would never stop you from doing a PowerPoint presentation, Bronwyn, but wouldn’t it be fun to do something fresh and new?” My general impression of SCETL is encapsulated in this open-ended question: “Wouldn’t it be fun … ?” They engaged with me on an artistic level through academia. So I just decided I wanted to keep doing this. I love how, during performances of Chekhov, Shakespeare and others, you have to be fully engaged in it, and with my SCETL education, I am able to have a full understanding of the historical context. That’s exactly what SCETL professors push students to do, so it became natural to externalize that onto performances. Bronwyn Elizabeth as Ophelia in "Hamlet" for the Southwest Shakespeare Company. Photo courtesy of Devon C. Adams

Bronwyn Elizabeth as Ophelia in "Hamlet" for the Southwest Shakespeare Company. Photo courtesy of Devon C. Adams

Q: How do you benefit as a dramatic artist from your education at SCETL?

A: I have a great story about this. I recently spoke at a seminar about Miranda, a character I got introduced to during the Shakespeare in the Pines course, the first ASU class I’ve ever taken. I had a piece of introspection I gained at that course, which I lifted from back then. I introduced it during the seminar and my director turned to the audience and said, “Wow. This is what you pay for when you pay for an actor.” SCETL has had a direct contribution to my career as an actor.  My general impression of SCETL is encapsulated in this open-ended question: "Wouldn’t it be fun … ?" They engaged with me on an artistic level through academia. So I just decided I wanted to keep doing this. — Bronwyn Elizabeth

My general impression of SCETL is encapsulated in this open-ended question: "Wouldn’t it be fun … ?" They engaged with me on an artistic level through academia. So I just decided I wanted to keep doing this. — Bronwyn Elizabeth

Q: Are you a different actor today from the one you would have been had you not studied classical liberal education?

A: Absolutely. The choice to pursue classical education as an actress versus a professional training as an actor is purposeful. There’s in-depth academic discussion. I would not have been academically prepared for the LAMDA program had I not done literature analysis throughout the ages and gained the ability to politically contextualize stories, for example. This knowledge is at the foundation of drama, and it is at the foundation of SCETL. It’s organic.

Q: Was that your original plan?

A: No. I came to ASU thinking that I would become a lawyer, but I missed acting, so I started auditioning for these roles. And at one point, I was acting and so in love with all of these characters, and Professor Carol McNamara said to me, “Bronwyn, no one will think less of you if you don’t go to law school. Do what you love!” And it feels so right.

Q: What makes SCETL special?

A: The professors and the relationships you build with them. It feels so communicative and equal. When I talk to professors Wright and McNamara, I learn so much from them, but I feel that they are truly interested in what I have to say. I felt special as a student at SCETL because the passion I have for learning was met with the passion they have for teaching. Bronwyn Elizabeth (center) as Theodosia in a production of "The Snow," written by Finnegan Kruckemeyer, at the Lyceum Theatre at ASU.

Bronwyn Elizabeth (center) as Theodosia in a production of "The Snow," written by Finnegan Kruckemeyer, at the Lyceum Theatre at ASU.

Q: What would you say to an incoming SCETL student? 

A: The only way to do something right is to do it in a way that is fulfilling to you. If I had thought at age 18 that I would be pursuing a career in acting today, I would have been very wary. It’s not a stable career, and I had to make peace with it. But know that you are going to work hard wherever you go in life, so make sure you want to go there. SCETL is very malleable with the close relationships you can build with your professors and the wide variety of classes you can take. You can tailor your career based on the conversations you have at SCETL in an infinite number of ways, so seek out discussions that you want to have in this learning environment. Find the professors who are leading those discussions. Take classes with the professors who teach in a way that you like to learn, and realize that the school is so accommodating that you can tailor the rest of your educational journey in that direction.

Q: What is your career goal?

A: Looking at the roles I’ve played and where I am headed, I can say that I’ve had a dream come true almost daily over the last couple of years. I wake up every day and I can’t believe all that’s happening in my life, and can’t wait to see what happens next.

Manager of marketing and communications, School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership

918-859-3013 mbrookey@asu.edu

The Grand Challenges Scholars Program encourages students to diversify their academic journey beyond engineering to include studies of culture, ethics, policy, human behavior, entrepreneurship and other disciplines. This can lead to students completing multiple majors or minors, in addition to their engineering degrees.Known as GCSP, the program is offered by the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineer...

The Grand Challenges Scholars Program encourages students to diversify their academic journey beyond engineering to include studies of culture, ethics, policy, human behavior, entrepreneurship and other disciplines. This can lead to students completing multiple majors or minors, in addition to their engineering degrees.

Known as GCSP, the program is offered by the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University and allows students to address global concerns through competencies that impart an ability to consider all aspects of a problem and generate solutions to benefit society. Students in Arizona State University’s Grand Challenges Scholars Program prepare to address global concerns through competencies that impart an ability to see the big picture, consider all aspects of a problem and create value for society. The 21 graduates (13 pictured) of the spring 2022 cohort represent the largest cohort in the Fulton Schools program’s history. Photo by Erika Gronek/ASU Download Full Image

“The outcomes and future paths of our graduates is diverse this year,” says Amy Trowbridge, faculty director of ASU’s Grand Challenges Scholars Program and a senior lecturer in the Fulton Schools. “Some of our graduates are continuing their studies in economics, policy and law, while others will pursue graduate degrees in engineering fields or begin their working careers in industry. Their engineering degrees and experiences in the Grand Challenges Scholars Program have prepared them to be successful in any field they choose.”

A cohort of 21 Grand Challenges Scholars is graduating from the Fulton Schools this spring. The group is the largest yet from the program, which continues to grow and strengthen the ASU community.

“This group of students is ambitious, hardworking, intelligent and extremely resilient,” Trowbridge says. “Despite experiencing changes in study abroad and other plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these students persisted in their GCSP journeys and are now graduating as the best of the best.”

To become a part of the Grand Challenges Scholars community students must exhibit five competencies through research or a creative project, multidisciplinary learning, entrepreneurship, multicultural experience and a service-learning project.Search for educational equality Grand Challenges Scholar Alexia Roberts will continue her academic career as a student at Harvard Law School. Photo by Erika Gronek/ASU

Grand Challenges Scholar Alexia Roberts will continue her academic career as a student at Harvard Law School. Photo by Erika Gronek/ASU

Alexia Roberts, who is graduating with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering along with a Bachelor of Arts in political science from ASU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, says she feels more students should participate in programs like GCSP.

“It allowed me to see engineering for more than just what I learned in class,” Roberts says. “I got practical knowledge and a broader understanding of ideas, not just words on paper. I’m excited to be graduating but saddened to say goodbye to my undergrad years.”

Roberts had never heard of GCSP before receiving an email from the program before she started her first semester at ASU.

“The email really intrigued me,” Roberts says. “The idea that I got to use my courses to make systemic impacts on major world problems was exactly what I wanted to do.”

Thanks to GCSP, Roberts became interested in government and how policies created 50 years ago still impact us today.

“GCSP gave me direction because it exposed me to a way of thinking and a degree program I might not have found otherwise,” she says. “Joining GCSP was one of the best things I did for myself when I started college. I know that a lot of programs and extracurriculars I joined during college were because of GCSP.”

Roberts, who will attend Harvard Law School in the fall, says she always had a passion for educational inequality and that GCSP allowed her to use engineering to tackle these issues.

“My main GCSP project was focusing on retention factors for Black women in engineering,” Roberts says. “I am a Black female and there are not many others in engineering programs, so I wanted to see why that was and how we can get more Black women into engineering programs and walk across the stage in four years. Equality is very important to me and that includes equality of opportunity, which is something that is currently not happening in (many) engineering courses across America.”Re-energizing after nature strikes Grand Challenges Scholar Jairo Ramirez Torres will continue his academic career in the European Union’s Erasmus Mundus joint master’s program in economics of globalization and European integration. Photo by Erika Gronek/ASU

Grand Challenges Scholar Jairo Ramirez Torres will continue his academic career in the European Union’s Erasmus Mundus joint master’s program in economics of globalization and European integration. Photo by Erika Gronek/ASU

Jairo Ramirez Torres, who is graduating with a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering and a Bachelor of Science in economics from ASU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, selected sustainability projects while in GCSP after a hurricane left his native Puerto Rico without power.

He says he is very interested in expanding energy access and had the opportunity to research power devices, learn about cultural differences in communication styles and work with a team of engineering students from Australia as part of his GCSP experiences.

“My interests in the field started as I learned first-hand about the disparities in access that exist today,” Ramirez Torres says. “It was solidified by the natural disasters I lived through in Puerto Rico that destroyed our power system and I felt a responsibility to contribute to building more resilient and sustainable energy infrastructure.”

The majority of the projects Ramirez Torres worked fell in the energy category.

“It is one of the areas I have much interest in,” Ramirez Torres says. “I hope to pursue a career that allows me to use both sides of my expertise, technical and non-technical.”

While working in the energy and environmental policy field is his goal, the next stop on his academic journey will take him to participate in the European Union’s Erasmus Mundus joint master’s degree program in economics of globalization and European integration.Technology in the shade Grand Challenges Scholar Maya Muir will continue her academic career as a computer science master’s student in the Fulton Schools. Photo by Erika Gronek/ASU

Grand Challenges Scholar Maya Muir will continue her academic career as a computer science master’s student in the Fulton Schools. Photo by Erika Gronek/ASU

Maya Muir, who is graduating with a Bachelor of Science in computer science, as well as a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from ASU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, first got involved in GCSP during her sophomore year.

“I was interested in working on one of the Grand Challenges because I wanted to use the knowledge from my degree to make a difference in people’s lives,” Muir says. “GCSP encouraged me to become a more well-rounded engineer through the completion of the five competencies.”

Muir’s research was shared in her honors thesis for Barrett, The Honors College and the Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative, better known as FURI.

“I created a web-based tool that would allow urban city planners to evaluate how effective a shade structure would be in a given location,” Muir says. “This would allow them to choose the best shade type for the location where they want shade.”

Muir, who is also a Fulton Schools Outstanding Graduate this semester, chose her research project because climate change is an important issue to her.

“This project will help protect humans from the increasing temperatures we are experiencing and the results of it,” Muir says. “It also allowed me to explore data visualization, which is an area I am interested in.”Sustainability in the face of climate change Grand Challenges Scholar Smith Pittman will continue her academic career as a mechanical engineering doctoral student at Colorado State University. Photo by Erika Gronek/ASU

Grand Challenges Scholar Smith Pittman will continue her academic career as a mechanical engineering doctoral student at Colorado State University. Photo by Erika Gronek/ASU

Smith Pittman, who is graduating with a Bachelor of Science in environmental engineering along with a minor in Spanish from ASU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, says that when she looks at where she started as a first-year student and where she is now, she is grateful that she had the experiences that she had in GCSP.

Pittman says she was specifically interested in being a socially aware engineer and wanted to influence the effects of environmental issues on marginalized communities versus affluent areas.

“Joining GCSP was an easy choice because I am really interested in sustainability,” Pittman says. “I think climate change is one of the most troublesome issues humanity faces and I have always wanted to study it.”

Pittman, who is also a spring 2022  Fulton Schools Outstanding Graduate, reached out to ASU Regents Professor Bruce Rittman and asked to join his research group. He assigned her a project that would become her main research project and one she would share in her honors thesis for Barrett, The Honors College and FURI.

“The project evaluates improving valuable product recovery in anaerobic digestion through lignocellulose pretreatment with rabbit fecal matter,” Pittman says. “I am glad I was assigned this project because anaerobic digestion is of interest to me due to its ability to produce biofuels.”

Next, Pittman will continue her research in complete life cycle analysis of anaerobic digestion as a mechanical engineering doctoral student at Colorado State University.

“The connectivity between my experiences is sustainability, but not just of earth systems, of human systems as well,” Pittman says. “This is because humans are an integral part of the earth system and sustainability of both must be achieved for either to be achieved.”A bright future aheadThis cohort of graduates had a large impact on the ASU community and beyond through the founding of new student organizations, mentoring students and developing solutions to improve local and global communities.

“GCSP provided an opportunity for them to be able to both explore what they are passionate about and venture outside of their comfort zones in some cases while gaining valuable experiences,” says Haolin Zhu, faculty director of ASU’s Grand Challenges Scholars Program and a senior lecturer in the Fulton Schools.

They will be recognized by the National Academy of Engineering as Grand Challenges Scholars, joining a community of more than 1,700 total GCSP alumni across the organization’s international network.

“These students are leaders and changemakers,” Trowbridge says. “We are excited to see the impact they each make in the future as they continue on their varied career paths.”

Web content comm administrator, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering

480-727-1957 erik.wirtanen@asu.edu