Dr. Lisa Nishii, a professor in the ILR school and part of the Cornell’s board of administrators responsible for facilitating inclusion on the Cornell campus. Born in Tokyo to an American mother and Japanese father, she grew up wanting to become the very trade ambassador between America and Japan. As she made her way through her educational journey, she struggled with figuring out what to do for her career. In one of her classes regarding how culture affected how people think, and how that affects how they act, she wrote a research paper. She realized her passion was understanding the relationship between these elements in the human psyche. At first, she was hesitant toward going into academia, but her mentors pointed out her passion for learning was suitable for going into academia, as opposed to working in a corporate environment. Long story short, she became a professor here at Cornell.

While this was her story, it made me feel more comfortable not knowing exactly where my educational journey would take me. Ironically, the things she described as being interested in are also my own interests. But as a Plant Science major, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to take that many classes in that field. And now, when I finally got to writing this post, am considering changing my major to Interdisicplinary Studies (Make your own major). The question is, whether to specialize in Plant Breeding and Genetics, or incorporate social studies (history, culture, government, etc.) into my new major?