Christina Kolias, featured above, is a second-generation Greek American scholar. She is a second-year English doctoral student working towards an Early Modern Studies Concentration while earning a Women’s and Gender Studies Certificate and a Certificate in College Teaching with Claremont Graduate University’s Preparing Future Faculty program. Christina received her BA and MA in English, both from California State University, Fullerton. Christina’s areas of focus are: English Renaissance Literature, William Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe, and John Milton. Christina’s research interests include feminine psychology, critical race studies, sexuality and desire, the virgin trope, and self-actualization. Christina is also the 2021-2022 Vice President of the Claremont Graduate Student Council and is a mentor for the IGNITE Student Mentorship program. She currently works as a substitute teacher in K-12 education.

Christina shared her favorite part about being a mentor. “When I began my doctoral journey at CGU in Fall 2020, I was a mentee. I could not have navigated my first year in a doctoral program without the community and resources I gained from IGNITE. I have loved being able to transition from mentee to the role of mentor this year because I get to support a first-year graduate student in the same way I felt supported by continuing CGU’s inclusive campus culture. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know my mentee in and outside of the classroom.”