For those of you who don’t know Elizabeth Hanson, better known as Betty, you’re missing out on one of the best professors at UConn. Now retired, Professor Hanson still teaches one course at UConn, South Asia and World Politics, and serves as the Director of India Studies. Not only does she prove to be a vital contribution to UConn having started the University of Connecticut Model United Nations and serving as chair of several committees, but she also proves to be an example of someone we should strive to be like every day.
Professor Hanson has attained quite a number of interesting stories throughout her days accomplishing what some of us can only hope to do. From white water rafting to mountain trekking, to backpacking in Europe and advising officials in India, nothing slows Hanson down. Not only does she serve as a role model of the importance of making a difference and truly living, but also serves as an inspiration to women.
“Princeton told me they didn’t have accommodations for women.”
“I was always interested in politics. I would listen to election results when I was small. My last name was Crump (rhymes with trump) and there was a boss who ruled in Memphis, which had the same name. Due to this, I received special attention, which encouraged my interest in politics. When I went to college, I originally majored in philosophy only to change it to international relations. After graduating, I spent three months hitchhiking in Europe. During this time, two major crises occurred. When I was in the back of a car going through Germany, I got a glimpse of what was going on. After hitchhiking, I decided to apply for grad school in international relations. Not knowing where to apply, I had heard of Princeton and Columbia. Princeton told me they didn’t have accommodations for women (big mistake) so I went to Columbia. When I was studying, the Cold War was going on so I was invested in that. Post-graduation and having children, I worked as research associate at Yale and taught a National Security course there for a few years before coming to UConn.”
“Strange to me why Americans didn’t pay attention to such a fascinating place.”
“Halfway through teaching, I decided I wanted to do something exciting, I wanted a change of scenery. I applied for the Fulbright Fellowship to teach in India, it seemed like an exotic place. I taught a semester and was overwhelmed with the place. It was full of mystery and unrealized potential. This was before the war in Afghan and it was strange to me why Americans didn’t pay attention to such a fascinating place. As soon as I came back, I started a South Asia study group and introduced the course. Then I applied for another fellowship in India five years later, got it, and taught another semester at a different university. When I came back, I decided to create the India Studies program. My future plans for this program include creating a regular semester study abroad program, create more contacts with other Indian universities, and try to encourage more to do research in India!”
“I feel like I’m an inhabitant of their country for a while.”
“I believe in the theory that people have personalities that fit with certain countries, my personality fits with a place like India not Russia (it also looks too cold). It’s always a strange perspective when I find myself being looked at funny, I feel like I’m an inhabitant of their country for a while. While I was in India, every moment was defining. Every minute, every day there was something new in India, I loved how unpredictable it was. When I arrived in India, I got a ride on the back of a motor scooter and attended a party where everyone was wearing silk traditional clothing and here I was in a cotton outfit. When I was in Pakistan two years ago, I discovered the Chinese building an economic corridor for their route so I became interested in their impact on the relations it had with the area. Looking at my travels, I’ve also been to Greece, Turkey, Morocco, Bangladesh, and throughout Europe. Last year, I spent time in China giving lectures. I don’t really consider traveling throughout Europe to be really an adventure. I started my journeys with doing a lot of trekking in mountains. These include the Andes, Pyrenees, Himalayas, as well as ones in California and Bhutan. Now I consider myself too old so I do boring tourist trips. I’ll be going to Malta this summer. For my next adventure I want to go to Afghanistan regardless of what’s going on.”
“I would be happy to die in an adventure.”
“I definitely consider myself an adventurer, I love adventure. You need a certain mentality to be one, launching yourself into something totally unpredictable. I like the prospect of anything can happen, it is exciting. I would be happy to die in an adventure or end my life with a noble cause.”
“Traveling changes perspective.”
Hanson, every day, proves to us the importance of persevering in what you’re passionate about as well as living life to the fullest. Throughout the interview, she stressed the importance of how traveling changes perspective and, for her, that her hitchhiking experience as well as India helped her establish a different mindset. At the end of the day, there’s a difference between being alive and living. Hanson is living through her travels, teaching, and inspiring us. The UConn community is lucky to have her.