Studying the Humanities at Stanford: Irie, Angie, and Panos

What inspires Stanford undergraduates to study the humanities and arts? Meet three students who are pursuing their passions by studying comparative literature, theater, English, and more.

--Irie Evans (Theater and Performance Studies major, Spanish minor)
--Angie Lee (English major, Human Biology minor)
--Panos Vandris (Comparative Literature major, Biology major)

Video by Todd Holland; Photographs by Harrison Truong

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Irie Evans: Acting is what drives me, it's what excites me. What inspires me about theater is the ability to create. Each time you pick up a script or start typing on your computer, you're putting art into the world.

Angie Lee: I think what excites me most about studying English is the fact that I get to spend so much time with words. I've always been kind of obsessed with words since I was little, and I'm fascinated by how they have the power to define, the power to tell stories, the power to change lives.

Panos Vandris: When I tell people I'm double majoring in comparative literature and biology, they're quite surprised. I think the fields are less different than we make them out to be. I chose to attend Stanford precisely because the institution is so very strong in both the sciences and humanities. Studying the sciences and humanities has allowed me to think about ways in which the disciplines can communicate more effectively and always emphasize that medicine is about the human sitting across from you who is suffering.

Angie: I think writing, in general, allows me to express myself and let go of thoughts that boggle my mind. Storytelling is important because it's ultimately a way of practicing empathy, in that creating stories allows you to get into the minds of your characters and thus real people in the world.

Irie: What makes art effective for me is having the skills and technique in order to communicate truthfully and honestly, and that requires practice and education. The more effective your art is, the more people it can touch.

Panos: I think that that critical analysis, that critical thinking, that critical discussion that happens in humanities classes where we break down arguments, where we deconstruct them and then we build them back up, really lets us see that no person is 100% correct, and one philosophical framework or one historical construct cannot explain all of the complexity in the world, in literature, in everyday life.

Angie: It's in the name, I guess. The study of humans, whether that's in the form of storytelling because that's a human instinct, of human history, of the way we interact with the world around us, and how we can improve those interactions to make each other and the world better, in a sense. My name is Angie Lee, and I study English and minor in Human Biology.

Irie: My name is Irie Evans, and I major in Theater and Performance Studies with a minor in Spanish.

Panos: My name is Panos Vandris, and I'm studying Comparative Literature and Biology.

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