Student Experience
Life Beyond the Redwoods: Ryan Haraden at Georgetown University Law Center
One year after graduating from UC Santa Cruz, Ryan Haraden (Stevenson ’24, intensive psychology) is a J.D. Candidate at Georgetown University Law Center.
Ryan Haraden (Stevenson ’24, intensive psychology)
Ryan Haraden (Stevenson ’24, intensive psychology) came to UC Santa Cruz with many passions. So many, in fact, that he started his college journey as an undecided major, unable to choose between his interests in history, anthropology, psychology, politics, and sciences. Haraden credits UC Santa Cruz with giving him the opportunity to explore all of his interests until he narrowed it down to one.
“I simply couldn’t pick just one,” Haraden said. “At UC Santa Cruz, I was able to take classes in all of the subjects I was passionate about. That allowed me to figure out what mattered most to me and find my place.”
After taking a couple of intriguing courses in psychology, Haraden committed to the major, but it wasn’t until he took a politics course, that he knew what he truly wanted to do.
“As a lover of social science classes as early as elementary school, I found the history of governments and politics fascinating, though I never thought of anything in government or law as a potential career,” Haraden said. “Such a love was further developed in my Stevenson Core classes which I found incredibly rewarding and eye-opening.”
Haraden specifically credits three professors with igniting a deep passion for politics and law, and showing him that he could seek out a career in the field. Zeb Rifaqat, Vanita Seth, and Eva Bertram played a key role in Haraden’s education at UC Santa Cruz.
In addition to his coursework, Haraden was a peer tutor through Learning Support Services, was a Stevenson College Fellow, and a research assistant and undergraduate lab manager in the Psychology Department’s Hausman Memory and Metacognition Lab under Dr. Hannah Hausman. There, Haraden learned how to program experiments, run studies with participants, and gained hands-on experience to practically apply skills he learned in his classes.
Now, Haraden is a J.D. Candidate at Georgetown University Law Center with plans to become a labor or employment attorney. At Georgetown, Haraden founded the board game club Statutes & Ladders, is serving as the Social and Community Chair for Georgetown’s chapter of the American Constitution Society, and is the Community Development Co-Chair of Georgetown Law’s Outlaw chapter—a law school LGBTQ+ affinity group.
In addition to law school, Haraden has gained hands-on experience through pro bono work with the Washington Lawyers’ Committee’s Workers’ Rights Clinic and through an internship with the National Institute for Workers’ Rights, contributing to efforts that promote a more equitable economic future for all workers.
In the future, Haraden hopes to represent workers, unions, and those without the resources to defend their rights. Driven by a strong sense of justice, he wants to tackle issues like wage theft, forced arbitration, and economic inequality.
Explore where the Class of 2024 is now. Discover the top employers hiring our alumni, the leading graduate schools admitting them, and first-hand accounts of their journeys.