Ariana Zetlin is a third-year Ph.D. student in Education, Culture, and Society at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research explores how students develop key dispositions for engaging in dialogue across differences—such as empathy, humility, and curiosity—and how educators can intentionally foster these dispositions within classrooms. This focus drew Ariana to the SNF Paideia graduate fellowship, where she is excited to explore how courses and co-curricular programming support Paideia’s dialogue-centered goals.
Prior to her doctoral work, Ariana taught and studied civic education both as a classroom teacher in Virginia and Taiwan and as a research analyst at Harvard’s Safra Center for Ethics. She holds a B.A./M.T. in History and Education from the University of Virginia, and an M.Ed. in Education Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. During her free time, Ariana loves exploring Philadelphia’s food and coffee scene and hiking with her husband and their pup.