Betty Srour and Peter (PJ) Hamill pursued opportunities to better understand different religions and cultures at the University of Miami. They also received mentorship within the Department of Religious Studies, resulting in the extraordinary academic achievement of becoming published authors in an academic journal as undergraduates.
Betty Srour
Betty Srour graduated summa cum laude during the Fall 2024 Commencement Ceremony from the School of Communication with a bachelor’s degree in public relations and a second major in political science from the College of Arts and Sciences. In addition to her studies, Srour served as the president of the University of Miami Hillel. This fall, she will attend law school and hopes to eventually work in intellectual property law.
Srour said her academic studies in political science informed her role as a student leader on campus.
“When I started to take classes in the College of Arts and Sciences’ political science department and learned about diversity within the legal system, it helped me when I became more involved as a student leader on campus,” Srour said. “I am so appreciative that U Miami afforded me the opportunity to become more world-minded, empathetic, and be friends with people of different cultures and backgrounds.”
During law school, Srour plans to continue being an active member of the campus community. “I think it’s really special that I have an opportunity to make friends with and influence the future change-makers of society,” Srour said. “Working at building those bridges now can influence the broader spectrum of tomorrow.”
PJ Hamill
Peter (PJ) Hamill will graduate from the College of Arts and Sciences on May 9 with a Bachelor of Arts in religious studies and classics. He practices Catholicism and chose to study religion because learning about the interconnected aspects of different cultures interests him.
As a transfer student from a large state university, Hamill approached a professor outside of class for the first time ever during his junior year at the college while he was taking a course with Henry Green, a professor in the Department of Religious Studies. Little did Hamill know that Green would become a mentor for both him and Srour, helping them to each write articles which were published in the fifth edition of Remembrance and Research, the academic journal of the Israel Oral History Association.
“The community in the college is so special between the small class sizes and being able to work with faculty members,” Hamill said. “Having that one-on-one engagement with professors has changed my life, I know it’s changed Betty’s life, and I’m sure many other students in the college would say the same.” He also noted that the fifth floor of the Ashe Administration Building, where the Department of Religious Studies and the Department of Classics are located, feels like a second home to him.
After graduation, Hamill will attend University College London to complete a master’s degree focusing on investment law before applying to law school in London. He is interested in international investment and development law.
Green, who taught Srour and Hamill in his course “Democracy and Religion in Israel and Palestine,” finds Srour and Hamill, and students at the college in general, unique in their level of acceptance of religions and cultures different from their own. “It is incredibly special that the University has created an environment in which students are comfortable sharing their beliefs and are accepting of others’ beliefs due to their advanced critical thinking skills and excellent education,” Green said.
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