Katie Oliviero, assistant professor of women’s, gender and sexuality studies, has just gotten back from the National Women’s Studies Association Meeting, where she attended a conference among, “scholars, activist and teachers in [her] field of critical race and gender studies.”

When she’s not working Olivieiro loves to bike by the ocean and hike. Oliviero attended Dartmouth College for her undergrad and got her masters and Ph.D in women’s studies from the University of California Los Angeles.

Her favorite professor in college was Agnes Lugo-Ortiz, who was her feminist theory professor. Oliviero said that Lugo-Ortiz, “made us think.” Oliviero studied abroad in Amsterdam, where she explored gender and sexuality studies.

While studying at Dartmouth Oliviero said that she and her friends, “were frustrated with how gender neutral [a particular] sculpture was… we put breast on that sculpture”

Oliviero, who grew up in Maine, said that at this stage in her life “where [she’s] from all over.” She continued by stating that, “to do this kind of scholarly and teaching work at universities and colleges, it usually requires that [she] move all around.”

Oliviero has been teaching for 15 years. She started teaching at the University of Colorado in the Colorado law school. Before Colorado, Oliviero lived in Atlanta where she taught at Emory University in their gender women and feminist studies program. Prior to this Oliviero lived in Los Angeles for five years while she completed her masters and Ph.D. She also lived in New Hampshire for 12 years where she taught high school and also went to high school herself.

Oliviero started working at Dickinson College in the fall of 2014.

“I’ve really come to feel strongly that I like to work closely with students,” Oliviero said, “One of my favorite parts of the day is the one on one you get with students in office hours, evaluating the paper and the dialogue you have in the classroom.”

“My education was amazing,” Oliviero explained, “It’s one of the reasons I like teaching here because I want to pay forward that gift I got.”