The son of an ambitious business executive, Justin Doran spent his childhood on the move. He bounced around places such as southeast Asia and California, never living more than three years in one spot until he enrolled at the University of Illinois.
Doran was still unsettled, however, as he realized that his major, computer science, was a wrong choice for him. Looking for more interaction in his studies, he tried a course called New Testament in English, in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Invigorated, Doran switched majors to political science and religious studies, and found his niche.
Now, as the senior prepares to pursue a graduate degree in religious studies at the University of California-Riverside, Doran has a hard time describing his feelings for the U of I, where he's spent the longest stint of his life.
Words typically aren't his weak point. Aside from partaking in the philosophical debates of his field—he's long been fascinated by belief formation, for example—Doran spent his final year on campus as a popular weekly columnist for the Daily Illini, where he took humorous and thoughtful stances on topics ranging from chit-chat to politics, art, animal rights, and one entitled, "Oh Illinois, how sweet the sound."
In accepting the prestigious Chancellor's Distinguished Fellowship at UC-Riverside (choosing that over several offers from law schools and the graduate program at Boston University), Doran hopes to someday have a faculty position at a large research university. As for where that might be, Doran says he wouldn't mind coming back home again to LAS.
"I feel more attached to U of I than literally any other place. I consider Champaign my home," Doran says. "If I told you how good I felt about Illinois, people would think you were writing propaganda, because I really love Illinois."
