Elizabeth Warren is an American politician and legal professional who has served as the Senator of Massachusetts. The political figure also has a lesser-known history in the world of education.
Elizabeth Warren has taught law at multiple universities, including the prestigious Harvard. She began teaching at the institution in 1992 and in 1995, she accepted a permanent role as a Professor of Law.
Read more about Elizabeth Warren, her political career and her experience as an educator.
Who is Elizabeth Warren?
Elizabeth Warren grew up in Oklahoma, where she lived with her family until her teens. She had three brothers, all of whom were at least eight years older.
While her brothers joined the military, a young Warren was still in school when her father became ill and could no longer work. Her mother was forced to seek work and found a job in a local store that paid minimum wage.
Their car was repossessed and they feared that they may also lose their home. She has since cited this experience in her political speeches.
In high school, she was a keen debater, and her peers suggested that she may be suited to a career in law.
After high school, she attended college in order to become a teacher but dropped out to get married when she was 19. She would later return to college, graduating as a Bachelor of Science.
The family relocated to New Jersey and welcomed their first child. When the child was two, Warren gained a law degree from Rutgers University, Newark, and passed the bar examination.
“I paid my money, got a babysitter and showed up,” she recalls.
In her registration to the bar, she states her ethnicity as “Native American,” though this has been the topic of debate. President Trump controversially dubbed her ‘Pocahontas’ and challenged her to take a DNA test to prove her ancestry.
In an effort to prove this to be factual, she released a video detailing her heritage, which included a DNA test.
Political Career
In 2012, Elizabeth Warren was voted to the Senate in the Massachusetts election. She made an impassioned speech upon her election, telling voters “I won’t just be your senator, I will be your champion.”
She later served as Special Advisor to President Obama on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The purpose of this, Obama stated, was to “crack down on the abusive practices of unscrupulous mortgage lenders, reinforce the new credit card law we passed banning unfair rate hikes, and ensure that folks aren’t unwittingly caught by overdraft fees when they sign up for a checking account.”
In the 2016 presidential election, many expected Warren to run. However, this failed to materialize and she ultimately backed Hilary Clinton for the role.
She has commented politically on a wide range of issues, including her idea of a wealth tax. This would involve increasing taxes on the richest families in America by taxing assets over $50 million.
Teaching Career
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Warren explained that she had wanted to pursue a teaching career since childhood, but feared this may not be possible. “I’ve wanted to be a teacher since second grade. When I dropped out of school at 19 and got married, I thought I’d given that up.”
She has taught law at multiple universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan, University of Texas, University of Houston, and the institution in which he gained her law degree, Rutgers University.
In 1992, she began the role of Visiting Professor at Harvard University, and in 1995, was appointed in a permanent position as the Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law.
She has received numerous teaching accolades, including the Harvard Law School Association Award. In 2010, TIME Magazine named her in their list of the top 100 most influential people.