Instructor Spotlight: Dr. Zei

Dr. Zei is currently an instructor for the “Legal Studies: Constitutional Law” course at OHS, but her love for legal studies and law wasn’t always the path she had envisioned. During the early stages of her college experience, Dr. Zei focused on studying neuroscience. She got her Ph.D. in neuroscience at Stanford so a lot of her college experience involved studying biophysics. It was during this time that she developed a deeper love for learning that introduced her to the world of law. At the end of her Ph.D., she decided to sit in on some classes at Stanford Law School. “I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue and like, try and have a lab of my own, or work in biotech” were her thoughts as she started to plan for her future. The classes she sat in on were related to her Ph.D. as they  “spanned biotechnology and the law in the sense of looking at how people should protect their ideas.” She thought this combination was particularly intriguing and coupled with her love for learning she decided to go to law school at Berkeley Law, finishing up her third year at Harvard Law, and began working at a law firm soon after. When recounting her experience, she thought this was “great” describing how she “always liked writing, talking, thinking about things and interacting with people” and that this combination of studies was a great fit for her.

This love for interacting with others was something Dr. Zei carried with her to OHS when first teaching, not as an instructor, but as a guest speaker. Dr. Zei met Dr. Zarlengo, the OHS Division Head of English, in law school and she had invited her to act as “guest justice” for her Legal Studies course. Describing her introduction to teaching at OHS, Dr. Zei said it was as if the “stars aligned” and when the opportunity for her to teach at OHS was presented to her, she was excited to start. Despite her initial enthusiasm, the transition to teaching law concerned her because of the online structure of OHS. She expressed her worries “that it wouldn’t be a community” and that she would be “lecturing at people who just sat there with their cameras off” but she would soon learn that the community at OHS is very “interactive” describing their engagement as a “pleasant surprise.”

Describing her experience teaching, she stated that it “forces you to pick up the material you haven’t thought about in a long time” and it is “particularly rewarding when students get excited about it.” She discussed how the course is unique in the way that it’s structured to be different each year. Praising Dr. Zarlengo’s curriculum, she shared how the second semester of the course focuses on analyzing a case that is currently being reviewed by the Supreme Court. This case is one the students get to choose and analyzing it alongside the Supreme Court allows for a unique and beneficial experience. During the first semester, students are also taught the specifics and logistics of learning law such as how to properly read a court case.  Dr. Zei says the course strives to “ask the students to question why things are the way they are. Why do we have judicial review? Why do we do things this certain way? Why is it that the executive has this power and not another?” The students are taught to “not just take in information but question the premises” which she believes is a “healthy approach to the government” emphasizing the importance of “not taking it as a given that things are highlighted a certain way.” It is through these practices that Dr. Zei believes that the Constitutional Law course is unique in comparison to other Legal Studies courses taught at other institutions.

Even outside of OHS, Dr. Zei continues to live an active life in large part due to her three daughters which keep her on the move. Currently living near Boston, she has learned that it is best to take her “outside time” before the cold winter keeps her from being with nature. However, staying inside is not much of a problem for her as she stays busy cooking various meals for her family. Dr. Zei has an immense love for cooking complicated foods from all over the world. This love has inspired her impressively large collection of cookbooks that continues to grow as she describes herself as a “freak about cookbooks” sometimes even sitting down to read them like novels. This love for cooking, like the joy she gets from students being excited about legal studies, is a feeling that motivates Dr. Zei to continue cooking more. Along with that, she describes cooking and reading cookbooks as invoking a “soothing” feeling. Throughout her life, it is almost palpable the passion she shows for the things that she devotes herself to, and when applied to legal studies, classes with Dr. Zei are always thought-provoking and eye-opening.