Marquette political science professor Noelle Brigden is no ordinary teacher.
From nearly breaking her spinal cord to receiving her PhD from Cornell University, her journey has taken her on a long winding road, as she described it.
Brigden grew up in southern California, and at the age of 16, she dropped out of high school.
“I was living with a few other people and working several jobs to make ends meet,” Brigden said.
When her friend called her and asked if she wanted to join the military, she leaped at the opportunity. Brigden was stationed in South Korea for a year, before being sent to Germany, with a stint in Bosnia as well. It was during her second stay in Germany that a snowboarding accident changed her life forever.
“I would go snowboarding in the Alps every weekend,” Brigden said. “And just shy of when my enlistment would be renewed, I ended up shattering a vertebra in my back.”
The injury sent Brigden to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. The facility is one of the most prominent military medical centers in the country and has served several U.S. presidents, from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump.
After spending nearly a year recovering from her injuries, she was discharged from the Army and offered a plane ticket back to Southern California. However, she did not seek to return back to her old life. Instead, she took a plane ticket to Colorado, where she enrolled in a local community college in Steamboat Springs, using Veterans Affairs benefits to help pay for her education. While she was originally planning to study animal husbandry, those aspirations changed when she saw a film in a Spanish class.
“In that Spanish class we were watching movies about the politics of Latin America. And it was while watching those films that I was able to make sense of all my experiences … growing up in Southern California,” Brigden said.
Brigden also added that as a result of this experience, all of the courses she teaches include a requirement to attend a film screening.
After switching her major to international studies, Brigden transferred to the University of Denver, where she was able to complete a dual bachelor’s/master’s degree program with the help of her VA benefits.
When she decided to apply for a PhD program, Brigden said that a significant motivation was her desire to teach college students.
“I enjoy fieldwork, but being a teacher was really what motivated me, because you don’t go through a transformation from a high school dropout to [a political scholar] without having a passion for teaching,” Brigden said.
While Brigden achieved great accomplishments, the ramifications from her snowboarding accident still loomed after she received her PhD. She struggled to perform everyday tasks like picking up her kids, walking around campus or even holding her books. It was during this time that she discovered the power of weightlifting.
“I started figuring out that every time I lifted a barbell, I felt really powerful,” Brigden said.
Brigden would go on to turn her newfound passion for lifting into something that could be used to make a difference. Later in her career, she returned to El Salvador, a country where she had done research for her PhD and eventually established a non-profit community gym in an area where she studied. She said that the community gym programs were designed to empower women who were survivors of traumatic violence.
Brigden has taught at several high-profile universities, including Brown and Princeton, however she has a specific reason that she has chosen to stay at Marquette.
“I was actually offered more money at a very prestigious liberal arts college on the east coast.” Brigden said. “[But Marquette has] a department of political science … which is very diverse methodologically.” She went on to say that even though the department has a diverse set of research views, they are all able to respect and assist each other in their intellectual pursuits.
Going forward, Brigden said she wants to continue her research and continue to gain insights about different groups of people around the world. She is currently working on a book about transnational fitness cultures under the Stanford University press.
“My most immediate ambition is to finish my damn book,” Brigden said.
This story was written by Sahil Gupta. He can be reached at [email protected].
