Four Years in Focus Senior Ryan Doty reflects on his time at Washington and Lee and the experiences he’ll carry with him into his next chapter.

Ryan Doty '26
May 21, 2026

Ryan Doty ’26 has spent his last four years on campus creating an academic path all his own. A chemistry major and creative writing double major, the Tipton, Michigan, native came to Washington and Lee University as a Johnson Scholar and has explored unexpected connections between science, storytelling and the visual world. Whether he’s working through an organic chemistry problem set, copyediting fiction for Shenandoah literary magazine or framing the perfect shot as a campus photographer, Doty has let curiosity be his guide.

It was that spirit that carried him across Europe the summer before his junior year, when he traced his family’s roots through the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland and France — camera and journal in hand — on a photojournalistic pilgrimage. Inspired by that journey, we asked Doty to reflect on his time at W&L.

The Beauty of the Shenandoah Valley

I’ll begin with how I’ve started every day this academic year: watching the sun rise over the side of Hogback Mountain on a dirt road a few miles north of Kerrs Creek, with an exceptional view of both House mountains. These mornings often commence with me fighting past a series of alarms before I tear open a packet of maple brown sugar oatmeal and start a pot of hot water for breakfast. I take a look at my calendar (depending on the year, Ansel Adams top photographs or national park vistas) while stationed at my card table desk, eating and drinking a cup of green tea in preparation for the slew of exciting opportunities that await. I read my daily devotional, check to make sure I didn’t leave my keys in my room and head to my car (after brushing my teeth, of course). Typically, I’ll listen to a few songs from my top songs playlist (anything Ed Sheeran or Tom Misch) while driving past the flurry of cows, dogs and pastures situated along my route before I turn left onto Route 60 and head to campus.

These mornings are often taken for granted. I’d like to say that I’m consciously sipping on my tea, admiring the beauty of the world around me, but, usually, I’m slurping it down, half-burning my mouth, lucky to remember to make a pot of water in the first place. Each start to my day garners a lively mixture of chaos and calm; a bundle of excitement and frenzy while I hustle to reach my classes on time. Regardless of the situation, I’m always grateful for the chance to see a new sunrise from the mountain, hearing the bluebirds awaken and welcome the day. In the solitude of these mornings, I’m able to prepare for the wonders each one brings.

I hope this series allows for some of the highlights across my past four years to shine through and bring a sense of welcome and excitement to current and future W&L students, staff and faculty. Let’s go!

Incredible Photography Opportunities

I love this photograph — not necessarily the composition or clarity of the image, but the moments that guided it to be taken. Also, this photo reminds me of when I had the chance to take some astrophotography images with my research adviser, Dr. Erich Uffelman, Bentley Professor of Chemistry, and Jerzee Allentini ’25 on the practice field near Liberty Hall Ruins. Nighttime photography is one of my hobbies, and while I likely won’t be as experienced as Dr. U anytime soon, I love to lose myself in the night sky, trying to capture what shines through the universe.

I captured this photo a few months ago, late at night, after one of my roommates knocked on my door close to midnight, mentioning that the northern lights were visible. I shot out of bed and raced to grab my camera and tripod, scrambling out onto our deck to try and catch the aurora. With the naked eye, you could see threads of maroon swirling into each other like waves in a tidepool. Our entire house emptied out onto the deck that night, just watching the plumes of color dance their way across the sky. I messed around with taking photos for about an hour of the aurora, and I’m happy with how they turned out. Although the images were a bit blurry (my settings weren’t perfect, and the deck was wobbly), the memory of the stillness from that night, shared with some of my favorite people, was a moment I’ll never forget. Being able to grow up over the past four years in this town has allowed for friendships like that to develop, and I’m exceptionally grateful for being able to hold a fragment of this feeling in a digital space forever.

A Classic Chemistry Study Spot

Oh, my goodness, did I ever try out the study spots on campus! I spent nearly two years trying to uncover the right location that emulated how I worked on homework back in Michigan (my dining room table), attempting the libraries, Elrod Commons and various other spots before settling on this area. This is where I studied for the second two years of my time at W&L, tucked in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and right outside Dr. Uffelman’s office. Although I had never taken a class with Dr. U before, our near-daily interactions about photography and chemistry studies prompted my joining his research group emphasizing inorganic spectroscopy of cultural heritage objects during my junior and senior years.

Over my time in this spot, I’ve taken biology exams, practiced for my physics finals and caught up with dozens of friends who always knew where to find me. I’ve even developed new relationships from maintaining this place as my workstation. One of my friends even mentioned that I should have a cardboard cutout resting in the chair when I wasn’t present, based on how often I was situated here.

It’s just funny to think about the smallest of decisions impacting your entire future. You never know what is going to happen while at college, or in life, really, and being able to take each moment in stride has been critical to my development here as an undergraduate. It’s something I’ll take with me, wherever I end up. I’m incredibly curious to see what adventures my next study spot will bring.

Shenandoah Internship

I always love having a reason to talk about this course! The story behind this photo traces back to my first-year Spring Term, when I took [associate professor of English] Beth Staples’ Literary Book Publishing course (which I highly recommend to anyone interested in the publishing world or understanding the life cycle of a book!). I quickly got along with Beth and appreciated her energy toward writing and facilitating a collaborative environment. It’s because of her, actually, that I ended up deciding to pursue a then-minor in creative writing! Over the past few years, she’s encouraged so much of my growth as a writer and has allowed me to step into a voice I didn’t know I could occupy.

Alongside this, she introduced me to the Shenandoah internship, a semester-long course focused on reviewing the Shenandoah literary magazine submissions, as well as copyediting and proofreading soon-to-be published stories. Throughout the semester, we were grouped into student teams, within which we discussed and brought forth to the entire class stories we reviewed and found worth considering further. I never could’ve imagined the types of stories people wrote, but I always appreciated the consistency in author vulnerability and passion toward submitting their work. Although I still have much to learn about publishing, I’ve learned that published authors are also rejected authors, and that in order to have your stories travel from your computer into the world’s audience, you first have to believe enough in your writing to submit it for publication. Beth is a wonderful professor, and we’re so lucky to have her at W&L. Also, what an incredible opportunity for anyone looking to gain editorial experience while a student! If it’s not clear by now, this section has morphed into a shameless plug for students to take this course. Do it! You’ll love it.

Volunteering at Campus Kitchen

This photo holds a particularly special place in my heart — this was the first image that I had a photo published in Scene on Campus! I had just started the work-study position the week prior in January 2023 and had met manager of photography Kevin Remington, Jess Kishbaugh ’24, Elena Lee ’25 and Bella Ferrate ’26. Kevin had asked us to take some different photography assignments, and mine was to shoot some images of W&L’s Campus Kitchen program, which helps donate prepared meals to the Lexington, Virginia, community. After taking these photos, I became involved with working a few cooking and food preparation shifts on my off time, which has been an incredibly fulfilling experience.

This image also includes one of my roommates from Woods Creek Apartments, Michael Wang ’25, so my rationale behind this image’s appreciation is extensive. I had just come out of my first semester at W&L, which had been difficult in adjusting to the distance from home, as well as finding new relationships and friends to process the transition with. However, this work-study changed my trajectory. I had been taking a film photography class under Professor Christa Bowden that fall, and Elena eventually connected Kevin and me, which led to this wonderful opportunity. Over the past four years, I’ve been able to document what W&L’s beauty means to me; not just in the community that so many experience, but of the quieter moments on campus, the ones that we often forget to notice among the bustle of our experience.

I’m currently working on some songwriting, and one of them is centered on this idea of shifting your perspective to understand the beauty in the world. I like to think that I accomplish this when I take and submit photos for Scene on Campus, allowing anyone to experience the beauty and brilliance in the everyday. When you think about it, or when you really look for it, you can find most anything in a new light, literally and figuratively, and understanding this has let me cherish my entire experience: the good, bad and brilliant.

Organic Chemistry Lab

These are some of the coolest people I know, part of the coolest class I’ve taken. I’d love to lie and say I enrolled in Organic Chemistry out of obligation to the major, but truthfully, the course sounded fascinating. My AP Chemistry teacher, Ron Schaffner, had distilled such an appreciation and care for the science within me, and the opportunity to take a specified form of the subject was something I couldn’t pass up. Just two days before classes began during the Fall Term of my sophomore year, I stared at the “swap class” button, switching out a drawing course for Organic Chemistry I, and I haven’t looked back since then. I’ve learned how to adapt, persevere and develop study habits, while growing academically alongside some of the smartest and most thoughtful classmates I could ask for. I’ve been challenged beyond my limits in the chemistry major, but that’s allowed me to understand more about myself and my love for puzzling concepts and uncovering solutions to problems.

The people in this photo are some of my favorites, as well: Spencer Merrell ’25; Donna Smith, instructor of chemistry; Erin Gray, assistant professor of chemistry; and Tom Son ’25. While also an Organic Lab TA (alongside Tom), Spencer helped me survive and thrive during my first year as my hall’s RA; Professor Smith was my lab instructor for Organic Chemistry and Spectroscopic methods; and Dr. Gray was my academic adviser for the major, as well as an Organic Chemistry lab instructor and professor for my Organic Chemistry courses. Dr. Gray is also a large reason why I decided to later become a chemistry major — she emulated that passion and deep interest in the subject, just like my high school teacher did a few years earlier. I also can’t write this column without thanking Professor Smith for all of her office hours and dedication to Organic Chemistry and her Spectroscopic Methods course. I’ve also been able to share some of my favorite photos with Professor Smith, and I thoroughly enjoy every time I’m able to stop by her office and say hello for a quick (or often, longer) conversation.

The Johnson Scholarship and Summer Enhancement Funds

My mom and I took this photo after we’d summited Fairfield Peak in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England, part of my utilization of the Johnson Scholarship Summer Enhancement Funds to dive into my family’s roots in a handful of different countries. What an incredible experience!

After convincing my mom to go on this hike with me, we trekked to Grasmere, England, and began the journey, walking alongside Herdwick sheep and through foggy terrain to reach the peak. Scrambling on rock faces and remembering how to keep our centers of gravity, we eventually conquered Fairfield, along with three other fells in the region. Even though the hike left us dilapidated on our Airbnb sofa for a few hours, sipping on tri-berry blend juices and pineapple cubes (I also gave myself a wicked scar on my ring finger!), we had bonded in a place I couldn’t have imagined visiting for most of my life.

I’d been interested in genealogy since middle school, and over the past decade, I’ve been able to branch out my family tree in hundreds of directions. It had always been on my bucket list to travel to some of these places, but I never assumed I could reach that point in my life this soon. However, because of the Johnson Scholarship, that dream became a reality. Over six weeks, my mother and I traversed dozens of small coastal towns, centuries-old churches and brick pathways to reconnect with our family’s past. We explored Cornwall, England’s cliffsides, the rolling hills of Kerry, Ireland, and the snow-swept wonders of the Swiss Alps, focused on understanding our past to lay the foundation for a self-realized future.

Looking back, this scholarship has given me everything. It removed the financial burden that would’ve rendered a large hurdle to my education and immersed me in one of the most welcoming, kindhearted communities I’ve ever experienced. I’ve had so many opportunities because of the Johnson Scholarship, and this was just one of the thousands of moments that make up my kaleidoscope of thankfulness and gratitude for the program.

Summer Research Opportunities

Like I mentioned before, I had the pleasure of getting to know Dr. Uffelman from my time spent studying outside his office for multiple semesters, which resulted in us connecting through our shared interest in photography, and eventually led to my involvement in his research group. During Fall Term of my junior year, I had discussed summer research possibilities with my adviser, Dr. Erin Gray, and she recommended I look into Dr. U’s work surrounding cultural heritage analyses via noninvasive imaging methods. I knew this was research I could get behind, especially with the idea of merging science and art (which can really be the same thing, when you think about it), so I applied to become a Summer Research Scholar for the Uffelman Group. While being considered, I took a semester during the following Winter Term to become acclimated with the various instrumentation and techniques, such as fiber optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS) and multispectral imaging (MSI). After being accepted into the SRS cohort and receiving the Allen Research Grant, Hailey Copland ’27, Grace Theodore ’28 and I were sent abroad with Dr. U to analyze dozens of heritage objects, namely paintings, at European institutions in the Netherlands and Belgium. We were fortunate enough to investigate these works behind closed doors of their respective museums, identifying pigments and elemental compositions, while also providing infrared image scans and mosaics to support various art conservator research endeavors, like restoration.

This specific image was taken of us in front of Peter Paul Rubens’ unfinished work, “Henry IV at the Battle of Ivry,” which is a landmark piece to study since the incomplete nature allows us to observe Rubens’ composition process and how he collaborated with other artists in producing the piece. Interestingly, this is only half of the original painting! The full-size work was supposedly cut in half to fit into a collector’s home at some point in the distant past, leaving us to identify areas that were changed or manipulated to make the halved painting look whole. Through various scans, such as InGaAs infrared imaging, we identified manipulations of the work to aid in future conservation efforts for years to come. Shoutout to the incredible people at KMSKA, The Mauritshuis, the Williams College Museum of Art and the North Carolina Museum of Art for their incredible service and assistance in our collaborations.

The Creative Writing Major

I still can’t believe I’m a creative writing major. If I could have a conversation with little Ryan right now, I’m certain his small heart would explode. When I was young, I was engrossed by storytelling (my parents enjoy describing moments where I would insist on a new bedtime story each night before they could leave). Just recently, I was thinking how inspired I’d been by childhood authors like Roald Dahl and Mary Pope Osborne to create imaginative and deceptively insightful worlds, as well as recent authors who utilize humor and absurdity to explore deeper relationships, like Ramona Ausubel’s “Awayland” collection, in which a cyclops constructs his dating profile, for instance. Particularly, this program has been beneficial in providing an escape to my psyche, where constraints are absent. Creative writing has allowed me to procure worlds that could never exist but do; scenes, adventures and developments that shouldn’t make sense, but there they are, on paper, on text, making the imaginative expansive, tangible and real. As a result, I’ve written around 10 stories across my four years here, spanning shapeshifting blobfish scientists, semi-magical slugs and apocalyptic romance.

When we write, the universes we construct have meaning in the improbable, unifying so many creatives who seek to make art for the pleasure in doing so, and for the facilitation of thought and immersive discussion into ourselves as a collective of thinkers, builders and doers. Of course, I have to thank my adviser, Beth, for believing in me when I couldn’t, and Professor Buckley for sharing his understanding of art and its purpose as a discussion for discussion’s sake to cultivate an understanding of the world around us to understand ourselves. After considering the impact of these two incredible professors, this reflection is apropos, considering their courses make up 70% of my major!

It’s an absolute honor to be in the first graduating class of creative writing majors, and being able to discuss our work in this intimate capstone class has produced some of my favorite writing. I am so excited for everyone’s futures in this field and can’t wait to see all the incredible successes my peers achieve.

Nature Outside Your Front Door

One of my favorite parts about W&L is the nature scene. Within a five-minute walk, you feel like you’re hiking in the backcountry on the Appalachian Trail. The university actually offers a trip during orientation that does exactly that, encouraging students to immerse themselves in the peaceful and atmospheric environment of the Shenandoah Valley. Even on campus, the scenery is magical. My first year, I had an 8:30 a.m. creative writing course in Tucker Hall, and most mornings, I would walk across the Colonnade through a blanket of sprawling fog. I felt like a wizard making his way to a potions class!

During my time in Professor Christa Bowden’s Color Photography course (which I highly recommend), I was on the hunt for a subdued photograph as part of our color theory unit, when I came across this pair of deer alongside Woods Creek Trail. For anyone who’s not aware, we have a very friendly deer population on campus, which always made my walks back to my Woods Creek apartment pleasant and comforting. Naturally, I had to capture these creatures, and after dozens of shots, I grabbed this one, which I like to think typifies the serenity along this path and throughout campus. A gentle stillness allows for active contemplation, and my walks and runs along this trail always provide me with a sense of clarity. Having a difficult time adjusting? Head out to Woods Creek Trail. Stressed about a paper or upcoming exam? Take a 15-minute run and remember the greater scheme of things. Watch the minnows swirl in the creek; bend down and take in the bluebells during spring. Witness the Eastern tiger swallowtails flitting along the current, flowing like time, and remember how precious our environment is.

Regardless of background, regardless of a STEM or humanities major, we seek to invent, uncover and create. At least, that’s what I consider to be the value of my liberal arts education at W&L: an active engagement of cross-disciplinary perspectives, threading into each other to weave a multicolored tapestry of intellect, integrity and innovation.

~ Ryan Doty ’26

Academic Photography

To me, this picture perfectly encapsulates my W&L experience as an artist and scientist. I also took this picture in Professor Bowden’s Color Photography class. Focused on taking a monochromatic image, I borrowed my roommate London Paige ’25’s Doc Martens and headed to the outdoor classroom at the base of Leyburn Library. Thinking “What on Earth do I have that’s yellow?,” I shuffled through my backpack and found my Organic Chemistry flashcards on radical reactions, splaying them over one of the classroom desks. I placed one of London’s shoes on top of the cards and fell in love with how this image turned out. When I see this photo, I consider the balance and harmony of scientific and artistic thought, effectively merging them as one in the same. Sometimes we pretend these are two separate spheres of ideology, and while they may not make intrinsic sense when placed together, when you notice the similarity, you can’t imagine them apart. That’s how I’ve always felt about science and art: They’re effectively the same, as they seek to understand different parts of the world through inquisition and exploration of new ideas, based on the foundations of their predecessors. In chemistry, we rely on information from our intellectual forebears as a footstool to reach a higher shelf of understanding and discovery, while in art (i.e. photography, creative writing, music), we try to frame the world around us to demonstrate our unique perspectives. Each one of us is climbing a different footstool; each one of us has a different frame.

Spring Term Abroad

I took this photo earlier this month while on a hike in the Orkney Islands in Scotland, part of my Spring Term Abroad course: Social Enterprise Storytelling. Over the last four weeks, our group has been exploring social enterprises, those with a mission to elevate their workforce or improve the environment through structured sources of income, while delving into storytelling as a means of communicating these organizations’ successes, drives and goals.

The hike I enjoyed was on our day off; I decided to venture up to Wideford Hill and its chambered cairn, about a six-mile round-trip journey. After circling the front half of the mountain, I took a break descending toward the cairn, an ancient burial chamber with Neolithic origins. There was actually an honor system present, not unlike W&L, with a small box that supplied a flashlight for personal use. Anyone could explore the cairn: All you had to do was lift open the entrance at the top of the system and climb down into the dark chamber. While I only made it halfway into the space before heading out, this was such an incredible opportunity to explore the area without impeding noise, traffic or busyness; I was alone with my thoughts, able to appreciate the experience while having a tether to my classmates and professors back in town. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve really been able to connect with this breathtaking archipelago and its kindhearted inhabitants on a mission-driven level, something only made possible by our school’s Spring Term Abroad program.

I’m eternally grateful to W&L for believing in me and contributing four years’ worth of memorable pages to my story, and I can’t wait to see what happens in the next chapter.