When University of Oregon School of Law alumna Starla Hargita graduated in 2011, she set up a ballot box and invited friends and professors to vote on her future.

The votes would determine whether Hargita would become a legal practitioner or continue her education and receive her Master of Law degree. The results were mixed, but one of her friends insisted that Hargita belonged in front of a classroom, as a professor.

The words resonated with Hargita. With dual degrees in law and conflict and dispute resolution in hand, she didn’t feel she was finished learning.

“What I loved about law school wasn't reading the statutes or acts,” Hargita said. “It was the act of learning an entirely new world.”

With her heart set on earning her law degree, Hargita enrolled at the University of Cambridge in England. One Master of Law degree later and Hargita was off to University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, to receive her doctoral degree. Midway into her first year at UTS as a doctoral scholar, Hargita is studying gender-equity measures in relation to Australia’s paid parental leave scheme.

Even before Cambridge, Hargita was no stranger to travel.

She grew up in Texas, watching episodes of the television game show, “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” The program, which challenged children to pinpoint the location of the show’s namesake nation-hopping criminal ring leader, sparked Hargita’s hunger for travel. She completed her undergraduate studies at Wellesley College in Massachusetts and enrolled at Oregon Law in 2007, receiving both her doctorate of law and master’s degree in Conflict and Dispute Resolution in 2011.

Hargita never expected to become fascinated by the legal world and higher education.

“I didn't come from a family of lawyers, my parents didn't have money or university degrees and I wasn't familiar with any idea of white collar professionalism,” she said. “Higher education was a totally new world to me.”

Through a combination of scholarships, loans and paid work, she made her way through Wellesley, Oregon Law and Cambridge. Hargita is able to fund her doctorate through research, teaching work and the Quentin Bryce Law Doctoral Scholarship, named after Australia's first female governor-general.

Hargita’s interest in exploring how government policies influence gender roles led to her current research in paid parental leave laws. Prior to 2011, Australia and the U.S. were the only remaining Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries without any paid parental leave provisions. Australia has since implemented a paid parental leave scheme that provides up to 18 weeks of government funded pay for maternity leave, joining the large roster of countries throughout the world that have enacted similar laws.

“Paid parental leave is seen as one way to contribute toward the goals of gender equality, labor market activation, early childhood development and sustainable fertility rates,” Hargita said. “Australia's nascent approach to paid parental leave is a valuable study for Australians and non-Australians.”

Besides a few lingering time-zone challenges, Hargita has enjoyed a smooth transition into her new life in Sydney, where she regularly soaks up the three “S”’s: seafood, surfing and sun.

Hargita’s taken a few of her Oregon habits with her to Sydney, as well. She continues to spend much of her free time active and outdoors, filling her days with biking and hikes, or “bushwalking” as the locals call it. Her Australian friends have taken to referencing the hit show “Portlandia” whenever she asks whether the chicken she’s about to eat is “local.”

When Hargita eventually receives her doctorate, she hopes to transition into a full-time academic post in “a great corner of the world,” engaging in international legal debates.

Where she wants to teach, however, remains to be seen. She’s currently in negotiations to complete a joint doctorate in England and Australia, which may land her back in Europe for part of her studies. But that doesn’t mean she’ll stay there when she graduates.

“You'd think that after living and studying across the U.S., England and Australia, I'd be ready to find a spot and stop moving,” Hargita said. “But alas …”

Regardless of where she ends up, Hargita will remain committed to the pursuit of knowledge.

As Carmen Sandiego once said, "The wiser you become, the more you have to learn."

- from the UO School of Law