M. Aynal Haque (Ph.D. Candidate) won CETL’s 2024 Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award. 

Bieu Tran (Ph.D. Candidate) has been awarded the CUNY Queens College President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching (Instructor of the Year Award) and the accompanying $2000 prize. He was also recently selected as a finalist for the University Citizen Award, UConn’s most prestigious professional leadership honor. The colleagues who nominated him noted that he  serves as a “role model, an inspiration, and/or a source of support in the workplace and demonstrates a dedicated interest in helping colleagues succeed.” 

 Robert T.F. Downes (Ph.D. Candidate) presented his paper “”Natural Dialectics: Social Ecology and the Sioux from Sitting Bull to Standing Rock”” at the 2024 Caribbean Philosophical Association (CPA) conference in Mexico. He will present this paper at the 18th AGS International Graduate Student Conference in Paris, France as well. At this conference scholars will gather and share their work in response to the COP 28 Climate Change Conference. Robert also presented his paper “Colonial Justice in the Present: Indigenous Resurgence and Legal Hegemony at Standing Rock” at the Northeastern Political Science Association (NEPSA) Conference in April.  

Chloe Kwak (Ph.D. Candidate) presented her paper “Becoming-Comfort– Women in International Law” at ISA in San Francisco in April. She discussed how the Seoul High Court’s decisions to deny state immunity to Japan in favor of comfort women contributes to the development of international law and the promotion of women’s rights from a feminist perspective. She also defended her prospectus, titled “Contestation and Negotiation over Comfort Women Memorials” on April 10, 2024. 

Alexander Grey (Ph.D. Candidate)‘s article, The Submarine Workforce Crisis: Admitting Realities and Restructuring Long-term Strategy was published in War on the Rocks. 

James Shiang (POLS ‘25) has been selected as a 2024 Public Policy & International Affairs (PPIA) Fellow. James is one of 149 students selected from over 1300 to participate in the Junior Summer Institute. He will be training at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. PPIA’s mission is to “cultivate the next generations of diverse public service and international affairs professionals by investing in their education, essential skills, and networks to effect domestic and global change.” PPIA wants to “ensure that compassionate leaders strengthen the world.” 

Out of the 13 students running for Undergraduate Student Trustee and Storrs University Student Government (USG) President/Vice President in March 2024, eight were POLS majors or minors: Sean Dunn (ENGR ‘26 and a POLS minor) was elected Undergraduate Student Trustee; Gavin Kuebler (POLS minor ‘27) was elected senator for the School of Business; Kyle Lowry (POLS ‘26) and Ryan Engels (POLS ‘27) were elected senators for CLAS; Lianna Smith (POLS ’27), Jibreel Akbar (POLS minor ‘26) and Avery Flechtner (POLS minor ‘25) were elected as Multicultural and Diversity senators. 

Bridget Abril (POLS ‘24) presented at the second annual Financial Literacy Week in April. Information can be found on Instagram by following @uconn_financial_literacy. 

Breanna Bonner (POLS ‘26), Undergraduate Humanities Research Fellow, presented her project “The Space Between Black and Liberation: A Digital Exploration of Intersectional Invisibility” at the Humanities Institute on April 3. 

Anabelle Bergstrom (POLS ‘25), Undergraduate Humanities Research Fellow, presented her project “Minds Among Minds: The Self in the Hyperconnected World” at the Humanities Institute on April 10.  

Foluke Akinkunmi (POLS ’25) and Mariam Vargas (POLS ’25) were named to the most recent cohort of UConn BOLD Scholars. To date, UConn BOLD has involved six cohorts of undergraduate students in leadership development activities and individualized projects aimed at advancing issues of social good. 

Foluke Akinkunmi (POLS ‘25)’s interview “The power of Pan-Africanism: A Dialogue with Dr. LaRosa Parris” was published in Blog of the APA on April 23.  

Collin Lamontagne (POLS ‘25) is part of the research team aiming to excavate the institutionalization of disabled lives and to educate community members about Mansfield Training School’s history while promoting community and institutional accountability. The group gave a talk presented at Medical Humanities and Arts Initiative, entitled “A Site of Conscience: The ‘Haunting’ Legacy at the Mansfield Training School (UConn’s Depot Campus)” in April. 

Letian Sun (POLS ‘26) was awarded the 2024 Provost’s Award for Excellence in Community Engaged Scholarship in the Undergraduate Student Award category. 

Katya Anikeev (POLS ‘27) is an IDEA Grant recipient for spring 2024. Her project is entitled “Evaluating Anti-Communism: An Analysis of Bias in U.S News Media”.