Mariam Vargas (’25), Dylan Steer (’25), & Alan Cavagnaro (’25) were among the students who were selected to attend the United Nations 29th Annual Climate Change Conference of Parties in Baku, Azerbaijan in November.
San Lee (Ph.D. Candidate) will present her dissertation chapter titled “The Use of the CEDAW for Advancing LGBTQIA+ Rights” at the 82nd Annual MPSA Conference, April 3-6, 2025, and at the Political & Gender Conference, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, May 27-29, 2025.
Kate Czajkowski (’27) and Michael Albino (’26) presented their pieces from the Undergraduate Political Review at the Second Intercollegiate Political Review Conference on Dec 7th.
Mariam Vargas (‘25) has been named UConn’s first ever recipient of the Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Fellowship. Mariam was also featured on Indie Major. In the 15-minute podcast episode, Mariam explains how she created an individualized major in “International Relations” by combining courses in Political Science; Human Rights; Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; and more. She describes her research interest in Transitional Justice, sparked by her participation in an international studies program in Kosovo. She also describes being awarded the Charles B. Rangel Graduate Fellowship, which will propel her into a career in diplomacy.
Sidratul Muntaha (’26) won a Gilman Scholarship and will be studying at Yonsei University.
Sophia Esposito (’25) and Antonio Zuquilanda (’25) are the 2024 recipients of the Curt F. Beck Law and Public Service Opportunity Fund.
Zachary Boudah (’25) won a Fall ’24 Change Grant to implement a project called “First-Generation Favors: A Leadership Dinner” with mentor Randall Paterson of the Student Activities Office.
Josephine Burke (’27) is the recipient of a Fall ’24 IDEA Grant for the project titled “Education Behind Bars: The Impact of Book Bans on Prison Education”
Lily Luo (Ph.D. Candidate) has a new publication “Grace Lee Boggs on Chinese Political Thought and the Next American Revolution,” coauthored with Dr. Fred Lee in Theory and Event, 27(4): 2024
Ben Stumpf (Ph.D. Candidate) has a new publication “Behind Bars in the Belly of the Beast: Red Dragon’s Anti-Imperialist Political Thought”. Ben also received the C.L.R James Justice Fellowship from the Trinity Social Justice Institute to support their dissertation research on climate crisis, cop cities, and abolitionist alternatives in the wake of the George Floyd Uprising.
Minju Lee (Ph.D. Candidate) has been chosen to receive the Dr. Ilpyong Kim Fellowship in East Asian Relations. Minju also presented her papers, “How Do Narrative History Museums Affect Ontological Security of Jewish and Korean Societies?” and “Ontological Security and Three Periods of South Korea-Israel Relations,” at the ISA Annual Convention in March 2025.
Robert T.F. Downes (Ph.D. Candidate) will be presenting his paper “Utopia vs. Uchronia: The Imaginaries of social movements on the left and right” at the Alternative Futures and Popular Protest Conference in Manchester, UK. His paper, “Haudenosaunee vs. Habermas: Indigenous Democratic Traditions and the Boundaries of Deliberative Democratic Theory,” was accepted for presentation at the upcoming annual New England Political Science Association Conference. Currently, Robert is working on a submission to the Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development titled “Personality Shift: The Implications of Trump 2.0, Project 2025, and Presidential Character for U.S. Executive Power.”