In recognition of their outstanding academic and personal achievements, APSA is pleased to announce the APSA Minority Fellows for the 2010–2011 academic year. The Minority Fellows Program (MFP) was established in 1969 as an effort to increase the number of minority scholars in the discipline, and has designated more than 400 fellows and contributed to the successful completion of doctoral political science programs for over 100 individuals. APSA has refocused and increased its efforts to assist minority students in completing their doctorates by concentrating not only on the recruitment of minorities, but also on the retention of these groups within the profession. The MFP designates up to 12 stipend minority fellows each year. Fellows with stipends receive a $4,000 fellowship that is disbursed in two $2,000 payments—one at the end of their first graduate year and one at the end of their second—provided that they remain in good academic standing. Awards are based on students' undergraduate course work, GPA, extracurricular activities, GRE scores, and recommendations from faculty. Members of the selection committee for this year's fellows included Ben Marquez, Committee on the Status of Latinos and Latinas in the Profession; Alice Jackson, Committee on the Status of Blacks in the Profession; and Ann Chih Lin, chair of the Committee on Asian Pacific Americans in Political Science. Learn more about the program by visiting http://www.apsanet.org/content_3284.cfm. This year's Minority Fellows are:
Edgar Alfonseca is a current Ronald E. McNair Scholar at Binghamton University. He recently conducted research through the McNair Summer Research internship pertaining to civil wars and external interventions. As an undergraduate student, he worked for the Translation Research and Instruction Program as a Federal Work-Study Student. Mr. Alfonseca served as an intern for the Career Development Center at Binghamton University. He was awarded the Michael V. Boyd Memorial Scholarship and Faculty Student Scholarship for the 2009–2010 year at Binghamton University.
Jesse Atencio is a senior at Washington University in St. Louis, majoring in political science. He attended the 2009 Ralph Bunche Summer Institute and presented his research paper at the APSA Annual Meeting in Toronto. Mr. Atencio became interested in political theory during his sophomore year, particularly after being introduced to St. Augustine's City of God. Mr. Atencio plans to undertake a Ph.D. program in political science to bring the human experience back into the discipline by focusing on concepts such as identity, recognition, and existential choice, and their implications for liberalism.
Parris Baker is currently a senior at the University of Florida. During his collegiate career, he has earned many awards and honors. While at Valencia Community College, his academic excellence garnered him many appearances on the President's List. His commitment to academics continues at the University of Florida, where he earned a transfer scholarship, a multicultural award, and admission into the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program. As a McNair scholar, he is studying the role that hip-hop played in influencing discourse during the 2008 presidential election. His research interests include political theory, political behavior, and hip-hop culture. In the moments away from his studies, Mr. Baker volunteers at the Boys and Girls Club and presides as President of the University of Florida's Black Political Science Association.
Lashonda Brenson is a senior at the University of Rochester majoring in political science and mathematics. She is a member of the Keidaean Honor Society. In the spring of 2009, Ms. Brenson was selected to participate as an intern in Rochester's Washington Semester Program. As an intern, she worked full-time in the congressional office of Representative William Lacy Clay (D- MO) and completed independent research on the presence of racially polarized voting in the 2008 presidential election. She spent the summer of 2009 researching the intersectionality of race and gender on the policy preferences of African American Congresswomen at the Ralph Bunche Summer Institute at Duke University. Following RBSI, Ms. Brenson presented her research during a poster presentation at the APSA Annual Meeting in Toronto. Ms. Brenson plans to attend graduate school in political science to study the intricate roles that race and gender play in legislative politics. By studying institutions in terms of race, gender, and the intersection of the two, Ms. Brenson hopes to offer a better understanding of how institutional dynamics affect the ability of minority representatives to legislate.
Chinbo Chong is a graduating senior at the University of California, Berkeley. In graduate school, she plans to study American politics, race and ethnicity, and political behavior. Specifically, she intends to study the conditions by which immigrants become politically incorporated into the American political arena. She is particularly interested in researching the impact of social policies on shaping partisanship and the overall immigrant participation. As an immigrant from Seoul, Korea, Ms. Chong felt the need to bridge the gap between these social phenomena from a political science perspective. Her personal history speaks to her motivation for pursuing a research degree in political science. In addition to academics, Ms. Chong is active in organizations such as Pi Sigma Alpha at Berkeley, serving as the organization's president. After completing her Ph.D. in political science, she plans to become a professor and an active scholar in the academic community.
Jenny V. Gallegos currently attends Boise State University as a political science major with an emphasis on American government. In the fall, she will pursue a graduate degree in political science with an emphasis on Latino politics. Ms. Gallegos plans to specialize in group identity, ethnic group mobilization, discrimination, and political behavior. Ms. Gallegos's personal projects include a combination of the aforementioned subjects. The Ronald E. McNair Program and the Department of Political Science at Boise State University have provided great support for Ms. Gallegos as she pursues her academic endeavors.
LaGina Gause is a senior at Howard University majoring in political science with minors in community development and Spanish. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, vice president of Pi Sigma Alpha, and president of the Howard University Political Science Society. She is also a Howard University Laureate Scholar, a Gates Millennium Scholar, and a McNair Scholar. Her work, “Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice: An Analysis of their Substantive and Symbolic Policies during the Bush Administration,” was published in the 2007–2008 Howard University Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program Journal of Research. In 2009, Ms. Gause presented the research that she conducted during the Ralph Bunche Summer Institute, entitled “Zero Tolerance and Academic Performance: When Fear Dictates School Policy,” at the 2009 APSA Annual Meeting in Toronto. Ms. Gause plans to earn her Ph.D. in political science with an emphasis on social policy issues.
Victoria Marie Jackson is a senior at Pennsylvania State University majoring in international politics with a minor in Spanish. Ms. Jackson is a McNair Scholar as well as a 2009 Ralph Bunche Summer Institute Scholar. As a Ralph Bunche Summer Institute Scholar, Ms. Jackson was selected to present her research entitled “The Chavez Effect: Public Opinion in Venezuela” at the 2009 APSA Annual Meeting. Ms. Jackson's research is primarily focused on the development of Latin American politics.
David Lopez is currently completing his BA in political science with a focus in international relations at the University of Florida. Mr. Lopez is the recipient of a National Science Foundation undergraduate fellowship through the Democracy and World Politics Summer Research Program hosted at Oklahoma State University. He is also a McNair Scholar. Mr. Lopez had the opportunity to present his McNair research at the 2009 McNair National Conference at the University of Maryland. More recently, he presented a paper at the 2009 meeting of the International Studies Association–Midwest and is presenting at the 2010 International Studies Association Annual Convention in New Orleans. Mr. Lopez is also active in the UF chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha, having served since 2008 as their public relations director.
Maisha Rashid, a Mellon Mays Fellow and a senior at Barnard College of Columbia University, is majoring in political science, with a minor in philosophy. She is the president of Columbia Model Congress, student advisor to the Barnard Athena Leadership Studies Program, and a prospective political science graduate student. Originally from Dhaka, Bangladesh, she moved to the United States in time to start eighth grade. During college, she has been involved in her community with Columbia Model United Nations, Columbia Political Review, McIntosh Activities Council, and Barnard's Student Government Association. As a member of the Barnard Committee on Instruction, she worked with Barnard provosts, deans, and faculty to incorporate more critical analysis courses on race and ethnicity into the curriculum. In 2009, she was selected for the Ralph Bunche Summer Institute at Duke University to conduct independent political research and take graduate courses in statistical methodology. After the Institute, she presented her research on perceptions of Muslim Americans and possible policy implications at the 2009 APSA Annual Meeting in Toronto, Canada. Currently, she is working on her undergraduate thesis and looking forward to pursuing graduate studies toward a political science Ph.D.
Camillia Redding is a senior at the University of Rochester, majoring in political science with minors in African American Studies and Legal Studies. During the summer of 2008, Ms. Redding participated in the University of Rochester's Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, in which she examined the exit rate of African Americans in Congress. As a participant in the University of Rochester's Washington Semester program, Ms. Redding served as an intern in the office of Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN) in the spring of 2009. She then went on to spend the summer of 2009 at the APSA Ralph Bunche Summer Institute at Duke University. Following RBSI, Ms. Redding presented her research during a poster presentation at the APSA Annual Meeting in Toronto. Currently, she is writing an honors thesis that examines the effect of a constituent's race on the evaluation of the representative and how much constituents value descriptive representation. Ms. Reddingplans to attend graduate school in political science to study the intersection of race and legislative politics.
Robert William Velez graduated from Metropolitan State University (Saint Paul, Minnesota) with a BA in social science in December 2009. He is pursuing graduate study in the American politics subfield and is interested in the study of the political activities of the American Organized Labor Movement. Mr. Velez has been an active member of his local union for the last 12 years (AFSCME Local 34) and served as vice president of the union for two years.
