Blog

As we are going through the inaugural self-study and external review of Urban Studies this spring to mark its first decade of development since 2013, we feature two earlier graduates who reflect on their self-designed Urban & Global Studies major in 2011 and its curricular connections to their post-graduation careers. Their experience with that major had helped launch the current Urban Studies Major into existence a decade ago. 

“B-Girls run the world” says Adyanna Odom ‘23, who studied the culture of breakdancing women (B-Girls) in Houston over the summer with a grant from the Center for Urban and Global Studies. Through her coursework as an International Studies major with a concentration in Global Hip Hop, Odom discovered a gap in the literature about B-Girls. She wants to add to the academic literature on B-Girls by sharing their voices in circles that have not been open to them before.

Aiden Chisholm ’23 knew he wanted to apply for a Center for Urban and Global Studies (CUGS) research grant during his junior year – it was a matter of finding the right research project. After spending time considering a question to explore, a topic that combined his academic interests in Spanish and Arabic became apparent during his semester abroad in Granada, Spain.

We are excited to welcome Dr. Keavy McFadden and Dr. Shoshana Goldstein to CUGS and Urban Studies this fall. Dr. McFadden is the Kelter Postdoctoral Fellow in CUGS and recently completed her PhD in Geography at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Goldstein is Visiting Assistant Professor in Urban Studies and was most recently Mellon Fellow at Princeton's School of Architecture.

Combining and integrating the local and global has been a foundational and sustained central theme of the Urban Studies program since its launch in 2013. This has manifested itself through classroom learning, research, extra-curricular activities, and post-graduation careers in both the Hartford region and far-flung global cities.

As we have left spring behind and settled into summer, we have sent off another cohort of 20-plus graduates in Urban Studies. While this adds to the total number of more than 170 urban studies majors who have already left Trinity over the past decade, it does not mean a one-way departure for some of them.

Majo Martinez ‘22 is a senior urban studies and math double major– a unique combination. Coming into Trinity, Martinez was thinking about becoming a mechanical engineer, but it wasn’t sparking passion in her. Growing up in Cali, Colombia and Austin, TX to now living in Hartford, CT, she has had a lot of experience in cities. The first classes she took in urban studies were Latin American Cities and Professor Gamble’s Geography of Transport course. She could see her own experience in growing up in cities, especially Latin American cities, reflected in the courses, and they inspired her to become an urban studies major. She took up math because she has always loved doing math and wanted to continue her studies in STEM. Martinez enjoyed what liberal arts means at Trinity, as she was able to explore and bring together her passions in the best balance.

Rocio Fernandez Gutierrez ‘22 has been involved in Center for Urban and Global Studies (CUGS) programs since her first year at Trinity In her first year, she was a part of the Cities Program Gateway, and went on the China Summer Program. Fernandez went on to double major in Urban Studies and Sociology, and is currently using a CUGS research grant to conduct research for her thesis. Her interest and involvement on campus is broad, and in fall 2021 she took part in the Liberal Arts Action Lab, and she has done internships through the Catalyst, now Kelter Fellows Program at the Career and Life Design Center, with organizations in Hartford, The Center for Latino Progress and Desegregate Connecticut.

The Center for Urban and Global Studies (CUGS) is excited to announce the Rosemary and Stan Marcuss ’63 Fellowships. The Fellowships provide opportunities for students interested in advancing inquiry into and research related to issues faced by urban communities. The funded research will culminate in senior honors theses by the selected students and the submission of articles written by them for publication in relevant scholarly journals.

Laura Delgado’s interest in studying cities began as an undergraduate when she read the book Heat Wave by Eric Klinenberg. The book looks at the Chicago heat wave of 1995 and the spatial distribution of deaths across the city. “You can see how the ways the city was planned contributed to whether people survived the heat wave,” Delgado says, “This got me thinking about cities and our power to improve people’s lives through these urban processes.”