Blog

“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.

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.

In the summer of 2021, Joshua Jacoves set out to explore what it means to be a part of the modern Orthodox Jewish community. His research project, “Reimagining Yiddishkeit,” sponsored by the Kelter Fund at the Center for Urban and Global Studies (CUGS), sets out to answer the questions: What does it mean to be part of a religious community? How is it built? What are the spaces which encompass it?

Trinity College senior Archana Adhikari dreams for Nepalese students to be able to ‘Fly Beyond the Horizon.’ Adhikari, from Nepal herself, experienced the many barriers that high school students in Nepal come across in the college application process. From this experience, and her strong determination to improve education and socioeconomic conditions in her community, Adhikari embarked on a project to create a solution to the inaccessibility of resources for the college application process.

In August of 2021, Belgrade, Serbia hosted its first youth conference to foster peace among Southeastern European countries. Ex-Yu Youth Leadership Conference: Networking for Peace.” This event, the first of its kind, was the brainchild of two recent Trinity graduates of the class of 2021, Ana Stambolic and Stanislav Knezevic.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Urban Studies David Lukens and rising senior Matt Powell ’22 are working together on researching Parkville Market. Parkville Market opened last year on Park Street, one mile west of the Trinity College campus.

Samia Khoder ’21 ended her senior year at Trinity with awards and accolades recognizing her for the academic rigor and unique experiences that defined her four years. This spring, Khoder was awarded first prize of the Jeffrey E. Kelter ’76 Student Urban Research Prize for her thesis titled “Urban Authenticity: The Changing Meaning of Racial Difference in the Making and Remaking of the City.” Khoder also received the Outstanding Urban Studies Senior Award and received a W.H. Russell Fellowship. The fellowship includes a scholarship for graduate school, which Samia will use as she furthers her studies at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, Germany.