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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.”

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?

Officially launched in 2013, Trinity’s youngest major of Urban Studies has just turned eight years old but will graduate over 150 majors with the Class of 2022. While these graduates have gone into a variety of careers, a good number of them have pursued diverse and successful urban planning- and architecture-related careers.

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.

In September, Dr. Leniqueca Welcome joined us as at the Center for Urban and Global Studies as the new Assistant Professor for Urban Studies and International Studies. Learn more about Leniqueca in this blog.