When Amanda Diegel of Westfield, Massachusetts, chose to study Spanish in high school, she had no idea where it would take her. After years of studying Latin American history and politics at the University of New Hampshire, a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Abroad allowed her to research on site the democracies of Argentina and Uruguay. Amanda believes that she would not have been able to complete her research without all of the help she received: “It wasn’t just me doing this work, it was people such as mentors, hostel owners, school principals and maids. When I got back people said, ‘You accomplished so much,’ but it wasn’t just me.” Amanda is majoring in sociology and international affairs and will graduate with a B.A. in May 2008. She already has plans to continue traveling abroad after graduation, this time with the Peace Corps in Africa.
Dr. Mary Malone is an assistant professor of political science at the University of New Hampshire, where she has taught since 2003. Her areas of specialization are Latin American politics, democratization and rule of law. Amanda credits Dr. Malone with piquing her interest in Latin America and helping her with every step of her project: “Dr. Malone worked with me while I was abroad and set me up with amazing mentors in the countries I visited.” Dr. Malone also mentored Colleen Flaherty in her summer 2007 research project on democracy in Chile. Read about Colleen’s project in the feature article “Following the Paths of Progress of New Democracies” >>
Read Amanda Diegel’s commentary Adventures in Researching: Exploring Cordoba and Montevideo >>
