UNH Today

Each year, the College selects a handful of students to represent the University, the College, and their respective academic departments. Students are nominated by department chairs and chosen by the associate dean of the College. Typically seniors, Student Fellows have dynamic backgrounds and stellar academic records. They serve as student ambassadors during the open houses for prospective students, describing their experiences to and answering questions from students and parents. Other responsibilities include meeting with alumni and donors to the College, and representing the College at special events. The Student Fellows program is intended to recognize fine achievement at UNH and provide a way for students to serve the University in their final year of study.

The College of Liberal Arts is pleased to announce the 2016 Student Fellows:

Hannah Drake is an English and International Affairs major from Nashua, N.H. An avid writer, she has found a number of strange and wonderful jobs through UNH. She wrote a yoga blog in the summer of 2013, thanks to a UNH Research Experience and Apprenticeship Program grant. She then won a 2014 UNH Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship and spent ten weeks writing a fantasy novella for young adults (and surprising relatives with her job description at family parties). Drake also interned with UNH Cooperative Extension’s marketing and communications team in summer 2015, where she blogged about crabs wearing sweatpants in the name of promoting company values. Currently, Drake is interning with Vital Design in Portsmouth. When she isn’t working or in class, you can find Drake skiing, biking or practicing yoga next to friends. She’s also a captain of the UNH Club Tennis team, and she really enjoys watching movie trailers on YouTube. After graduation, she hopes to work at a digital marketing firm in Portsmouth, N.H.

Ian MacKay is a German and International Affairs major from Peterborough, N.H. He attended ConVal High School in Peterborough, N.H., and has studied abroad in both Germany and China. MacKay was an intern in the Cultural Department of the Goethe Institute in Ramallah, West Bank. At UNH, he is a member of the Hamel Scholars, the German Honor Society and Phi Beta Kappa. He has also played violin for eighteen years and has performed in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Most recently, he was part of the Festival International de Musique de Chambre (Vouille, France) and the Sacred Music Festival (West Bank). After graduation, MacKay hopes to return to Germany or the Middle East to either continue his study of international affairs or to work at socially-engaged non-profit institutions.

Michael Mignanelli is a classics major from Campton, N.H. Mignanelli strives to be an aficionado of the ancient Greco-Roman world. He firmly believes that there is an intrinsic value in teaching and sharing the language, culture, literature and history of antiquity with tomorrow’s students. He is a first generation college student and the first in his family to pursue a Ph.D.  With the support of the McNair Scholars Program, Mignanelli has been admitted to several graduate schools and will begin studies this coming fall. During his junior year, Mignanelli spent a semester at the prestigious Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome, where he studied classical languages and served as an archeological intern for the American Academy in Rome. As an undergraduate, he has served as a Mythology course teaching assistant, the president of the Classics Honor Society and a classical languages tutor. In May, he will complete his undergraduate degree by presenting and defending his honors thesis entitled “Understanding Athenian Sentiments towards Public Speaking: A Study of Aristophanes’ ‘Ecclesiazusae.’”

Lauren Percy is a history major from Bow, N.H. Percy fell in love with history at the age of five, when her mother bought her a cross-section picture book of the Titanic and other famous vessels. For her honors thesis, Percy is currently analyzing the narratives of ten to fifteen privateers in order to explore the crucial role that privateering played in the Early American Republic’s development. She is also an undergraduate representative for the Department of History. After graduation, Percy plans to attend graduate school for higher education and student affairs. Outside of her history classes, she is an assistant hall director in Christensen Hall, a ballet teacher and an active volunteer with the Miss America organization as the current Miss Portsmouth Area. Within the Miss America organization, Percy promotes her platform titled “Reach Higher: Making Higher Education Possible,” where she leads workshops on selecting and funding postsecondary educational programs.

Stephanie Yee is a psychology major from Concord, N.H. Yee has been involved in many activities and programs at UNH, most notably, participating in the MLK Leadership Summit, where she discovered her passion for social justice, and her involvement with research. Through the psychology honors program, the McNair Scholars Program and working in research labs, she has discovered her drive to conduct research. This year, she was the recipient of the Herbert A. Carroll Award for outstanding senior in psychology and will have the honor to accept it at the UNH Haslerud Conference where she also will be presenting her honors thesis. Her goal is to pursue a Ph.D. in counseling psychology so that she can become licensed to perform psychotherapy with diverse populations, as well as conduct research on the intersectionality of social identity and how this influences experiences with mental illness and psychotherapy. Yee loves learning and hopes to be in academia for her entire professional career. She enjoys activities like theatre, chorus, athletics, music — she is currently learning how to play the guitar and the ukulele — and going out with friends, watching movies (especially Tarantino films) and spending time outside. She also has a passion for dogs, especially for the pride and joy of her family, a Saint Bernard named Lacey.