The APSA Diversity Fellowship Program, established in 1969, aims to increase diversity in the discipline of political science. The Fall DFP supports students who are currently in the process of applying to PhD programs in political science for Fall 2022 admission. Fellows will receive $5,000, over two years, to support their studies.
Maya Nunez graduated from Wellesley College with honors in political science in 2020. Her current research interests focus on how political institutions and race interact with each other to produce life outcomes amongst individuals. Nunez developed these interests through a thesis project that explored key policies from the 1980s and 1990s that shaped today’s punitive immigration detention system. This research has pushed her to explore complex questions related to how laws and institutions have mediated individuals’ experiences. Nunez currently works as the Democratic Politics and Elections Assistant at ActBlue where she performs research on redistricting efforts, grassroots campaigns, and ballot initiatives across the country. Maya plans to attain a PhD in political science and pursue a career in academia to continue the tradition of introducing students to materials that can help them understand the world around them.