The APSA Diversity Fellows Program (DFP) is a fellowship competition for individuals from underrepresented backgrounds applying to or in the early stages of doctoral programs in political science. The DFP was established in 1969 (originally as the Black Graduate Fellowship) to increase the number of minority scholars in the discipline. Since its inception, the APSA DFP has designated more than 600 fellows and contributed to the successful completion of doctoral political science programs for over 100 individuals.
Erika Arias is a PhD student in the department of political science at Syracuse University where she is a SU STEM Fellow. Her fields of study are comparative politics and American politics with a focus on social movements, political behavior, public opinion, and state violence. Currently, she is exploring political elite response to gender-based violence issues and the effect it has on the type of mobilization taken, particularly social media grassroots movements. Erika graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in international studies, and Law, Societies & Justice. As an undergraduate she was a McNair Scholar and researched the role of U.S. economic policies on Argentina during the Dirty War. At Syracuse, she is involved with the university’s Graduate Student Organization Diversity Committee and the Maxwell School’s Graduate Students of Color Affinity Group. After completing her doctoral studies, Erika plans to pursue a career in academia, while promoting diversity and inclusion.