After freshman orientation at URI, Gillian Hodge ’23 intuitively knew where she wanted her path to lead her — and URI’s College of Arts & Sciences (A&S) was prepared to get her there. Hodge, now a student in the Chinese Flagship Program, says, “I saw the flagship program and I thought it would be cool to learn Chinese. I decided I would just pick something really hard and really interesting and try to be good at it.” Once in A&S, she found the International Studies and Diplomacy (ISD) major and decided to pursue a double major in Chinese and ISD. “It’s involved with political science, history, economics,” she says of ISD, “and it was something I was interested in but didn’t know how to put together until then.” Now Hodge is also a student in the Honors Program, has a minor in Leadership Studies, and does volunteer work as an active member of the URI Service Corps. (On occasion, she finds time to breathe!) Her drive, curiosity for learning, and pursuit of a variety of different fields characterizes A&S and the value of the liberal arts.

“I’m interested in people and how people interact and work together,” Hodge says of her liberal arts path. “I really enjoy the fact that I’m able to do that through my different majors.” Through A&S, Hodge has also been able to explore her passions in more hands-on settings through experiential and career opportunities. “One thing I didn’t expect coming to URI is how much experience I would get in career areas,” she says, noting: “I’m going to graduate with five different internships in my field.” She continues, “I’ve really met so many interesting professionals in the field of politics and international studies and research, so I think that’s been the best experience.” Hodge currently interns at the Naval War College in Newport, RI under the China Maritime Studies Institute where she has been able to study Chinese investment into ports in Southeast Asia and Africa. Through this experience she has been able to utilize her language skills and do something related to her Honors project, which explores what Chinese investment reveals about their foreign development strategies.

Next year, Hodge will be in Taiwan for her Chinese Flagship capstone year where she will spend one semester studying and another engaged in an internship. Beyond that, she says, “I’m thinking about grad schools, maybe applying straight for the foreign service, or doing an IR fellowship.” Hodge concludes, “Overall my goal is to get really hands-on and involved in global issues, especially security and how to create better communication and alliances between countries on a world-scale.” With her passion for learning and having taken advantage of ways to get involved in her studies, the question isn’t whether Hodge is ready for what she will do next. Rather, is the world ready for Hodge? We can’t wait to find out.

-By Sabrinna Fogarty ’22