The Gender and Women’s Studies Department is proud to spotlight Jasmin Valdivieso Sanches (she/her). She is from Las Vegas, Nevada, double majoring in Political Science and Gender and Women’s Studies. She is working on finding an answer to her research question; When there are restrictive immigration policies in place, what resources do immigrants have difficulty accessing? 

Jasmin recently won the Voyager Scholarship for Public Service, which is allowing her to research European immigration further. She will be traveling abroad to Europe later this year, and working with community service organizations to further study how to help immigrants. Her plan is to work with immigration issues such as affordable housing, employment, education, citizenship, and more. While doing this, she will also be conducting a qualitative ethnography with willing participants, by having semi-structured interviews with those seeking services at the non-profits she will be working with. She is hoping this paper leads to a master’s thesis. This is the first field research project to this scale she is working on and is happy for the support of the staff here at the department. 

“I was looking to double major in something because I wanted a challenge and felt like I was taking advantage of poli sci’s flexible schedule. This advisor suggested this major and thought it was a right fit for me because of my early interest in research and activism and she was right!” said Jasmin. Her favorite class was 325G: International Women’s Studies with Professor McIntyre, but feels McIntyre’s 383: Gender and Sexuality in Latin America will replace 325G as her favorite. 

We here at the GWS department appreciate the work you all do, and today we focused on Jasmin. If you have someone you would like to nominate for a Student Spotlight, email kat_sheridan@uri.edu or rosariapisa@uri.edu.