Some college students will complete final exams in May and trade backpacks for beach bags and class time for free time; however, two TCU students who were selected among national applicants to attend summer academic programs will spend at least part of their vacation pursuing academic and career goals.

Taylor Wright, a TCU junior, is one of 12 students selected to attend the second annual “Democracy and World Politics Summer Research Program” at Indiana State University. Wright receives a $3,000 stipend, housing, weekly food stipend, up to $500 for travel costs and research funding is also available.

The National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Undergraduates program provided funding. Students in the 10-week program will complete, with the guidance of ISU mentoring faculty, a research paper suitable to be presented at a professional conference in one of three areas: foreign policy in democracy, democratization and democracy promotion or democracy and conflict.

Wright is pursuing majors in Spanish and international politics and a minor in intercultural studies. She plans to research the factors that aid or obstruct democracy in Latin America.

“I hope to gain a more thorough knowledge of the roles that cultural, political and social institutions play in the functioning of democratic government,” says Wright, who found out about the summer program from Mike Dodson, a political science professor.

Gloriann Lopez, a TCU senior, is one of 20 students selected nationally to attend the Ralph Bunche Summer Institute at Duke University. The program, named after the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize winner and first black American to receive a doctorate in political science, is designed to introduce students to the intellectual rigors of graduate school and research.

During the four-week program, students take two courses – preparing a final research paper in each – and meet with prominent political scientists and Duke university faculty during informal lunches and dinners, according to the program Web site

Lopez is the second consecutive TCU student to attend the Ralph Bunche Summer Institute.

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