Stanford University

Graduating seniors recognized for outstanding theses on democratic development

cddrl2015honors The graduating class of 2014-2015 CDDRL senior honors students take a group photo with CDDRL Director Larry Diamond and FSI Oliver Nomellini Senior Fellow and CDDRL Honors Program Advisor Francis Fukuyama. From left to right: Didi Kuo (CDDRL honors program teaching assistant); Stefan Norgaard; Monica Dey; Hamin Kim; Garima Sharma; Larry Diamond; Ashley Semanskee; Selamile Dlamini; Max Johnson; Cara Reichard; Thuy Tran; Shawn Tuteja; and Francis Fukuyama.

The Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law proudly congratulates its graduating class of honors students for their outstanding original research conducted under the CDDRL Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Honors Program. Among those graduating includes Garima Sharma who was awarded the Firestone Medal for her thesis entitled "Factors Shaping Mothers' Aspirations for their Daughters in India: A Case Study of Forbesganj, Bihar." Sharma's project used both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore cultural, social and economic factors that shape female expectations in one of the poorest parts of India.

The Firestone Medal for Excellence in Undergraduate Research recognizes Stanford's top ten percent of honors theses in social science, science and engineering among the graduating senior class.

Initially struck by the high rates of early marriage upon her visit to northern India, Sharma conducted field interviews and surveys last summer, finding that exposure to educated and employed female role models produced an increase in mothers’ aspirations for their daughters.

cara and garima Cara Reichard (left) and Garima Sharma (right) both received awards under CDDRL for their outstanding theses projects.
"I think the most memorable experience in my research process was when I was interviewing the mothers in Forbesganj," said Sharma. "It was interesting to see that mothers coming from the same communities were saying very different things about their aspirations for their children." 

Sharma's research was conducted under the advisement of Associate Professor of Education and CDDRL Affiliated Faculty Member Christine Min Wotipka. In addition to the Firestone Award, Sharma received the 2015 Michelle Zimbalist Rosaldo Prize in the Social Sciences under the Program in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

Among other award winners, CDDRL honors student Cara Reichard received the CDDRL Best Thesis Award for her honors thesis "The Logic of International Courts: An Exploration of the East African Court of Justice," which analyzed the impact and legitimacy of rulings under the East African Court of Justice. Stefan Norgaard received a Firestone Medal under the Urban Studies program for his thesis entitled "Rainbow Junction: South Africa’s Born Free Generation and the Future of Democracy," which assessed democratic consolidation in South Africa via hyper-local civic interactions among the country's active youth.

"The CDDRL honors program has allowed us to write theses around issues that really matter," said Norgaard. "What sets the program apart is that it pushes us to pursue projects aimed at changing things and making an active contribution to scholarship around the world."

Norgaard, Sharma and Reichard are part of a cohort of ten graduating CDDRL honors students who have spent the past year working in consultation with CDDRL affiliated faculty members and attending honors research workshops to develop their theses projects. Many traveled abroad to collect data, conduct interviews, and spend time in the country they were researching. Collectively, their topics documented some of the most pressing issues impacting democracy today in South Africa, India, North Korea, Swaziland, Cuba and Uganda, among others.

dsc 0247 Stefan Norgaard with CDDRL Director Larry Diamond (left) and FSI Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow Francis Fukuyama (right).
"This year's CDDRL honors class produced an extraordinary range of thesis topics, from deliberative democracy in California to the role of courts in East Africa," said FSI Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow Francis Fukuyama, advisor to the CDDRL Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Honors Program. "The class was particularly diverse in terms of majors, with students coming from human biology and statistics as well as economics and political science; their work benefited greatly from the exposure they received to a range of disciplinary approaches. Most of all they learned from each other."

In the upcoming 2015-2016 academic year, the program will bring in the new leadership of CDDRL Deputy Director Stephen Stedman who will advise a cohort of 15 honors students, one of the program's largest and most diverse classes to date.  

The CDDRL Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Honors Program trains students from any academic department at Stanford to prepare them to write a policy-relevant research thesis with global impact on a subject touching on democracy, development, and the rule of law. Honors students participate in research methods workshops; attend honors college in Washington, D.C.; connect to the CDDRL research community; and write their thesis in close consultation with a faculty advisor to graduate with a certificate of honors in democracy, development, and the rule of law.

A list of the 2015 graduating class of CDDRL honors students, their theses advisors, and a link to their theses can be found below:

 

NameMajorThesis
Monica DeyHuman Biology
Selamile DlaminiManagement Science & Engineering
Max JohnsonInternational Relations
Hamin KimHuman Biology

NGOs and Effective Aid Delivery in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (Thesis not available for public.)

Advisor: Gary Schoolnik

Stefan NorgaardPublic Policy
Cara ReichardPolitical Science
Ashley SemanskeeHuman Biology

Community Engagement and Accountability in US Urban Public School Districts (Thesis not available.)

Advisor: Martin Carnoy and Susanna Loeb

Garima Sharma

Economics

Factors Shaping Mothers’ Aspirations for their Daughters in India: A Case Study of Forbesganj, Bihar 

Advisor: Christine Min Wotipka

Thuy TranEconomics
Shawn TutejaMathematics

 

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