A passion for social justice and political issues has netted a national fellowship for Dana Wakeman ’21.
Wakeman has been named a Newman Civic Fellow for the coming academic year by Campus Compact, a Boston-based non-profit organization working to advance the public purposes of higher education.
The fellowship is a yearlong program for students who demonstrate a commitment to finding solutions for challenges facing communities locally, nationally, and internationally.
Wakeman, a Bonner Service Leader and Honors Program political science major, is actively involved in community outreach. She has worked with Catholic Charities of Albany to help clients find employment and housing, and created a diversity training and transgender policy to ensure their clients are treated with dignity regardless of their identities. She recently took on responsibility for recruiting Bonner first-year students, as well as training and development for her peers in the program.
“Through her actions, her community work, and her research, Dana has shown her commitment to enacting change in our local community and to addressing issues of inequality and political polarization on campus and beyond,” said Allison Schultz, director of Siena’s Center for Academic Community Engagement (ACE). “She approaches all of her work with a positive attitude, openness to perspectives and experiences different than her own, and an abundant amount of good cheer. She embodies what it means to be a Siena Saint and will make a great addition to the 2020-21 cohort of Newman Civic Fellows.”
During her senior year, Wakeman will conduct a Bonner capstone project exploring the impact of drug courts on individuals, their community at large, and the broader criminal justice system, a continuation of her work as a CURCA Scholar with Jack Collens, Ph.D., associate professor of political science.
“We did a content analysis of over eight hundred candidates’ online profiles to look into how the candidates chose to frame the issue of the opioid epidemic,” she explained. “From this, we discerned where the policymakers’ potential solutions stemmed from. All of this experience has led me to become more confident in my abilities as I learned how to develop strategies for addressing public problems.”
In addition to her Bonner leadership roles, Dana also serves on the executive boards of Siena’s political science and pre-law clubs and tutors her peers in the political science department.
“I feel incredibly grateful to have been nominated for the Newman fellowship, and for the support of the Center for Academic Community Engagement over these last three years. I look forward to learning more about creating social change as well as interacting with students from colleges across the country during the coming year.”
Through the fellowship, Campus Compact will provide Wakeman and her cohort with a variety of learning and networking opportunities that emphasize personal, professional, and civic growth. She’ll also attend a national conference and be able to apply for exclusive scholarship and post-graduate opportunities.