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Mara Caplan

International Affairs
Arabic minor

2024

Mara sought an immersive education that would traverse borders. By studying abroad in London and Cairo, she embraced global perspectives in her studies. Mara’s professors at CSSH encouraged her to pursue every question and indulge every creative endeavor, allowing her to blend disciplines and develop new understandings.

Related Schools & Departments

Mara’s Path

Mara studied abroad in London during her freshman year, where she was immersed in the city's history and attended shows at the Globe, visited Windsor Palace, and studied Jane Austen in Bath.

Study Abroad at Northeastern

One of her favorite courses was International Affairs and Globalization with Risa Kitagawa. This course offers an interdisciplinary approach to analyzing global and international affairs.

Risa Kitagawa

Mara completed two different Dialogues, one in Palermo and Rome, Italy, and another in the Middle East, studying local politics and how they relate to the global political sphere.

Dialogue of Civilizations at Northeastern

She was the Human Trafficking and Career Services Intern at International Institute of New England, where she worked with human trafficking victims to connect them with social services in Boston.

International Institute of New England

Mara volunteered at 826 Boston, where she tutored younger children after school through virtual tutoring, as well as helping high schoolers with college essay guidance and application preparation.

826 Boston

She was the Program Coordinator Co-op at the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office Fair Labor Division, where she worked to return money to victims of wage theft.

The Attorney General's Fair Labor Division

Mara volunteers at Friendship Works, where she assists elderly individuals with tasks around their homes and provides companionship to those experiencing elder isolation.

Friendship Works
“CSSH has been impactful to me as it allowed me to truly explore my place in this world from a variety of different perspectives, cultures, and disciplines. Ranging from the theoretical to the experiential, and the global to the individual, I have delved into social issues that impact our world.”

After graduation, Mara became a paralegal at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office in the False Claims Division.

More Student Paths

Charles T. Wallace-Thomas IV

  • Charles took "Sustainable Renewable Energy Development in the Global South" with Professor Shalanda Baker, which pushed him to further question systems as they exist, no matter their entrenched in society.
  • He did community service as part of the Ujima Global Leaders Program through the John D. O’Bryant African American Institute. He worked on the Timebank team, helping give back to local communities.
  • Charles split his time for his first co-op between the Center for Economic Democracy and the Boston Ujima Project, where he analyzed studies on community needs, including infrastructure and childcare.
  • He was one of the co-creators of the #BlackAtNU campaign and advocated for racial literacy courses and a restorative and transformative justice center on campus.
  • Charles made his own research project- a macroeconomic index to measure democratic participation in municipal economies, partnering with NU, the Columbus Foundation and the Center for Economic Democracy.
  • He worked at the Participatory Budgeting Project as a Program Associate, helping city systems and other organizations actively decide how to invest money across different spaces.
  • Charles graduated in 2022. ..

Casey Greenleaf

  • Casey took Global Markets and Local Cultures. After traveling, she better saw how the coursework mirrored real life, and knew her education was preparing her for the world.
  • She went on a DOC to Argentina and Uruguay, and become highly proficient while living in Buenos Aires and visiting the glaciers of the Patagonia region.
  • Casey completed her first co-op at the Museum of Fine Arts as a community arts program assistant. She gained valuable hands-on experience assisting in arts classes for local communities.
  • She joined the Sociology & Anthropology Student Association during her third year. It allowed her to get to know her fellow students and mirrored the small school experience she loved.
  • Casey studied abroad in Nepal for her capstone thesis. She lived alone for a month while she researched and wrote about the lived experience of climate change in the lower Himalayas.
  • She worked for the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative, founded by Professor Sarah Wylie. She produced promotional videos, developed a virtual research event, wrote event programming, and more.
  • Casey graduated in 2020. ..

Sunita Pfitzner

  • Sunita took Revolution, Civil War, and Insurrection, taught by Professor Risa Kitagawa. The course invited students to question the motives behind acts of violence against governments.
  • She traveled on a Dialogue of Civilizations to Jordan and Egypt; while there she grew interested in Middle East politics and the Arabic language.
  • Sunita worked at the Institute for Economics and Peace in Sydney, Australia, where she analyzed data on the corruption of police forces in Mexico.
  • Sunita was a member of the International Relations Council and traveled abroad with the club to compete in Model Arab League, Model NATO, and Model UN conferences.
  • Sunita conducted research with Berna Turam, developing a greater understanding of the Mediterranean migrant crisis. She also researched the feminist response to Covid-19 with Val Moghadam.
  • She graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2022.
  • ..
Northeastern student Yasser Aponte works at The Food Project to help deliver fresh food to local communities in Dorchester, Massachusetts.

Yasser Aponte

  • Yasser was in the Foundation Year program at Northeastern. The program was a rigorous deep dive into core subject classes that helped Yasser bridge the gap between his high school and college experiences.
  • He took Issues in Cities and Suburbs with Professor Erin Graves in Fall 2018. As someone deeply invested in urban life, he found the course was an enlightened look at the problems endemic to cities.
  • Yasser joined the Boston Beer Company as a Program Operations and Event Assistant for his first co-op. He worked on inventory, public relations, brewery events, and workspace organization.
  • He implemented community gardens all over Boston on deserted plots of land during his time as the Northeastern Campus Director for the campus’ United Nations Millennium Fellowship.
  • Yasser maintained a farm in Dorchester for The Food Project. He harvested crops, distributed produce through donations and food markets, and worked on overall logistics.
  • In 2020, Yasser won the Community Service Leadership award, given to students who show exemplary community engagement. He was recognized for his work at The Food Project, Northeastern Crossing, and more.
  • He graduated 2022 with his Bachelor’s in International Affairs and Religious Studies and his Master’s in Security and Resilience Studies, through Northeastern’s PlusOne program...