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Fatuma Mohamed

Political Science and International Affairs, BA
International Affairs, MA

2024

Curious about the world from an early age, Fatuma Mohamed pursued her undergraduate studies as a Political Science and International Affairs major at Northeastern. Driven by a desire to understand the intricate workings of the world, she found her academic home at CSSH. The MA Program in International Affairs, with its intersectionality, resonated perfectly with Fatuma’s interests in socio-political, historical, and economic aspects of the world. Here, she found a place where she didn’t have to limit herself to just one aspect of her passions.

Fatuma’s Path

Fatuma completed one of her co-ops as the Program Assistant at CSSH's Africana Studies Program, where she worked with historical catalogues and helped launch the Black Feminist Studies minor.

Africana Studies at Northeastern

She also completed a directed study on global forced displacement with Professor Doreen Lee during her MA. As she is interested in pursuing a PhD in displacement, this study helped her hone her interests.

Professor Doreen Lee

Fatuma studied abroad at the University of Ghana, Accra. Here, she was able to study her interest in subsaharan politics and live among local Ghanaian students.

University of Ghana, Accra

She co-founded Hormar Academy, a mentorship for Somali High School students, where she seeks to nurture a healthy community by providing academic support, extracurricular opportunities, and public forums.

Hormar INC.

She went on a Dialogue of Civilizations to the Balkans with Professor Denis Sullivan, where she studied local politics and communities of former Yugoslavian nations.

Professor Denis Sullivan

Fatuma completed another co-op at Research Opportunities for Undergraduates: Training in Environmental Health Sciences through Northeastern, where she engaged in environmental research among faculty.

ROUTES at Northeastern
“As someone passionate about a lot of issues ranging from local, national, and global, I was not sure what area of study I wanted to choose. Through the Explore program [at Northeastern], I was able to take a wide array of courses during my first two years. I ultimately realized that I did not have to choose and that I could learn about many different areas because they are all important. You cannot separate history, from economics, from the socio-political nature, and I needed all of these diverse disciplines to understand the world. Through this process, I was able to declare a political science major with minors in History, African studies, and WGSS studies. It allowed me to deepen my understanding of the world through a deeply intersectional and interdisciplinary lens.”

Fatuma hopes to pursue a PhD program after graduation, where she will study immigration and asylum law around issues of forced displacement, global migration, borders, and conditions of statelessness around the world. She currently does Muslim youth development work as an advocacy director for CAIR (The Council on American-Islamic Relations Massachusetts) and does frequent research on their experience.

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...