Congratulations to the Class of 2025 Political Science Senior award winners! We are so proud of the scholarship, achievements, and service of this class, well represented by the following graduates:
Academic Achievement Award: Andrew Bellows
The winner of the 2025 Political Science Academic Achievement Award is Andrew Bellows. Andrew exemplifies the qualities of academic excellence, maintaining a perfect 4.0 GPA while consistently demonstrating remarkable analytical skills, scholarly dedication, and collegiality. Andrew’s remarkable academic record reflects not only his mastery of complex political concepts across diverse themes and methodologies, but an exceptional ability to synthesize information from various sources, think critically about complex issues, and communicate insights effectively.
In his course work in the department, Andrew has been fearless in taking on big ideas and rigorous research, showing significant outcomes across quite different subfields. Dr. Morell highlights how Andrew went “above and beyond expectations," in her course on American elections, noting his sophisticated polling analysis that "warranted the only perfect score” in the course. In his International Relations centered junior tutorial, Dr. Cho commends Andrew’s “excellent paper on the shift in US foreign policy towards China.” And in commenting on his senior thesis examining the role of elite interactions in Jewish refugee policy in 1930s Latin America, Dr. Chartock applauds Andrew’s capacity to conduct “methodologically sound, sophisticated research about multiple countries whose languages he does not speak,” producing work of such quality that he was in serious contention for the senior thesis award.
Andrew’s academic excellence has extended well beyond his written work, encompassing an ability to communicate complex ideas across formats and a generous collaborative spirit that consistently elevates scholarly discourse. Faculty have noted his engaging and informative delivery in venues ranging from a co-produced podcast on Latin American politics to a mock “elevator pitch” to publishers, while his participation in student peer review sessions stands out for offering precise theoretical insights with the collegial spirit that makes his contributions genuinely helpful.
As Andrew prepares for law school, Dr. Dumas notes that his “engagement with class material and ability to connect it to the actual functioning of the law exceeds that of most undergraduates.” Perhaps what impresses us most is that while Andrew’s law school ambitions have been consistent, he has nevertheless engaged deeply and sincerely with all facets of Political Science, achieving incredible success across our discipline’s diverse themes and methodologies.
Excellence in Prelaw Award: Amelia Laubsch
The award for Excellence in Prelaw honors a student with exceptional academic accomplishment in prelaw and a dedicated record of service to the Prelaw Program. Amelia Laubsch exemplifies these qualities. In addition to her superb coursework, Amelia was the driving force behind the creation of the Mock Trial student organization and class. Her leadership of the Mock Trial club also garnered her the college-wide award for President of the Year from the Office of Student Life. She was an integral part of bringing a Phi Delta Phi (legal honor society) Hall to TCNJ, making TCNJ one of only 37 undergraduate institutions with a Hall. Not only has Amelia demonstrated personal excellence in Prelaw, but her contributions to the Prelaw Program will benefit many current and future TCNJ students. Congratulations, Amelia Laubsch.
Service Award: Daniel Wilson
The Political Science Department is delighted to award Danny Wilson the 2025 Senior Service Award. In his time at The College of New Jersey, Danny has made significant contributions to the college, department, and community. He served his fellow students in Student Government and as a Campus Ambassador. Within the department, Danny worked to reinstate Pi Sigma Alpha Political Science Honor Society as a recognized student organization. He has demonstrated a commitment to public service off campus, as well: Danny lobbied on behalf of TCNJ in the state legislature, participated in the Brian Stack internship program at the Governor’s Office, and interned with Congresswoman Watson Coleman. Congratulations on your tremendous achievements, Danny!
Thesis Award: Emma Crowningshield
Emma Crowningshield, the TCNJ Department of Political Science is honored to select you as recipient of a Best Thesis Award 2025. Your research, “Houston We Have an Environmental Problem: Analyzing the Impact of Space Exploration Enthusiasm on Support for Climate Protection Policy,” is an ambitious, tightly argued, and beautifully written exemplar of quantitative political science research.
Your research questions are neither obvious nor trivial: did support for space exploration compete with or complement support for environmental protection from the early 1970s to the present? How did budgets for the EPA and NASA fluctuate over this half-century and to what degree did they reflect public opinion on space and the environment? Answering these questions required laborious data gathering, coding, and creation of a custom dataset combining cross-sectional and longitudinal data on public opinion and federal spending. Your sophisticated statistical analysis, including creation of time-series plots from estimates of correlations and regression coefficients by year, represents extensive effort. Your lucid explanations make widely accessible your findings that strong support for the space program is compatible, not competitive, with support for environmental protection. You further show that the NASA and EPA budgets reflect public attitudes through the early 2000s, a time when, in your words, “science, innovation, and environmentalism were viewed as mutually reinforcing national priorities.” You demonstrate that this multi-decade alignment diverges since 2013, when NASA budgets soar and EPA budgets show sharp declines despite sustained popular support for both programs. This important insight sheds light on the complex interplay of “public opinion, scientific funding, and political decision making.”
Congratulations on an excellent thesis. You are deserving of this award.
Thesis Award: Nikhil Jonsson
Nikhil Jonsson, the TCNJ Department of Political Science is honored to select you as recipient of a Best Thesis Award 2025. Your research, “Land for Peace? Israel, Egypt, and the Demilitarization of the Sinai Peninsula,” is a smart, impressively researched, and responsibly executed exemplar of qualitative political science research.
Your fine introduction sets up a fascinating strategic and geopolitical puzzle: why in 1978 did Israel willingly cede and largely demilitarize the Sinai Peninsula, a massive territorial buffer zone it claimed in the Six-Days War of 1967, to Egypt, its longstanding antagonist to the south? Answering this question entailed an extensive and intelligently organized research journey. Your work features impressive historical analysis of this complex region, savvy political analysis of land governance and strategic peace negotiations, and deft comparative analysis of how the Golan Heights, a territory Israel seized from Syria also in the Six-Days War of 1967, did not result in a similar land for peace deal despite Israel’s strong interest in normal relations with its northern neighbor. Drawing from an array of sources, including transcripts from the 1970s and 1980s, you foreground and draw insights from three less-well examined variables: the strategic value of the territorial populace of the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights, the size and location of these territories, and their topography as facilitator or impediment to land for peace agreements. Persuasive and analytically conscientious, your beautifully written study sheds light on why the negotiated trade of the Sinai Peninsula led to lasting peace between enemies, while similar interest with Syria in the Golan Heights did not. Such timely insights offer a model for consideration in the troubled and complicated Middle East.
Congratulations on an excellent thesis. You are deserving of this award.
Thesis Award: Julia Larko
Voting Beyond Citizenship: National Voting Rights for Non-Citizen Residents in Latin America
This year’s Political Science Senior Thesis Award goes to Julia Larko. Julia’s thesis presents a sophisticated comparative analysis examining why some Latin American countries extend national voting rights to non-citizen residents while others do not. Through rigorous application of comparative qualitative methods, she analyzes Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, and Bolivia, developing an original theoretical framework that challenges existing cultural and rational choice explanations. Her central argument demonstrates that political elites are more likely to grant national voting rights when they perceive non-citizen residents as key contributors to their political agendas, often employing “strategic exclusion” to maximize benefits while minimizing risks.
This work represents exceptional undergraduate scholarship that is rare in its ambition and execution. Julia’s research exhibits remarkable analytical rigor, original thinking, and clear communication throughout, tackling questions that reflect her deep commitment to understanding how states treat all people living within their borders, whether they are citizens or not. Her excellent case selection methodology, informative data visualization, and rich empirical evidence substantiate a compelling theoretical model. The thesis successfully synthesizes nuanced political phenomena while ably utilizing and building upon concepts and literature key to Comparative Politics.
Julia’s process of creating thesis was perhaps as impressive as the final result. She exemplified scholarly excellence and remarkable dedication from the project’s inception. Julia consistently engaged in conversations with Dr. Chartock and embraced the iterative process between theory and empirics—gathering extensive research, discussing theoretical implications, incorporating literature suggestions, and refining her analysis continuously. Her commitment to this project was extraordinary, reflecting not only her intellectual curiosity but also her genuine passion for questions of political inclusion and democratic participation. This level of sustained engagement with complex comparative research is unusual for an undergraduate, yet Julia approached it with the seriousness that such important questions deserve, producing an impressive contribution to our understanding of immigration policy and political inclusion.
