Name: Robyn Mello (AS '09) Hometown: Stratford, NJ Major: Sociology Minor(s): Political Science and African Studies Favorite Book:We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch
Activities/Clubs at UD: Students Acting for Gender Equality (SAGE), a feminist group; Battle for Life (BFL), to raise awareness and funds for AIDS-affected orphans in South Africa; Alpha Lambda Delta (ALD) and Phi Kappa Phi (PKP), academic honors societies.
Goals: After graduating, I hope to do a few things, but all focus on the perpetuation and future success of the research I am doing at UD—mobilizing skilled African migrants for the development of their home countries. I am applying for the Marshall Scholarship to study Migration and Diaspora in London. I would like to go back to Sierra Leone to conduct another study and I hope to someday work for a United Nations Agency focusing on Migration and Development or create an organization of my own.
Why did you choose Delaware? Initially, I saw UD because my sister works in Newark. On a beautiful day, we went to Klondike Kate’s on Main Street, sat outside, and took the tour on a whim. After seeing the beauty of the campus and looking at its options, I applied and was invited to the UD Distinguished Scholarship Competition in March. After being awarded a full scholarship (and much, much more), my decision was pretty much made for me. Deciding Delaware was one of the best decisions I ever made in my life.
What has been your favorite Honors class so far? Sociology 201: Honors Introduction to Sociology was by far my favorite Honors course. Taught by a young Ph.D. candidate, he really knew how to relate to students; pick contemporary, relevant reading; provide extracurricular opportunities relating to the readings, and make a very difficult course fun. That course, the books (read Code of the Street by Elijah Anderson), the discussions, the field trip to Philadelphia, and the realizations that it brought me are the reason I chose Sociology as my major. If I had taken the regular section course in a large lecture hall, I definitely would have had a different outcome.
Who has been your favorite Honors professor and why? Dr Devon Miller-Duggan has hands-down been the best combination of honors professor, mentor, and friend that I have had here at UD, since day one. She teaches a one-credit course to many of the freshman scholarship students in which everyone engages in rich discussion, reads some enthralling books, learns how to crochet, forms lasting friendships, and takes various cultural excursions to surrounding cities. Now, as a junior, she and I still meet in her office, go out to dinner, see plays together, and have a really wonderful time just being together. Every student should have a professor like this.
What has been your most rewarding leadership or extra-curricular activity at UD? I am involved in several things outside of the classroom, but nothing comes close to the rewards which research has brought me. I started research with Dr Miller in Political Science during January 2007, and everything since then has been life-changing. I helped him write a textbook. I spent 5 months in Sierra Leone (West Africa) interning at the International Organization for Migration running a project which gave me hands-on experience with exactly what I had been researching. I wrote a survey for Sierra Leoneans living in the United States, and it has virtually exploded to every corner of the Western world, with people asking that I duplicate the survey for Sierra Leoneans in other countries. I’m writing my thesis based on these events, and I may be tapping into a completely new way of looking at Migration Studies. My every day is taken up by this research, and I couldn’t be happier.
