While our Honors and Scholars graduates often head right into the workforce after leaving Miami, a significant number opt to pursue post-graduate degrees at institutions across the nation. One such student is Abbey Steele, an Avon, Ohio native and Miami political science major who graduated from the Honors Program in 2001 after compiling an impressive undergraduate record. Abbey earned a master’s degree in political science from Yale University in 2004. Currently, Abbey is working on her Yale Ph.D. in the same academic field.

Abbey’s Ph.D. work centers on comparative politics and international relations. For her doctoral dissertation, she is examining the effects on populations of combatant strategies and civilian choices during civil wars. To pursue this interest, she will be doing field research in Colombia this coming year with support from the prestigious Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad grant, the National Science Foundation and Yale University. Upon completing her doctoral degree, she hopes to become a professor and to conduct research that helps to shape U.S. foreign policy.

Abbey found the H&S program and the writing of a senior thesis to be key in her growth as a scholar. “The honors thesis was challenging, and left me wanting to learn skills to study social phenomena in a more scientific, rigorous way,” she said. Also, she felt Miami’s faculty helped support her in pursuing her goals. “I found professors at Miami encouraging and receptive to initiative.”

The H&S community is proud to count Abbey among its most accomplished recent graduates and wishes her success in her future endeavors!