Undergraduate Stories

Allison Rivard, of Warwick, R.I., is a double major in Anthropology+Sociology and Legal Studies. Additionally, she has two minors: Political Science and Professional & Public Writing. Allison has embraced the idea of ‘powerful combinations’ to engage in a very well-rounded education.

Matt leveraged the combination of his Finance major and Professional and Public Writing (PPW) minor to land a job at Electric Boat. He is now a Senior Program Rep for Materials Management within the Supply Chain Organization. A huge advocate for the PPW minor, Matt believes the writing techniques he learned in his PPW classes have had a tremendous impact on his early career success.

Kristen completed many installations and exhibitions during her year with the Visual Arts program, most of her work being displayed at the then Roger That! Gallery. She notes that her favorite class taken during her time with the Visual Arts program was Marking Spaces with Professor Elizabeth Duffy. In this advanced sculpture class, Kristen said she learned how to take up space in a bigger and more impactful way.

With the help of University College’s flexible scheduling, John Scott ’01 was able to climb the ranks at the Rhode Island Training School (RITS) in Cranston, R.I. To reach this place, Scott followed a path that met his individual needs.

Anthropology + Sociology gives me answers to questions about society and culture. I am interested in issues like colorism, socio-economic status, and inequality. All of these issues often feel ‘too big’ to answer. Anthropology + Sociology gives me tools and research to help me come up with answers on these big issues on my own. This major helps you break down any part of society to see how things are the way they are, and then work backwards – to help contribute to fixing these bigger issues, like inequality, from the ground up.

"I am a hands-on learner and being able to incorporate that into my education strengthened my ability to understand concepts and ideas."

"I transferred to RWU from a large institution after realizing that I was a student who wanted to be more involved and to feel closer to my peers."

"It has been my dream to attend a 4-year university so I can make a difference in my community. Growing up in a first-generation immigrant family, financial aid played a pivotal role in my college

I took a sociology class in high school, and I liked it. I declared ANSOC as a major coming in, but I did not think that I would stick with it. As a freshman I thought college was about majoring in something that had a concrete outcome, like Marketing or Business. But, I stayed in the major and I now I feel more passionate about it. I see that there are career opportunities with it.

Relentlessness. Lilly Medeiros, a Roger Williams graduate from the class of 2014, shares that relentlessness is one of the core values her employer, Moderna, emphasizes at their company, and the one that resonates with her most. As an Engineer in Early Development Operations, Lilly has spent the last year and a half directly contributing to the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.