Students

Kelly Thomas is a Junior at Trinity College student studying Public Policy & Law for her B.A. with concentrations in Health Policy and Law & Society. She is also minoring in Formal Organizations and is a member of the Women’s Rowing team. She plans to attend law school following graduation. She was encouraged to apply to the Liberal Arts Action Lab and was excited to learn she had received a position to work on the Disability Employment Project. She has an aunt who has Multiple Sclerosis and is quadriplegic. She wants to learn more about the challenges people with disabilities face day-to-day, especially when it comes to employment discrimination.

 

Cam Partridge is a First-Year student at Trinity College majoring in Economics and minoring in Applied Mathematics. He was drawn to this project because of his work within the Special Olympics organization prior to Trinity. Cam’s desire to continue his efforts in helping people with disabilities into college made joining the Disability Employment Project team an easy choice.

 

Tvisha Singh is a Freshperson at Trinity College, majoring in Psychology. She always knew that she wanted to engage in social work in her professional career, one way or another. Thus, when she heard of Liberal Arts Action Lab, she knew she had to jump at the opportunity to get a better idea of what her future may look like.

 

LaDonna Samuel is a student at Capital. She is pursuing a degree in Business Management. This project is definitely a passion project, due to her first-hand knowledge of knowing what it’s like to live with a disability. She is also an aspiring podcaster and public speaker. LaDonna hopes to give a voice to the voiceless and be an advocate for marginalized communities, such as the disabled community.

 

Andy Droney (she/he) is a second-year Capital Community College student working towards a B.A. in Communications, with plans on going into a career in librarianship. She is passionate about the resources, opportunities, and cultural assets Hartford has to offer, and sees the Liberal Arts Action Lab as a prime example. As a neurodivergent person who had struggles navigating the job market, understanding more about this issue is important to her.

 

Liam O’Connor is a senior at Trinity College, graduating with a B.A. in Public Policy and Law, and Captain of the Men’s Rowing Team. After hearing about the Action Lab, he saw this as an opportunity to get involved with his surrounding community and help create opportunities for everyone. Liam chose this Action Lab after volunteering in high school for Spaulding’s adaptive sports, teaching how to ski. 

Faculty Advisor

Ozlem Atalay is a postdoctoral fellow in the Liberal Arts Action Lab. Their research focuses on queer spaces and the involvement of LGBTQ communities in the local decision-making processes. Ozlem’s dissertation is a multi-method study of participation of LGBTQ+ communities in decision making processes and inclusive city politics in contemporary urban Turkey and the United States. Their research contributes to a growing body of literature on collaborative city governance, inclusive city politics, civic engagement, place making and queer critique.