Nora Lopopolo ’12
Hometown
San Jose, California
Major
Political Science (minor International Studies, Environmental Studies)
Notable Activities/Achievments
Member of the Fulton Debating Society (awarded the Quinn Award for Outstanding First Year Debater and the silver Gargan Medal in the 2010 Fulton Prize Debate), Student Admissions Program tour guide, Clough Center Junior Fellow, graduate of the Boston College Emerging Leader Program, member of the Residence Hall Association, contributor to The Heights.
Academic interests
This past summer I received an Advanced Study Grant to travel to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to study the propaganda war of the Provisional IRA. While I was in Belfast, I had the opportunity to speak to several scholars in the field as well as many local people who were participants or direct observers of the propaganda war. As a result of the interesting and complex nature of the topic, the relevancy of the research to my coursework in security studies, and as the applicability of the subject to current affairs, I'd like to use my grant research as the basis for my senior thesis. I plan to use my research on the propaganda war in Northern Ireland as a case study for terrorist propaganda as a whole. I also hope to use the framework established in the thesis to analyze the war in Afghanistan.
Why did you want to join the Arts & Sciences Honors Program?
My invitation to the Arts & Sciences Honors Program was a large part of my decision to attend Boston College. I hoped that the program would both challenge me academically and provide me with a small class environment where my peers were just as passionate about learning as I was. In addition, the nature of the program allows me to explore a liberal arts education in a rigorous academic setting without having to take some of the more introductory University core classes.
What are your plans for the future/after BC?
After graduation, I plan on attending law school and studying public interest or criminal law. I am also considering a career post-law school working in the field of security studies for a government agency, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. State Department,