Távara Vásquez Receives Dissertation Awards

April 2017

Boston College Lynch School of Education PhD student Gabriela Távara Vásquez, who will be completing the Center’s Certificate in Human Rights and International Justice this year, has been awarded a pair of prestigious awards to assist her in completing her dissertation, entitled “Re-threading life with Andean women of Huancasancos, Peru.”

In late March, she was awarded a 2017-2018 Dissertation Fellowship by the Lynch School, which is a grant, awarded competitively, that will allow her to spend full-time next year working on her dissertation.

She subsequently received an American Association of University Women's (AAUW) International Fellowship Doctoral Degree Fellowship, also in support her dissertation research.  This award will provide support for Gabriela’s studies as well as resources to cover field research expenses, support for a Quechua-Spanish interpreter, travel between Boston and Lima at least twice over the next year, and participation in next year's Latin American Studies Association conference. Founded in 1881, AAUW is one of the world’s largest sources of funding for graduate women, made possible by contributions by generations of AAUW members.

Center Co-Director M. Brinton Lykes serves as chair of Gabriela’s dissertation committee, whose other members include Dr. Lisa Goodman, BC Professor of Counseling Psychology, and Dr. Kimberly Theidon, Henry J. Leir Professor of International Humanitarian Studies at the Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Gabriela has also been a recipient of a summer research grants from the Center, including the Kelsey Rennebohm Memorial Fellowship in 2014 to research indigenous women’s understandings about mental health, wellbeing and reparation in Guatemala.

Please join the Center in congratulating Gabriela for these well-deserved honors.