Demystifying the Senior Thesis 6-7:30 pm Hybrid, Tuesday April 8

At Yale University, the Senior Thesis is a required milestone towards one's degree. However, for many, the process of the Senior Thesis is quite elusive. Join us for a conversation with current Seniors and  advisor Megann Licskai to explore the process, consider the thesis beyond the written text and to get a head start on crushing your Senior Thesis! A description of the senior panelists and their projects are detailed on this page. 

1.  You can register to attend this session in person at the Poorvu Center (301 York Street), Room 120 C. Registration is required, and attendance is capped at 20 participants. 
2.  You can register to attend this session virtually via Zoom. Registration is required.

ASL and CART services will be provided.

Chisom Ofomata 

Given the history of heightened Black maternal mortality and communication barriers for d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) patients in the U.S., it is important to determine how these issues may have conflated and affected Black DHH women. However, there is a dearth of literature that addresses this intersectionality. Studies that characterize the maternity experiences of DHH women group Black women with other women of color or have few Black participants, creating this research gap. This lack of research is problematic, especially in the context of the first emergence of “cultural competency” in medical literature in 1989. This monograph, authored by Terry L. Cross and his colleagues, stated that research should guide cultural competence. Chisom’s research offers insight into how the maternity health experiences of Black DHH women have evolved between 1980 and 2010, preceding and following the aforementioned emergence of “cultural competency.” Furthermore, her research assesses the usefulness and limitations of “cultural competency” for this demographic, given the lack of literature to guide relevant policies and training for health professionals. 

Carmen Muniz-Almaguer 

My thesis is a historical chronology of the Brown Berets' El Barrio Free Clinic's eventual transition into AltaMed, one of the largest health networks in California. As I follow key developments, my focus is on the importance of Chicana women's work. 

Sam Street 

Sam Street’s senior project, tentatively titled “Thank God for Mississippi”: Christianity and HIV/AIDS Care in a Small Southern City, focuses on the role of Christianity in shaping healthcare and advocacy during the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Tupelo, Mississippi. Using informal oral histories and archival sources, the project seeks to illuminate the stories of those who participated in the Tupelo Regional AIDS Interfaith Network and work towards a better understanding of how the AIDS epidemic impacted small Southern cities. 

Sophie McKinnon 

Sophie McKinnon’s senior project investigates illegal abortion in California in the 1930s-1940s and the 1960s-1970s. By comparing two women, one an abortionist and the other an abortion rights activist, her goal is to highlight how illegal abortions and the attitudes surrounding them changed over time, specifically in California. 

Jenesis Nwainokpor 

As the field of obstetrics became increasingly professionalized throughout the late nineteenth century, American physicians looked towards the midwife as a source of not only professional competition, but as a hidden danger for pregnant women and infants. At the turn of the century, physicians weaponized an increased focus on scientific objectivity in medical school curricula and high rates of infant mortality against Black midwives across the South, resulting in sweeping government regulation which eventually drove these care workers to virtual extinction. 

Skylar Kronrad 

Description forthcoming