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Jesslyn Roebuck ’06 (Montgomery, N.Y.) is helping Neil Englehart, assistant professor of government and law, finish his book about human rights.
A double major in English and international affairs, she is collaborating through Lafayette’s distinctive EXCEL Scholars program, in which students assist faculty with research while earning a stipend. Lafayette is a national leader in undergraduate research. Many of the more than 160 students who participate in EXCEL each year go on to publish papers in scholarly journals and/or present their research at conferences.
Roebuck started by updating a portion of Englehart’s research. She then entered the information into a database and is collecting, compiling, and entering new data.
The book focuses on various degrees of state failure through case studies. Roebuck has been working to collect and analyze data in studies of Burma, Afghanistan, Somalia, and the Indian state of Bihar. She is also helping prepare Englehart’s manuscript for publication by proofreading and writing bibliographies for each chapter.
“The basic argument is that the primary threat to human rights is weak and failing states, rather than totalitarian governments,” Englehart explains.
“The book will illustrate how states can fail in their ability to protect citizens’ human rights and thus it is the concept of the state that is crucial to understanding how to eliminate or work to mitigate human rights violations,” Roebuck says.
Englehart makes himself readily available to his students, she says, and that has made it easy for them to communicate openly about the project, which will continue into the summer.
“As a student in his class, I was particularly impressed with his intelligence, but more so with his ability to communicate difficult concepts using eloquent and understandable language,” Roebuck says. “He is not only a knowledgeable professor, but one who will willingly exchange thoughts and ideas with you. I have found that this is one of the best ways to learn — by active questioning, discussion, and discourse with one who has proven him/herself in the field.”
“Jesslyn is an excellent student, and she has been extremely helpful on the project, especially in finding and entering data,” Englehart says. “Her understanding of the project and the issues involved has gotten much more sophisticatedI am increasingly able to give her broader responsibilities.”
During her time at Lafayette, Roebuck says she has come to learn that the professors are a great resource and the environment is conducive to high-level learning.
“The Lafayette atmosphere is academic, while at the same time, laid back enough to allow for the precarious balance needed in everyday life,” she explains.
Roebuck is co-editor in chief of the Marquis literary magazine. She is also a writing associate, an event supervisor for Recreation Services, and vice president of International Affairs Club. She was in Headlong Dance Theatre’s performance of “Britney’s Inferno” at the Williams Center for the Arts. She was one of two students to earn honorable mention in Lafayette’s Jean Corrie Poetry Competition this year and is working with Meredith Jeffers ’05 to develop a literary discussion group.
Roebuck hopes to become a professor of English or international affairs. “Life is too mutable, however, to pigeonhole myself into a definite future,” she says.
She is a graduate of Pine Bush Central High School.
As a national leader in undergraduate research, Lafayette sends one of the largest contingents to the National Conference on Undergraduate Research each year. Forty-two students have been accepted to present their work at the annual conference this month.