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Marquis Scholar Meghan Towers ’04 (Carmel, N.Y.) is researching the growing economic and political power of women in Mexico for a yearlong independent research project.
Towers, a double major in international affairs and gender & ideology in historical & cross-cultural perspectives, seeks to show that as more women in Mexico go to work, they are helping to transform gender roles and increasing their involvement in the public sector. She plans to use both English- and Spanish-language sources to explain the way social, economic, and political factors are part and parcel to the changes in the lives of these “mejicanas,” or Mexican women.
“As an international affairs major, I have always been fascinated by the interplay of international economics and how this can affect the politics of a single nation,” Towers says. “As a woman I am also interested in changing gender roles, and I feel lucky to be living in a time when so much change is occurring.”
“I am fascinated by Mexican culture,” she continues, ”which I find to be full of both conflict and beauty. I also recognize the struggles of a nation that is so full of pride but also dependent on the U.S. for much of its economic well-being.”
Victoria Langland, instructor of history, is advising Towers for her thesis, which, if successfully completed and defended, would enable her to graduate with honors.
“Meghan will learn the nuts and bolts of research,” says Langland. “With these papers, the onus is on the student to pick a topic, a research agenda, etc.”
Langland has received more than a dozen fellowships, grants, and awards from Yale University, University of Chicago, Social Science Research Council (SSRC), the Fulbright-Hayes program, and others. She has shared her research though academic publications and conference presentations, including a talk at this year’s meeting of the Latin American Studies Association, and co-edited a book published this year as part of an SSRC series on collective memories of repression in Latin America.
“I feel so lucky that she agreed to work with me,” Towers says. “She is very involved in the entire thesis process and has already proved to be an invaluable resource.”
“She is very passionate and helpful,” Towers adds. “Therefore she not only aids me in focusing my topic better, but also inspires me to be more passionate about my topic as well.”
“Meghan is enthusiastic; she has a passion for the topic,” says Langland. “She is not writing this paper to see the honors on her diploma — she wants to write about and find the answers to these questions.”
Lafayette has provided Towers with a demanding schedule and a sense of autonomy.
“I feel that Lafayette is one of the best academic environments around. I cannot think of a single experience I have had here that wasn’t intellectually stimulating and challenging,” she says. “Professors provide enough guidance to ensure that we learn, but also allow us enough independence to find our own path and challenge ourselves. I think the academic environment has prepared me to write a thesis and assume the independent burden while providing a great support network, including the library staff, who are amazing.”
Towers is quick to credit the international affairs department with broadening her intellectual horizons.
“I love the IA major. It allows me to truly examine the many different global factors that affect the lives of everyday people. I love that it requires me to study a variety of disciplines and how they interact.”
Her second major is one that she designed herself.
“I was thrilled to have the opportunity to extend the ideas I learned through IA into a more social perspective. I designed my major to complement the IA curriculum with more of an emphasis on how cultural and social factors affect and are affected by economic and political factors, specifically in their relation to women. I feel that the combination of the two has given me a more complete view of the world.”
A graduate of Carmel High School, Towers has had many opportunities to travel through Lafayette. She studied abroad in Madrid last spring and China for a January interim session course, and went to Honduras on an Alternative School break service trip. She also participated in the Bard Program in New York City, spending the semester interning at the World Policy Institute-Arms Trade Resource Center, where she analyzed the international uses of America’s military funding and weapons.
She presented at the Lafayette Symposium on Globalization in her sophomore year, and has been a resident adviser two of the last three years, as well as a member of the women’s rugby team and the International Affairs Club.
As a national leader in undergraduate research, Lafayette sends one of the largest contingents to the National Conference on Undergraduate Research each year. Over the past five years, more than 130 Lafayette students have presented results from research conducted with faculty mentors, or under their guidance, at the conference.