Student Profiles

March 25, 2011

Student Participates in UN Advocacy Practicum, Thanks to Scholarship

After making it through the competitive application process, Julie M. Skogsbergh Pimentel, a PhD candidate in anthropology, was one of twenty delegates nationally who participated in the 2011 Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom’s Practicum in Advocacy. Students also took part in the Commission on the Status of Women weeklong meetings that took place at the United Nations in New York this past February. However, had it not been for the generosity of an SBS scholarship created by Todd and Debbie (Grossman) Krasnow ’80 (communication), Skogsbergh Pimentel would not have been able to attend this extraordinary opportunity.

The program, says Skogsbergh Pimentel, was a great complement to her community-based activism and her global interests. “I am a feminist, a wife, a sister, a daughter, a tia, a teacher, a PhD student and a global citizen,” Skogsbergh Pimentel notes.  “I am deeply concerned about the state of the world we live in today and the way that poverty, racism and sexism disproportionately impacts women and girls. I am engaged in community work in Springfield, MA, that is centered on maternal and child health. I am involved with a small group of physicians, nurses and community health educators who formed the Fetal Infant Mortality Review to address the fetal infant mortality rate in the city, which is twice the national average.” 

Simultaneously, Skogsbergh Pimentel has been engaged with a project through the Honor for Haiti Foundation. “We have been able to purchase land and are in the process of working towards building a school in Lagoun, Haiti, in the central region with little access to education, both pre- and post-earthquake. I was eager to participate in WILPF’s practicum to gain skills allowing me to address these and future issues from the perspective of policy and advocacy.”

In New York Skogsbergh Pimentel in fact made connections with people doing similar activism work on the connections of race, class and gender here in the US. In addition, she met new people doing work in Haiti. “I’m looking forward to building this network as we make our visionary K-12 school in Lagoun a reality," says Skogsbergh Pimentel. 

Skogsbergh Pimentel has come a long way from her roots in southern Wisconsin. “I grew up in Milton, population 5,000 and majored in international relations at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities—the first in my family to graduate from college.” She moved to Boston in 1999 to pursue her master’s in intercultural relations at Lesley University and arrived in Amherst for her PhD studies in 2003.

“I chose anthropology because I fell in love with qualitative research, and I was able to combine my interest in social justice issues with that methodology within the discipline. My dreams for the future are first to finish and graduate! Second, I’d like to teach at the university level and also have my own nonprofit specific to issues regarding women’s overall health and wellness.”

Because her work is interdisciplinary, Skogsbergh Pimentel has taken classes in a range of departments, including Afro-American studies and public health. “I’m doing a graduate certificate with the Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies too. I’ve had the opportunity to teach a number of ‘stand alone’ courses over the past five years, after being a TA the first three.” Skogsbergh Pimentel also has taught several online courses through Continuing Education, plus courses through Residential Academic Programs (RAP) and the 21st Century Scholars program (now disbanded). She points to establishing professional networks and developing strong relationships with faculty and other graduate students as a major plus.

The motto of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences is “Connect to Your World.” That is put into action by encouraging SBS students to take part in enriching experiences beyond the classroom—to look for opportunities that will inform their scholarship, help them build professional networks, and enrich their lives overall. For some students, like Skogsbergh Pimentel, these experiences often are financially out of reach, but scholarships from generous alumni and friends help make them accessible. Consider making a gift today that will help students fully pursue their academic, personal and professional goals. For more information on gift opportunities, contact James Mallet, SBS director of development, at 413.577.1700.