Raymundo Lopez is a Sonoma State University senior that was recently awarded a prestigious 2020-2021 American Political Science Association Minority Fellowship. 

The American Political Science Association was founded in 1903 but established the Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) in 1969 to increase the number of underrepresented students in the political science field. Originally, MFP was for African American students, but as the program began to expand, they included all minorities in order “to include support for racial and ethnic underrepresented scholars,” according to the APSA website. 

Growing up, Lopez was raised in a foster care system and supported by his teachers in school. In a prior article, Lopez insinuates some difficulty in making school a priority due to the fact that his foster parents were immigrants and had no higher education. While they were not demanding in his education, he did learn from them. “My foster parents were not perfect, as they also dealt, and still deal, with personal matters back home (in Mexico). A lot of the learning came from pure observation and being exposed to emotional/familial situations where my siblings, and I, were prompted to react to or endure.”

Most importantly, according to Lopez, he learned how to care for others. “Nothing compares to what my foster mother, and company, taught me as a kid. Apart from caring for my siblings and me, she fostered abandoned/neglected infants and/or toddlers from regional hospitals—all throughout my time in foster care…I found myself caring for these young gifts of joy…feeding, cradling, playing, and outright bonding with these infants. To this day, this is my greatest feat in life—and I am immensely proud of that.”

Lopez is a McNair scholar at SSU where his research focuses on a combination of  quantitative-based approaches (e.g. multiple linear and probit regression models) to the field of big data in political environments. His fields of expertise include institutions, legislative elections, Latina/o/x politics, campaigns, and race and His fields of expertise include institutions, legislative elections, Latina/o/x politics, campaigns, and race and ethnicity politics. He has yet to publish his work in official journals, but he has excerpts published for the Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate, Science Today, the National Model United Nations forum, and is currently working on a current article with a professor at Michigan State University that is set to be published in the near future (for a study conducted in the summer of 2019).The McNair program allowed him to explore his passions with the other 27 students in the program and to successfully achieve a number of goals. 

Not only is Lopez a major in political science, but he also is majoring in French. Lopez enjoyed studying abroad in France his junior year. Despite the fact that he is Latino, he explained in a past article that the reason he chose to study in France was because he was already exposed to the Latino community and wanted to explore more of the world.   He was also appreciative that he was able to mentor other girls on that trip that also came from a foster care system like him.  The experience made him feel like that trip was meant to happen. “I would tell current foster/at-risk youth, and those suffering from severe instability and depression, that there is beauty in the darkness and pain we, humans, suffer from. Only when they’re ready, should they express themselves in whatever manner possible and build a community of friends. There is nothing more powerful than a fiery soul in a group of other fiery souls.”

The APSA Minority Fellowship Program will help Lopez enter a Ph.D. program and continue his research in political science. He acknowledges that without SSU, none of his accomplishments would’ve been possible. Receiving the fellowship is a monumental achievement, but for Lopez, it just means he’s getting started. “It means that I need to get to work. And that I owe thanks to the wonderful people who mentored me to become the person I am today. That includes my foster parents, the entire political science department, the faculty at SSU, and my siblings. Shout-out to Dr. Sakaki, Dr. Boaz, Dr. Elaine Leeder, Dr. Malpica, Dr. Marteau, Dr. McCuan, Dr. Markay, Dr. McNamara, Dr. Renaudin, Dr. Switky, Dr. Toczyski, Dr. Train, Ms. Stacey Pelton, Ms. Nicole Stein, Ms. Brianna Bjarnson, and Ms. Amal Munayer. And to everyone at SSU—keep your head up, fight, and win.”