Dr. Frances Marquez receives congressional fellowship

[Awaiting review by Frances and SW]

Associate Professor of Government Dr. Frances Marquez of the Department of Government and History has received a Congressional Fellowship from the American Political Science Association (APSA) and began the program on November 3.

The APSA fellowship will enable Marquez to work directly on the staff of a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and then on the staff of a U.S. Senator. In addition to the Congressional work, Marquez will engage in an extended orientation at Johns Hopkins University that will include an international relations course and daily seminars with legislators, congressional staffers, journalists, lobbyists, political scientists and policy specialists. She will also travel to Canada to participate in a Canadian Parliamentary Exchange which includes a comparative study of Westminster versus the U.S. Federal Model of Government.

One of only five political scientists selected nationwide for this congressional fellowship, Professor Marquez will serve in the nation’s oldest and most prestigious Congressional fellowship program. Begun in 1953, the fellowship developed by the APSA has served as a model for programs subsequently developed in all three branches of the federal government as well as in settings abroad. The program today remains true to its original objective of expanding research, knowledge, and awareness of Congress.

Marquez brings many years of political experience to this position. She has campaigned for candidates at the local, state and national level including President Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996; senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer in 1990 and 1992; representatives Xavier Becerra and Hilda Solis in 1991 and 1992; and Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina in 1990. In 2006, she conducted the first comprehensive study on Latino/a Political Appointees in the United States.

Since she began teaching at Gallaudet in 2003(?), Marquez has brought her enthusiasm for political science and political activism to the students of Kendall Green. When she had the chance to monitor the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, she shared what she saw and heard when she taught the class, “The Latina Experience: Borders and Boundaries.”  Marquez has led student delegations to the Democratic and Republican conventions in election years, and has been instrumental in numerous students’ successful bids for Capital Hill internships.