All News

Since the day she arrived on campus, Anyi Rescalvo ’22 knew she wanted to give back to marginalized communities during her time at Hamilton. A daughter of immigrant parents, Rescalvo says she found the perfect way to do this — by teaching English to immigrants and refugees.

Peuo Tuy, an award-winning Khmer-American modern poet, told her story, “Past, Present, Future Refugee Experience in America,” to a group of students in the SHINE program classes working with Associate Professor of Russian John Bartle and Britt Hysell, director of the ESOL program, on April 5.

 Among the Levitt Center’s programs aimed at connecting Hamilton students with the Utica community are Project SHINE and VITA. SHINE (Students Helping in the Naturalization of Elders) is a service learning program in which Hamilton students tutor refugees and immigrants learning English. VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) offers free tax help to families who cannot prepare their own tax returns. Hamilton students become certified volunteer tax preparers through the IRS.

While students, faculty, staff and visitors to Hamilton know that the Mohawk Valley is a beautiful and engaging place to live, another striking feature of the area is its position as a cultural and ethnic melting pot, thanks in large part to the City of Utica’s diverse refugee and immigrant populations. Tanapat Treyanurak ’17 is spending his summer continuing work related to Project SHINE, a program dedicated to assisting in the incorporation and assimilation of immigrants and refugees into local communities, through a Levitt Center grant.

The start of the Spring 2015 semester at Hamilton marks the 10th anniversary of Students Helping in the Naturalization of Elders, or Project SHINE, operated through the Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center.  The service-learning program helps students understand the needs and circumstances of others through work in the community.  Students act as English coaches to refugees and immigrants, and work one-on-one or in small groups with adult learners and young adults.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Government Omobolaji Olarinmoye has received a Levitt Center 2013 Project SHINE course development grant for his Introduction to Comparative Politics (Gov. 112) course.

Elizabeth Parker-Magyar ’12, a candidate for May graduation, has been awarded a Fulbright Teaching Assistantship to Jordan.  She is a world politics major at Hamilton.

This past fall semester, seven Hamilton students participated in the Government 202 quarter-credit service learning course titled “Immigrants and Refugees in the U.S.” taught by former Levitt Center Associate Director for Community Research Judith Owens-Manley. The course met once a week to discuss refugee resettlement experiences, policies and procedures, especially those specifically related to local Utica’s large refugee population.