Charissa Howard

Hi everyone! I'm a senior in the College majoring in English, with minors in Political Science and French. As a humanities student, I was initially convinced that research wasn't something open to me. Fast-forward 3 years, and I've found that research has been one of the activities that I've gotten the most involved in at Penn. Between fellowships, such as Mellon Mays, Civic Scholars, and a PGRI, serving as a research assistant, and doing work on my own, I've had the opportunity to open my mind and (literally!) travel the world due to my research. My current research centers on literary narratives coming out of Ukraine and how they are impacting European public perception of the war. I'm concurrently working on a project concerning the evolution of literature about and by Black multiracial women. I've learned a lot over my time at Penn about balancing research and classes/clubs, identity-based research, and doing research that is integrated within communities, particularly West Philly. Please reach out with any questions, even (or especially) if you think research isn't for you!

• Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship
• Penn Global Research Institute for European Studies
• PURM 2023 Research Assistant with Professor Dorothy Roberts (Penn Carey Law)
• Civic Scholars