{"id":59561,"date":"2012-05-02T08:22:54","date_gmt":"2012-05-02T12:22:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=59561"},"modified":"2023-06-27T13:13:42","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T17:13:42","slug":"class-of-2012-alexandra-raleigh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2012\/05\/class-of-2012-alexandra-raleigh\/","title":{"rendered":"Class of 2012: Alexandra Raleigh"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Alexandra<\/a>
Alexandra Raleigh '12 (CLAS). (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To prepare for her dream job of U.S. Secretary of State, Alexandra Raleigh \u201912 (CLAS) will begin a Ph.D. program in political science at the University of California-Irvine this fall, specializing in political psychology.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am deeply patriotic,\u201d says Raleigh, who is graduating with a double major in psychology and political science. \u201cI care about my country\u2019s values, and I want to work really hard to protect those values.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raleigh says that worldwide, five schools offer graduate degrees in the emerging field of political psychology \u2013 which she says can help America avoid military actions by solving problems through diplomacy.<\/p>\n

Raleigh\u2019s passion for her field of study swelled during her junior year. In 2011, two days before she was due to board a flight to Belgium to serve an internship with the U.S. Embassy, she had a car accident. Her injuries included a broken hip.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a blessing in disguise that I didn\u2019t go to Brussels,\u201d Raleigh says. \u201cI had the whole summer to prepare for grad school and to work on my research, which turned into my senior Honors thesis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guided by Stephen Dyson, assistant professor of political science, with financing through UConn\u2019s Summer Undergraduate Research Fund, the Mathew Jasinski Research Award, Raleigh created a psychological profile of Saddam Hussein. She researched more than 70 of his speeches and interviews, and by using a computer analysis, generated statistical data demonstrating that his words revealed his specific traits and world view.<\/p>\n

Raleigh said she wants to help close the \u201cbig gap between academic and government profilers, to create practical applications for profiles. I would like to see more people interested in figuring out how the personalities of Middle Eastern dictators affect what they do. Then maybe we can change how we negotiate, or deter them, increasing diplomatic instead of military measures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raleigh honed her political chops in high school in her hometown of Norwalk, when she served as a delegate at a Model United Nations event at Yale. \u201cAnd also President Obama being elected,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m half black and half white, and following that election got me interested.\u201d<\/p>\n

While at UConn, Raleigh gave back to the Model UN program, serving for two years on the executive board and managing the event\u2019s logistics and annual budget of more than $10,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not just about fulfilling requirements \u2013 I\u2019m striving to be the best version of myself,\u201d Raleigh says, noting that her goal was inspired by a high school mentor. \u201cWhen I was stalled trying to start my college essay, he told me that life is about being extraordinary. I remembered that when I decided to be an executive rather than on UConn\u2019s Model UN general staff, and to go straight for my Ph.D. instead of a master\u2019s degree.\u201d<\/p>\n

A multiple award-winning student, Raleigh, who has an anxiety disorder, says UConn\u2019s Center for Students with Disabilities was \u201cincredibly helpful\u201d in supporting her. \u201cBeing in the Honors program and having a double major can be stressful,\u201d she says. \u201cI can\u2019t tell you how many times I thought about leaving UConn, but each time I\u2019ve been able to continue. If I\u2019ve learned anything at UConn, it\u2019s how to deal with whatever cards you\u2019re dealt. It hasn\u2019t been easy, but it makes graduating that much sweeter.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A double major in psychology and political science, Alexandra Raleigh will begin a Ph.D. program in the fall, hoping to pursue a career that fosters diplomacy in international relations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":58928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[43],"class_list":["post-59561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-university-life"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-21 08:57:21","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59561"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59615,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59561\/revisions\/59615"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/58928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59561"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=59561"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=59561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}