2025 Percy-Synar Awards Ceremony

A catered in-person reception will follow the ceremony.

Awards Ceremony: 2-3:15pm PST

Reception: 3:15-4pm PST

Join us as we congratulate the 2025 recipients of the Charles H. Percy Undergraduate Grant for Public Affairs Research and the Mike Synar Graduate Research Fellowship. Student awardees will offer brief presentations of their research projects.

The Charles H. Percy Undergraduate Grant for Public Affairs Research 2025 Recipients

Joselen X. Contreras (Public Health; Minor: Public Policy): "From Prop 187 to Power: How Rising Latino Representation in California's Assembly Has Shaped Healthcare Legislation"

Jack Guan (American Studies, Political Science; Minor: Public Policy): The Electoral Crisis of "West Coast Liberalism”

Amy Lee (Legal Studies; Minor: Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies and Education): "Hate Speech and Free Speech: A Case Study on the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act"

River Richart (Political Science; Minor: Data Science): "Auditorium: Influencing Political Attitudes via Music and Its Lyrics"

The Mike Synar Graduate Research Fellowship 2025 Recipients

Julia Christensen (Political Science): "News Media & Political Accountability"

Ángel Ross (Sociology): “Suburban Dreams Deferred: Pr*son Proliferation in the Post-Civil Rights U.S."

Nicholas Shatan (City and Regional Planning): "Networks, Devices, Packages: How Policy and Administration Shape the Affordable Housing Field."

About the Awards:

Each year, the Institute of Governmental Studies awards up to four Charles H. Percy research grants in the amount of $1,000 each to U.C. Berkeley undergraduate students who are conducting research on an aspect of American politics, including public opinion, electoral behavior, civic participation, government institutions, social movements, and public policy. Students from a broad range of disciplines are encouraged to apply.

The Institute also awards three Mike Synar Graduate Research Fellowships of $3,000 each. The Synar Fellowship is awarded to distinguished UC Berkeley graduate students who are writing their dissertations on an aspect of American politics, which may include comparative research across nations with the United States as a major case.

The Percy Grants and Synar Fellowships are made possible by a generous donation from the late William Brandt and his wife, Patrice Bugelas-Brandt. These fellowships were created to honor Congressman Mike Synar of Oklahoma, a Democrat who represented the Second District in northeast Oklahoma from 1979-1995, and Senator Charles H. Percy of Illinois for whom Patrice worked as a press secretary.

**THE CEREMONY IS A HYBRID EVENT THAT WILL BE ACCESSIBLE TO ATTEND VIRTUALLY VIA ZOOM**

This is an accessible event. If you are a disabled person and need reasonable accommodations to participate they will be provided. For more information, and to make a request, please contact Ezra Bristow at [email protected]

Host or Publisher Institute of Governmental Studies