Campus Life
Inside Northeastern
Tana Forrester
Political Science major
On the NU service-learning experience
When she came to Northeastern as a freshman, political science major Tana Forrester wanted to find ways to volunteer and to be politically active. To her surprise, she’s had that opportunity in class. Last year, Distinguished Professor David Rochefort of the political science department invited Tana to join his community-based research seminar. Students in this challenging upperclass course team up with a local community agency to study a current public policy problem, recommend solutions, and write an extensive report about their findings.
Tana’s group partnered with the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners to examine the funding crisis facing Massachusetts libraries. They surveyed librarians across the state and visited libraries around Boston to understand the impact of budget cuts. Tana found this work surprising and exciting, and was fascinated by the State House politics involved in keeping libraries open. “I didn’t realize what libraries are up against,” she says. “They have to lobby for every dollar.” Tana is planning to participate in the next community-based research project, which will look at the issue of health-care coverage in Massachusetts.
Tana says her experience in Professor Rochefort’s seminar confirmed her desire to go on to graduate school to study public policy. She now knows that she’s passionate about research in the social sciences, especially when it prompts policy makers and elected officials to make decisions that help people. “People sometimes criticize academia for being too detached from the world, “ Tana says. “But this is a way to engage with the world.”