Advising

Development Studies offers a three-tiered advising system: Concentration Director, Program Manager, and faculty mentor.

For concentration-specific questions (i.e., questions about meeting course requirements, certification of progress toward graduation, etc.), students should contact the DS Concentration Director and/or the Academic Program Manager. All DS students will be assigned a faculty advisor who is available to provide general mentorship and scholarly advice.

Office Hours
Wednesdays.......1:00-4:00p
by appointment and upon request
Watson Institute 204
+1 401 863 9068
Make appointment

Join via ZOOM

Concentration Director

Geri Augusto

Director, Undergraduate Development Studies Concentration
Senior Fellow in International and Public Affairs

Professor Augusto is a leading scholar of human and social development, with a particular emphasis on subjugated knowledge (indigenous knowledges, local knowledge, knowledges of the enslaved); science and technology and higher education policies in the Global South; black transnationalism; and the social and freedom movements of African and Afro-descendent communities, an interest which stretches across the USA, Southern Africa and Brazil.

Office Hours
Tue.......11-12
Wed........1-2
Thur......12-1

Watson Institute 220
+1 401 863 3244

Make appointment
Connect via Zoom

Program Manager

Anita Nester
Undergraduate Concentrations Manager

Anita Nester is a resource for all DS students (both current and prospective), and is typically the first stop for inquiries concerning the DS concentration. All new concentrators will file their DS concentration with Anita. She also provides support and answers questions regarding:

filing DS
DS requirements
DS policies
processes (e.g., how to file DS, transfer credits, ASK system, CPT applications)
course lists
general program information
funding opportunities
DS website

Please feel free to contact her with questions about the points above as well as ways to get involved with DS and the Watson Institute. Drop by during open walk-in hours, make an appointment, or request a Zoom videoconference meeting.

caroline maker

Office Hours
Wednesdays..........1-3
Watson Institute 215

Peer Advisor

Cat Maker '21
Cat is a junior concentrating in Development Studies with a regional focus on Latin America. She is particularly interested in the the effects of development on immigration to the US, and spent this past summer in Guatemala at a Spanish language school. In Rhode Island, Cat is a volunteer for workers' rights coalition Fuerza Laboral.

Thesis Advising

See list of past thesis advisors