Political Science Alumni: Where Are They Now?

Melissa Avraham (Kutner), LSW, MLSP (B.A. in 2007) is currently employed at Health Partners Plans as a Medicare Care Coordinator for the Dual Special Needs members. She has participated in various fundraisers with United Way and Women Against Abuse. She resides in Philadelphia with her husband and daughter.

Joe Bruno (2013) recently started his 2L year at Cornell Law School. Joe is an active student; he is the current Secretary of the Cornell Italian American Law Students Association and is also an Associate for the Cornell Law Review. This past summer, Joe interned at the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, where he assisted county prosecutors in various trials and hearings.

Philip F. DiSanto (2012) is completing his final year at Columbia Law School, where he currently serves as Executive Articles Editor of the Columbia Law Review. This past summer, Phil worked as a summer associate at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, where he will be returning full time in October 2015. He also continues to serve on the Board of Trustees of Adelphi University and occasionally works pro bono in Brooklyn Family Court.

Samantha Flores (2011) is excited to announce that since graduating from New York Law School in May of 2013 she passed the July 2013 bar and is admitted to practice law in the state of New York. Since her bar admission in May of 2014 Samantha has begun practicing law. She is most currently contracted legal support staff emphasizing in document review work within the city of Manhattan. She has also continued to provide assistance to her father’s tax and financial planning firm Independence Tax & more LLC.

Pedro Hipolito-Albarra (2013) began working in higher education. He has been working at Marymount Manhattan College as an admission counselor. He works with students from the southeastern part of the US. The past year alone has put him on 13 flights to many major cities. He was just recently in DC for a large event there. He got a chance of see classmate Edwin Maldonado since he is interning in the area. He has a few weeks left of travel and he’ll be headed to Florida soon for some events. He’s liking higher education very much. A master’s degree is his next goal.

Nikki Kateman (2010) is in her fourth year working full-time in the Political and Communications Department of Local 338 RWDSU/UFCW. Recently, she has been working on such advocacy issues as increasing the minimum wage and legalizing medical marijuana in New York State. She is also geared up for Election season, assisting on a number of state and federal campaigns. Nikki has also recently moved to Brooklyn with her significant other and absolutely loves everything about it (well, except the commute).

Romina Kazandjian (2011) recently finished the Fund Internship Program (FIP) at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). As a Projects Officer at the IMF, she is currently developing a working paper investigating the effects of women’s economic participation on output diversification and economic growth worldwide and specifically in low-income countries. Romina is a second-year doctoral student in Economics at American University in Washington DC, focusing on macroeconomics, gender, monetary, and international economics.

Meghan Lombardo (2014) Armed with her coveted B.A. in political science, she decided to make a slight detour before heading straight to law school. Some have said that she chose to work in the antithesis of her future graduate school, but she believes that it has yet to be determined. When destiny calls, you answer and when Walt Disney World beckoned for her, she came running to it. Of course not all aspects of her job down here are magical. She must, day after day, greet around 1,000 guests at the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show with five different Polynesian Island greetings (on the island of Tonga, we say Malo Eileilei), in addition to bringing about general merriment to everyone she encounters. Guests have a habit of cold-calling cast members with questions that have very little to do with the material that she’s been trained on, but it is her obligation to ignore the mental exhaustion, strap on her Hawaiian shirts and grass shirts, and make her guests smile. Does she satisfy every guest? No. Has she been threatened to have her boss (Mickey Mouse) reprimand her? Of course! But all of the hard work and tears become worth it every time she gets to see how happy a displaced Luau can make a child.

Edwin Maldonado (2013) is in his second year at Syracuse University College of Law pursuing a joint juris doctor and master’s in International Relations with the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. At the moment he is working full time in Washington D.C. in the Office of Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand as a legal fellow.

Svetla Marinova (2010) has attained a master’s degree from Columbia University and done a research fellowship with the Earth Institute. She is now Senior Business Analyst at Standard & Poor’s Innovation Lab, leading a team of engineers and designers through the creation of new financial analytics products. The team’s latest accomplishment is a unique question-answering search engine for users in the investor community. Svetla has been living in the Financial District for the past 3 years.

John Miller (2012) is in his final year at Harvard Law School. He is heavily involved in the school’s Alternative Dispute Resolution community, and frequently mediates small cases claims in Boston-area courts. After law school, he will be working as an associate for DLA Piper LLP’s New York office.

If you would like to appear in future Political Science Newsletters, please keep in touch. We love hearing from our alumni!

Traci Levy
e – levy@adelphi.edu