It’s not often that undergraduate students get their work featured in peer-reviewed journals, but Jonathan Kim wasn’t an ordinary undergraduate student at DU.
Kim, (BA ’10), pursued a double major in public policy and political science and was part of DU’s Honors Program. To graduate with honors in political science, he was required to write a thesis. He did and it was so well done, it was published in the University of Washington’s student journal, The Orator.
The paper, “The Political Price of Economic Security: Breaking the Financial Oligarchy,” was published in the 2011 Edition, Volume 6, No. 1.
Kim, who is now pursuing a law degree at George Washington University, says the experience gave him a great foundation.
“It was a great experience to grow as a student and as a writer,” Kim says. “It offered great opportunity to pull all of the skills and subjects that I learned over the course of four years into one polished, final product.”
Kim says he also found great insights into the political and policy matters affecting the country at the time of the financial collapse. In addition, he says he was able to really get to know Spencer Wellhofer, DU professor of political science.
“He was a mentor and patient adviser and I’m so grateful to him,” Kim says.
“He was in the top 1 percent of students I’ve ever had at DU,” Wellhofer says, noting that writing a thesis teaches students how to do in-depth research and develop writing and analysis talents. “He was an extraordinary student.”