2018 Chancellor’s Award Winner Melissa Galeano

Melissa Galeano spent a semester in Washington, D.C., working at the Office of Barack and Michelle Obama as a correspondence intern.

A highlight of her UAlbany experience was taking a course titled Latino USA, which she said expanded her view of her culture and identity.

Galeano has been on the Dean’s List for seven semesters and is part of the Honors Program in the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy. Her thesis was on the militarization of the U.S. immigration system.

Galeano has won the Spellman Achievement Award and the Stanley Fink Legislative Internship Endowment Scholarship Award, and was a member of the Presidential Honors Society.

She worked for the Department of Residential Life as a resident assistant and a housing manager, and was a peer mentor for the Writing and Critical Inquiry Program.

Galeano has worked with Residential Life and Equinox Inc. to create survivor kits for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. In the summer of 2017 she worked with the Elizabeth Detention Center to coordinate a clothing drive at the University to support detained immigrants.

Galeano interned at the New York State Assembly for Assemblyman Francisco Moya, corresponding with constituents and drafting memoranda pertaining to immigrant populations in the state. She interned at the Queens District Attorney’s Office doing outreach to immigrant communities. During a semester in Washington, D.C., she worked at the Office of Barack and Michelle Obama as a correspondence intern.

“In five to 10 years I wish to be working to advance the rights of underrepresented communities, like immigrants and racial minorities,” she said. “I come from a family of immigrants and understand the plight and lack of resources throughout underrepresented communities and hope to work toward creating initiatives that close achievement gaps in such communities.”

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