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GUS Graduates

Ang Liu, PhD

Dissertation Title: “Financialization of Housing and the City“

Graduation: October 2026

Placement:
Assistant Teaching Professor, Arizona State University, School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning

Headshot of Ana Sondoval. Greenery sits in the blurry background. Sandoval is wearing a red and white floral top and some gold necklaces.

Ana Sandoval, PhD

Dissertation Title: “Trenzando Fronteras: Border Children, Revolutionary Imagination, and the Seeds of Radical Hope“

Graduation: October 2026

Headshot of Mary Malyska in a navy blazer.

Mary Malyska, PhD

Dissertation Title: “Embedded versus standalone digital literacy curriculum design: Impact on elementary school academic outcomes for economically disadvantaged student populations“

Graduation: May 2026

Placement:
Superintendent, Haledon, New Jersey, Public Schools

Kristina Micu, PhD

Dissertation Title: “What’s faith got to do with it? The evangelical Church Planting Movement in the Philippines and the United States“

Graduation: May 2025

Placement:
Executive Director, Guarini Institute for Government & Leadership, Saint Peter’s College

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Marie-Jeanne Ndimbira-Rosner, PhD

Dissertation Title: “How do holistic afterschool programs improve the readiness of poor Black learners in urban Namibia and South Africa to enter tertiary education? case studies examining two successful afterschool programs operating in the post-apartheid context“

Graduation: October 2024

Headshot of Nakeefa Garay with a golden-domed building in the background.

Nakeefa Cilicia Bernard, PhD

Dissertation Title: “The Meaning of Engagement: Community Development Nonprofits Methods and Motivations for Engaging Residents in Newark, NJ“

Graduation: May 2024

Placement: 
Senior Program Director, Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies, Rutgers University—Newark

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Thayane Brêtas, PhD

Dissertation Title: “Reputation and Sex in the City: Governance, Women, and Paid Sex in Newark, New Jersey“

Graduation: May 2024

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Tolu Lanrewaju-Kadri, PhD

Dissertation Title: “Navigating Uncertainty: the Temporalities of Asylum Seeking in Cape Town, South Africa”

Graduation: May 2024

Placement:
Chief of Staff, City of Newark Central Ward Councilwoman Amina Bey

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Maryam Hosseini, PhD

Dissertation Title: “A Walk in the City: Using Large Data Sets to Analyze Urban Sidewalks”

Graduation: October 2022

Placement:
Assistant Professor of City & Regional Planning, College of Environmental Design, University of California, Berkeley
Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP), Massachusetts Institute of Technology