AFLSE Scholarship Awarded for 2015-16
The AFLSE Scholarship for 2015-16, covering tuition costs for a year of graduate study at the LSE, has been awarded to Glen Billesbach II.
Glen completed his BA degree with First Class Honours in Political Science and a Minor in Philosophy from Richmond the American International University of London. There, he fell in love with the city of London and the global community within. After being introduced to the LSE by Dr. Wolfgang Deckers, a mentor at Richmond and alumnus of LSE, Glen attended many public lectures and it became his dream to study at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
He was born to a single parent, working class family in Carter Lake, Iowa and grew up in the Omaha, Nebraska metro area. Glen’s grandparents met in England when his grandfather was stationed on an air force base near Sudbury Suffolk. Hearing his grandparents’ stories and wanting to experience something different than what he was used to, Glen was inspired to study in England. Before moving to London in 2011 he had hardly traveled out of the Midwest, but since then he has interned at a non-governmental organization in China, worked on a farm in Belgium, and traveled throughout Europe.
At Richmond the American International University in London, Glen was exposed to many different cultures, ideas, and people that profoundly shaped the way he viewed the world. While attending, Glen held leadership positions in the Model United Nations program and tutored students in international relations and political theory. During his senior year, he was elected the Political Science Degree Representative where he represented upper division Political Science students at program formatting meetings with faculty and corresponded with degree validation services on behalf of Richmond University.
Glen interned at the Centre for Child-Rights and Corporate Social Responsibility (CCR CSR) in Beijing during the summer of 2013. In his time there, he assisted in research on training models for Chinese manufacturers on behalf of multinational companies and edited articles regarding migrant workers and children left behind. Previously, in his hometown of Carter Lake, he founded a campaign where he and three others met with the mayor once a week, raised money through various fundraisers, applied for and received grants and ultimately achieved their goal of building a skate park.
In the past year, Glen worked at the University of Nebraska at Omaha where he helped teach research methods to undergraduate students and assisted with scholars’ projects on topics such as racism in the USA and climate change negotiations. He hopes that an MSc in Political Theory will allow him to engage with the fundamental questions of politics at a more advanced level and ultimately help him develop the necessary research and methodology expertise needed to have a successful career in academia. After his post-graduate studies he hopes to help alleviate harsh social and economic discrepancies by teaching and working with charities and community organizations. Also, realizing the speed at which globalization has produced drastically uneven patterns of development and environmental degradation throughout the globe, he hopes to act globally through various projects and conferences. He firmly believes the connections, perspectives and insight that he will gain at the LSE will provide him with the opportunity to achieve all of these goals. Glen is incredibly honored to be granted the AFLSE scholarship and is looking forward to being a part of this community.