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Benson’s route from the small town of Wetherby in the north of
England to the University of Delaware is indirectly linked to the
Environmental Law course he took at Leeds as he was nearing the
completion of his bachelor of laws degree in 2016.
“I already had an interest in environmental politics, and the course
showed me what I want to do with my life,” said Benson. “Pursuing a
legal career would not have allowed me to devote my full attention to
environmental law. It would have to be in conjunction with other areas
of the law that I am not particularly interested in.”
With very limited funding offered to him for graduate studies in the
United Kingdom, and a strong desire not to take on any more debt than he
already had incurred, he investigated opportunities away from home. His
research took him to UD’s website, where he read about the political
science and international relations doctoral program that allows
students to earn a master of arts along the way. Pleased to learn that
funding was available for European students, Benson studied the
program’s information and struck up an email conversation with Bagozzi.
“The majority of our prospective students do not reach out ahead of
time, so that stood out to me,” Bagozzi said. “From the very start,
Thomas’ emails were very thoughtful and thorough, and I could tell he
had done a lot of thinking and had a strong understanding of what
graduate school entailed.”
Benson was also impressed by his interactions with Bagozzi and enrolled at UD in 2017.
“It became very clear to me that Dr. Bagozzi was passionate about
environmental politics, and I was able to feel the connection with him
at the time,” said Benson. “That has definitely been the case. He was
assigned to be my adviser and we talk regularly, so it has all worked
out great.”