Location: Mather Hall Wean Terrace Room C Elitsa Molles graduated from Trinity College in 2004 with a Bachelor’s degree and Honors in Political Science and German Studies. Originally from Bulgaria, she is currently working on a Ph.D. in Comparative Politics at Boston College, with a focus on Western European immigration. Elitsa has worked as a research and teaching assistant on subjects like democratization, human rights, and the resource curse; and she has taught a class on the contested constitutional rights of Americans. Elitsa interned with the American Anti-Slavery Group to raise awareness of modern-day slavery and headed a research team at the International Institute for Justice and Development concerned with judicial reform in Africa. She helped organize a graduate conference on the Politics of Human Rights at Boston College and is a frequent participant in conferences in political science and sociology. With the help of the W.H. Russell Fellowship for Graduate Study (Trinity), Boston College’s Fortin & Bradley summer grants, and the German ZEIT Foundation’s Dissertation Grant in Migration Studies, Elitsa recently completed a year of field research in Spain and Ireland. She is currently working on a doctoral dissertation concerned with the effect of identity on the integration of immigrants in Western European cities. Elitsa is interested in teaching courses on immigration, the European Union, democratization, human rights, and Western Europe in the future.  Refreshments will be served.