Francesca Bentley

Francesca Bentley is a rising third-year student at Spelman College, where she is pursuing a bachelor's in political science with a minor in psychology. In the spring of 2020 her research investigating cognitive dissonance’s effects on expecting adolescent women’s views on pregnancy was published in Spelman’s research journal Continuum. Since beginning her undergraduate studies, Bentley has studied and worked abroad twice, which has only fueled her affinity for international relations and foreign policy. This summer, Bentley is working with faculty at University of California, San Diego's Center for Peace and Security Studies to investigate how countries relate to one another on a deterrence basis. Following graduation, Bentley hopes to attend graduate school with the purpose of acquiring a master's in international relations. As her research of adolescent pregnancy and repeated work experiences with refugees and asylum seekers exhibit, Bentley possesses a passion for highlighting underrecognized disenfranchised populations, which she hopes to further fulfill through the Pulitzer Center Campus Consortium Reporting Fellowship.