Alumni Achievement Award: Brittnee Carter

Brittnee Carter’s academic inclinations became apparent early when she chose as a sophomore at South Haven High School to expand her educational horizons by taking a Japanese course at Lake Michigan College. She was impressed by her instructor, and continued to take advantage of dual enrollment at LMC, becoming the first South Haven student to earn her associate’s degree before graduating from high school. Today, after three more degrees, publications in academic journals, and two fellowships, Brittnee is working on her Ph.D. in political science at the University of Kansas.

Brittnee’s dissertation is on why it is in states’ best interests to behave ethically, and how political scientists can act responsibly in their studies and in the dissemination of their research. Her research interests also include communist politics and the Uyghur ethnic minority of China. Planning a career as a professor, Brittnee has taught since she was a senior in high school, from math at South Haven’s Baseline Middle School, which she calls “one of the most rewarding jobs” of her career, to political science at University of Kansas, the University of Washington, and Lake Michigan College.

Brittnee has earned two Bachelor of Arts degrees in Russian Language and Literature and Spanish Culture and Language at the University of Notre Dame, and a Master of Arts in International Studies – Russian, East European, and Central Asian Studies from the University of Washington. She has published in the Cambridge Review of International Studies and the International Relations Journal, and presented her research at six international conferences.

Brittnee Carter received the Alumni Achievement Award in 2015.