Three winners of this year’s Graduate Research and Creativity Showcase recently visited the North Carolina General Assembly to share the impact of their scholarship with state legislators.

Eliana Franklin ’25 MFA, (Creative Writing), Ashley Herring Nicholas ’25 Ph.D. (Nanoscience), and doctoral student Kaitlyn Tran (Human Development and Family Studies) met with several State Senators and Representatives on May 20, 2025, in Raleigh as part of the North Carolina Council of Graduate School’s Graduate Education Day. This event is an opportunity for graduate students from across the state to meet individually with legislators to thank them for their support of higher education in North Carolina and discuss the impact of graduate education on North Carolina. Students speak about their scholarship, their journey as graduate students, and their future plans.

This year students met with Reps. Alan Branson, Tracy Clark, Pricy Harrison, Todd Johnson, and Mitchell Setzer; and Sens. Gladys Robinson and Norman Sanderson.