PARSIPPANY — Cassandra Cogan, a distinguished alumna of Parsippany High School (Class of 2019) and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Class of 2023), recently defended her Master’s Thesis at Roskilde University in Denmark. This concluded her participation in the “European Master’s in Global Studies” (EMGS) program, which she began in 2023. Cassandra secured a fully funded Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree (EMJMD) scholarship, which is financed by the European Union and awarded annually to the most competitive and gifted students worldwide. Cassandra was one of only two Americans in her cohort, alongside peers from Germany, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Azerbaijan, and many other countries around the globe.
Cassandra began the EMGS program at Wrocław University in Poland, where she took specialized courses in international security and gender studies. She then moved to Denmark, where she has spent her second and final program year at Roskilde University, conducting research and taking specialized courses in discourse analysis. Her Master’s Thesis investigated the construction of gendered narratives of violence and security in scripted television, examining how these narratives reflect hegemonic discourses on gender and politics in global security. Cassandra earned top marks for her thesis and defense at Roskilde University. Her research has already been accepted for participation and presentation at the “Popular Culture and World Politics” Conference, taking place this upcoming November in Lisbon, Portugal, which focuses on the intersection between political violence and popular culture.
Cassandra finished her studies in June of this year, completing her “European Master’s in Global Studies” degree, as well as an additional “Master of Science in Social Sciences” degree from Roskilde University. She plans to remain abroad and aspires to pursue a PhD related to her research interests shortly.
