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Home > Giving to CLA : Meet Clelia Anna Mannino

Meet Clelia Anna Mannino

Examining community

A pretty town square, a stately city hall, a vibrant school playground—these are the cornerstones of the traditional definition of community. But what lies beneath the surface that truly builds and strengthens a community? Psychology graduate student Clelia Anna Mannino crosses borders and breaks down boundaries to explore various aspects of the role of community.

"Today's communities are not just geographical," Mannino says. "Communities are about connecting with each other; they can cross borders and center around shared experiences. For example, someone could be member of a community of cancer survivors that spans states and even countries.  People can participate in on-line communities, like Facebook, that span geographic distances and render physical boundaries virtually obsolete."

Mannino's research centers on the psychological sense of community and how ties to community are linked with education, volunteerism, and other important community institutions.  Mannino has worked with various professors in the psychology department, including researching volunteerism with Mark Snyder, studying culture and impression management with Marti Hope Gonzales, and examining ideas of openness with Alex Rothman.

Graduate fellowships grant global experiences

In 2008, Mannino received a Campbell Fellowship that enabled her to attend an international conference in Croatia. "The European Association for Experimental Social Psychology's meeting was eye-opening. It gave me the opportunity to view the European perspective to social psychology—which tends to pursue applied research as it relates to societal concerns," Mannino says.

While the Croatia conference was an eye-opening experience for Mannino, her research in the summer of 2009 was a life-changing one—with help from another department fellowship. "The Department of Psychology Graduate Alumni Fellowship helped make it possible for me to work in Malawi as a SUPER Fellow with Save the Children," she says.

The African country of Malawi ranks among the world's most densely populated and least developed countries. Mannino conducted focus groups in villages throughout Malawi to discover the best tools to help strengthen local communities to sustain positive changes in education.

"I worked through a translator with an all Malawian team. To ask the right questions and create the right environment during our focus groups, I had to learn about and be respectful of the culture," she says. "It was an incredible setting to conduct research and I learned so much."

Mannino recently received the prestigious Fulbright grant, which provides funding to conduct research in a foreign country for one year. "The Fulbright was always a dream of mine," Mannino says, "and I hope my award will encourage other graduate students in the Psychology department to explore Fulbright possibilities."

Mannino is currently abroad, one of only 20 students nationally to receive the Fulbright Full Grant to Italy. She is investigating how Italy's changing cultural climate is shaping and redefining conceptions of community, and how this complex process links to identity and nationalism.

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