BIANCA C. NAVIA

Hometown: Houston, Texas
School: Arizona State University
Major: Political Science and Global Studies
Placement: The Office of Rep. Sylvia Garcia

Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Bianca Navia is the oldest of four sisters in a Cuban-Italian family. She credits her early interest in history, politics, and culture to frequent trips to her local library, where she would check out mountains of books.

Currently, Bianca is a senior at Arizona State University pursuing dual degrees in Political Science and Global Studies and minors in German and Italian. Her academic interests include international affairs, migration, Middle Eastern politics, and (counter)terrorism. She is also multilingual, speaking Spanish, German, Italian, and Arabic (Levantine dialect). Bianca’s passion for foreign languages motivated her to teach English, and for over three years, she has volunteered as an online English teacher for adult refugee students in the MENA region.

Throughout her undergraduate career, she has represented her identity as a proud Latina through several prestigious fellowship programs. She is a 2020 alumna of the PPIA Junior Summer Institute Fellowship Program at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan; a 2019-2020 Killam Fellow to the University of Ottawa in Canada; and a 2020-2021 Boren Scholar to Amman, Jordan. In the future, she aspires to serve in the federal government, teach English abroad, and work in academia.

As a CHCI Intern, Bianca hopes to refine her research, writing, and oral presentation skills, collaborate with her peers, and grow as a leader and young professional.