Public Interest/Public Service Scholars Program
Meet Our Current Scholars
Morgan Alen
B.A. Development Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 2004
Born in Santa Barbara, California but raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Morgan didn’t stray far when she attended the University of California, Berkeley. Beginning with a study abroad program in Barcelona, Spain, she has been fortunate enough to follow her studies and post-graduation opportunities throughout Central and South America, East Africa, and to Southeast Asia. Soon after graduating with a B.A. in Development Studies with a focus in Political Science and Latin America, she worked for the Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD) as Program Coordinator in Cochabamba, Bolivia. In this role, she oversaw the internships and grant projects carried out by fifteen international interns in local schools, microfinance institutions, law offices, medical centers, and human rights organizations. Morgan was next assigned the task of assisting in opening a new FSD office in La Plata, Argentina. Upon completing this project and returning to San Francisco, Morgan pursued her passion for environmental work and sustainable energy. After working for over a year at SPG Solar, a design/installer of solar electric energy systems in Northern California, Morgan left her position as a solar energy consultant to return to work in international development. Once again she took on the role of FSD Program Coordinator, this time in Mbale Town, Uganda and Kakamega Town, Kenya, at which point she decided to pursue a law degree with the goal of a public interest legal career. She then moved to Chiang Rai, Thailand as an international volunteer for the Development and Education Program for Daughters and Communities, a non-governmental organization that works to prevent human trafficking by providing educational and internship opportunities for at risk youth.
As a WCL student, Morgan has focused on Immigration Law, as well as enrolled in a variety of courses in public interest areas of law including: Employment/Labor Law, Juvenile Law, Immigration Law, and Deportation and Human Rights. As a 3L, she is participating in the International Human Rights Law Clinic, General Section. For Clinic, she is responsible for human rights and immigration cases including an appeal before the Board of Immigration Appeals, a petition at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and applications for immigration benefits to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. She has also carried out a variety of legal internships. Most recently, she interned at Children’s Rights, New York, where she carried out legal research to assist federal class action litigation on behalf of children, and child welfare reform. During spring 2009, she interned at the Arlington Immigration Court, where she drafted judicial opinions based on substantive legal research. During fall 2009, she interned with the Children’s Project of Ayuda, Inc., where she conducted client interviews in Spanish with undocumented children in order to prepare their immigration applications and immigration court cases. Finally, she spent her 1L summer at the International Organization for Migration in Bangkok, Thailand, where she gained experience interning with an inter-governmental agency, and worked with children of detained migrant families.
After graduation, Morgan hopes to continue to work with the population of immigrant children.
Amanda King Bartmann
BA English, University of Maryland, 2005
Originally from Knoxville, Tennessee, Amanda attended the University of Maryland where she was an English major, concentrating on literary and rhetorical theory. Her interest in public service and public interest work grew from volunteering with the College Park Scholars Program and the Environmental Science Program, and from working for the Maryland State Legislature for former Delegate Peter Franchot. After graduating, Amanda went on to work for the Solid Waste Association of North America, where she led the Association’s governmental affairs program. In that position, Amanda worked on environmental policy and legislation with a number of non-profit associations, municipalities, government agencies, and congressional offices on areas ranging from recycling to renewable energy to constitutional issues.
During law school, Amanda has been a staff member of Sustainable Development Law and Policy and on the Executive Board of the Environmental Law Society. During her first summer, Amanda worked on federal environmental whistleblower cases for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. Following that she was a law clerk at Oceana, where she worked on marine fisheries litigation. Most recently, Amanda was part of the Summer Honors Program at the Environmental Protection Agency, Office of the General Counsel. At EPA, she worked specifically in the Pesticides and Toxic Substances Law Office and also completed a project for the Air and Radiation Law Office.
Diane DeGroat
BA Politics and Philosophy/Pre-Law, The Catholic University of America, 2004
Diane DeGroat, originally from Walton, NY, earned her bachelor’s degree in politics and
philosophy/pre-law from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. During her
undergraduate studies, Diane volunteered at a variety of DC non-profits, she spent a semester
studying European politics in Leuven, Belgium, and she was an associate fellow at the Center
for the Prevention of Genocide in Arlington, VA. Diane joined Jesuit Volunteers International
upon graduation and spent eighteen months teaching sixth grade in Majuro, the Marshall
Islands. After returning from the Pacific, she spent six months in South Africa working as
coordinator of the Parish of Nzhelele HIV/AIDS Response Program.
During her first year at WCL, Diane was involved in the Public Interest Student Coalition, the
Genocide Teaching Project, and the Alternative Winter Break trip to New Orleans. She also
performed in “Law Revue,” WCL’s student written and produced musical. As the Howrey HELPS
extern at Catholic Charities Legal Network, her summer work involved providing low-income
clients access to pro bono legal services. In the upcoming year, Diane will be working on the
staff of the Journal of Gender, Social Policy, and the Law, choreographing for Law Revue, and
acting as IMBY Liaison for the 1L PIPS. She hopes to pursue a career in public interest law that
combines her interest in human rights and public health with her desire to provide direct client
services.
Courtney Henson
B.A. International Studies Minors Political Science & Economics, Dickinson College, 2005
Courtney Henson of Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania first became interested in international issues as a high school Rotary Exchange Student in Finland. This experience lead her to Dickinson College where she majored in international studies. While at Dickinson, a semester in Mexico piqued her interest in public service within the international community. Her travels lead her back home to Pennsylvania where she committed to addressing the ongoing and ever evolving issues impacting the immigrant population. As an intern at Coalition for Immigrant Rights at the Community Level (CIRCLE) in York, Pennsylvania, home to one of the largest immigration detention centers in the country, she was the only provider of Spanish language social services. Translating and researching asylum cases for an immigration attorney at CIRCLE first exposed her to immigration law, and she saw the necessity of advocacy for this often marginalized community. Volunteering teaching English as Second Language at two organizations has cemented her commitment to the immigration population. For two years before law school, she worked at La Comunidad Hispana in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, an organization that provides social services, educational programs and health care. This experience gave her not only a perspective of the structure and financing of a nonprofit, but also the necessity for an informed and focused advocacy for immigrants and other disenfranchised groups.
After her 1L year, Courtney participated in the WCL summer in Chile program, and then stayed in Chile interning for ProAcceso, a transparency nonprofit, researching labor abuses in the Chilean salmon farming industry. She spent her summer after 2L year working for the Department of Justice, Civil Division, Office of Immigration Litigation writing appellate briefs. At WCL, Courtney participates in the Immigrants’ Rights section of the International Human Rights Clinic, for which she is conducting a training in Chiapas, Mexico to educate human rights defenders on the American legal system to facilitate transnational employment litigation. In addition, she co-chairs the Poverty Law Society, is the Symposium Editor of Sustainable Development Law and Policy, and is a research assistant to Professor Kovacic-Fleischer on issues of parenting and employment.
Sarah Melikian
A.B. Art History and French, Georgetown University, 2003
After graduating from Georgetown, Sarah founded a volunteer English teaching program in Mauritius for Learning Enterprises, a DC-based nonprofit. While in Mauritius, Sarah met about the Chagossians, the displaced peoples of Diego Garcia and the Chagos Archipelago. Work on a film about the Chagos refugees led Sarah to more human rights work, including consulting at the NGO startup Stop Trafficking of People and interning at Population Services International, a social marketing and health communication nonprofit in Washington DC.
In law school, Sarah has spent two years as a student attorney with the UNROW Human Rights Impact Litigation Clinic, a student-led clinic that litigates human rights abuses in US Federal Courts. Last summer, she worked at White & Case, LLP in New York and externed with the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest at Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A. During her second year of law school, she worked at Human Rights Watch as a Law Clerk in the Terrorism and Counterterrorism Department and was a research assistant for Professor Richard Wilson. She is on the staff of American University Law Review and an organizer with the Public Interest Student Coalition. Sarah alsoserved on the 2008 Student Advisory Board for the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, on the 2008-2009 faculty Committee on Public Interest, and participated in the 2007 Alternative Winter Break in New Orleans.
Judy Pichler
BA, Sociology and Spanish, Goucher College, 2004
During college Judy explored her academic interest in Sociology and Spanish and herpassion for public interest byvolunteering tohelp Spanish-speaking, adult immigrants improve their English skills. Judy spent a semester studying at the University of Salamanca in Salamanca, Spain. When she returned for hersenior year, Judy became more involved indomestic violence and family law,participating in Goucher’sefforts to develop avolunteer program between the college and a local domestic violence organization.
Aftergraduating from Goucher,Judy worked for the Women Against Abuse, Inc., Legal Center in Philadelphia, PA, where sheassisted with the center’s administrative needsandserved as the paralegal forcases involving Spanish-speakers. From there, Judymoved toAtlanta, whereshe worked for a local direct services organization in the Latino community as an immigration paralegal and then as a litigation and investigation paralegal for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a national Latino civil rights organization. Shealso continued her pursuit of herpassion to teach, volunteeringas a teacher for English for Successful Living Georgia, a local organization dedicated to assisting immigrants in language acquisition.
During her time at WCL,Judy has become involved with the Moot Court Honor Society, competing in the Alvina Reckman-Myers First Year Moot Court Competition andlater onjoining the team.She competed in the NYU Immigration Moot Court Competition during her second year andexpects tocompete in the Whittier Law School Juvenile Law Moot Court Competition in February 2010.Judy has also been involved with the Poverty Law Society,serving asits Co-President for the2008-2009 academic year. During thatyear shealso taught constitutional law as a fellow with the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project. During the spring semester of her second year, Judy externed with the Honorable Gerald Bruce Lee in the Eastern District of Virginia.
For the summer after her first year, Judyreceived an Equal Justice Foundation grant to support her internship withthefamily lawdepartment of Ayuda,where shealso had the opportunity to work on immigration cases. During that summer Judy also provided research assistance to Professor Jamie Abrams. Judy spentthe summer after her second year as aSummer Associate with Steptoe & Johnson, LLP, inWashington, DC.Judy has accepted a clerkship position with the Honorable Cathy Hollenberg Serrette with the Maryland Circuit Court for Prince George's County for the 2010-2011 term.
Judy is currently a student attorney with the Women & the Law Clinic and is serving as a research intern withthe office of the Deputy Mayor for Education for the District of Columbia. Sheplans toremain in the Washington, DC area after graduation to continuepursuing herinterests in the area of immigrants’ rights, women’s rights, and educational equity. She is very grateful for all the opportunities thatthe WCL community hasafforded her.
Ross Schulman
BA Computer Science, Brandeis University, 2002
Ross Schulman was born in Brooklyn, NY and raised in the suburbs north of the city. With a
bachelor's degree in computer science from Brandeis University, but an interest in policy rather
than coding, Ross moved to Washington, DC to work in the intersection of law, technology and
politics. First in the Senate, then on a presidential campaign and finally at the non-profit Center
for Democracy and Technology, Ross explored the impacts of modern technology on current
law, policy and civil liberties.
Since arriving at WCL, Ross has co-founded the school's chapter of the ACLU, and returned to
the Hill for the summer, working for the Senate Judiciary Committee. In the coming year, he
will be continuing his work with the ACLU student chapter, as well as writing for the
International Law Review and the Legislation and Policy Roundtable. When not busy with all of
that, he will also be returning to the Center for Democracy and Technology as a law clerk.
Sherra Wong
AB English and American Literature and Language, Harvard University, 2005
Sherra was born in Hong Kong and moved to Queens, New York when she was ten. She discovered her rapport with senior citizens while directing an ESL program for adults during college, and spent two years after graduation as a health advocate for older and disabled people at the Medicare Rights Center in New York.
At WCL, Sherra has been active in the Public Interest Students Organization, and has served as an editor at Health Law and Policy and The Modern American as well as a board member of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association. Internships at Catholic Charities Immigration Legal Services, the Department of Labor, and AARP have encouraged her to focus on a career involving both direct services for the poor and tax policy. As such, she is currently a student attorney for low-income taxpayers in WCL’s Federal Tax Clinic.
She keeps in touch with the world outside law school by volunteering at the DC Employment Justice Center, interpreting for Chinese-speaking senior citizens at their medical appointments, and singing in the choir at St. Thomas’ Parish at Dupont Circle.
Cori Alonso-Marsden
B.A. Spanish, Georgetown University, 2004
Born in Mexico City, Ana Corina “Cori” Alonso-Marsden, came to the U.S. with her family at the age of two. Growing up in Denver, Colorado Cori developed an interest in foreign languages and attended Georgetown University to pursue their study. After graduation, she became determined to use her language ability in French and Spanish to promote linguistically accessible legal services, accepting a position as a trilingual Immigration Paralegal at the community organization, Ayuda, Inc. in Washington, DC. During the three years that she worked at Ayuda, Cori assisted low-income immigrants to obtain naturalization, legal permanent residence, asylum, and other immigration benefits.
During this time Cori also participated in a community interpreter training program funded by the DC Mayor’s Office on Latino Affairs and served with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to protect the election rights of Spanish-speaking voters in Connecticut’s Fourth District.
In the summer of 2007 Cori returned to Denver to work as an Immigration Paralegal with Kolko & Associates, P.C. In Denver, she volunteered regularly at the Free Legal Nights hosted by Mi Casa Resource Center for Women and Centro San Juan Diego, interpreting and providing participants with legal referrals.
As a Public Interest/Public Service Scholar at American University Washington College of Law, Cori has continued to work with immigrant communities. In her first year she volunteered with WCL’s International Human Rights Clinic, Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, DC Bar Pro Bono Program, Ayuda, D.C. Language Access Coalition, and Kids in Need of Defense (KIND). Cori is also an active member of WCL’s Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, serving as the organization’s Co-Chair for the 2009 academic year.
In her first law school summer, Cori traveled to Zacatecas, Mexico to intern with the workers’ rights organization, Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc. Currently, Cori interns with Kids in Need of Defense, assisting unaccompanied immigrant children to obtain pro bono legal representation.
Megan Chapman
B.A. History, University of Chicago, 2004
Megan's commitment to public interest, and specifically international legal development and development law, is rooted in her years providing direct legal and social services to immigrants and refugees in Chicago. These experiences led her to believe that, for most of the world’s most economically disadvantaged and politically disenfranchised, immediate solutions are more likely to lie in legal, political, and economic development at home rather than in migration abroad.
At WCL, Megan is currently working with the Public International Law and Policy Group and serving as co-Editor-in-Chief of the Human Rights Brief, on the editorial board of Sustainable Development Law and Policy, and on the board of the Equal Justice Foundation. During the summer 2009, she worked with the Development Law Service at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, where she assisted to review draft legislation and legislative surveys on a wide variety of food, agriculture, and development-related policies from seven countries in francophone West and Central Africa.
Immediately before coming to WCL, Megan worked as a Kiva Fellow with a microfinance institution in Cameroon. From 2005 to 2007, she worked as a legal assistant at Scott D. Pollock & Associates, P.C., a private immigration law firm focusing on the intersection between immigration and criminal law, where she primarily assisted with deportation defense, asylum, and family-based immigration. From 2003 to 2004, she worked on the Healthcare in Detention Project at the Midwest Immigrant and Human Rights Center. She has also interned or volunteered with the CAIR Coalition, Heartland International Refugee Center, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, the Detention Watch Network, and the American Friends Service Committee.
Megan holds a Bachelor of Arts is in History from the University of Chicago, where she wrote an honors thesis on Cuban and Haitian immigration the U.S. during the Mariel Boatlift of 1980. Through work, travel, and study, she has explored parts of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Europe. She has professional experience working in both Spanish and French, speaks conversational Italian, and is familiar with Japanese and Hindi.
Anna Jagelewski
B.A. English, Ohio University, 2004
Originally from Cleveland, Anna Jagelewski attended Ohio University where she studied literature with a focus on feminist theory and creative nonfiction. While in school, Anna volunteered as a Sexual Assault Survivor Advocate, served as the Student Senate’s Women’s Affairs Commissioner, and organized the annual Take Back the Night march. Anna interned with the Institute for Local Government and Rural Development in the Youth Experiencing Success in School program, where she performed published research on effective parenting interventions in Appalachian communities.
After graduation Anna worked as the Southeast Ohio Coordinator in Ohio’s HIV/AIDS community planning program, where she led a group of service providers and HIV-positive individuals to identify and address barriers to service. Under Anna’s leadership, the Southeast Ohio CARE Consortium initiated HIV/AIDS education for area providers and recruitment of providers to the program’s care network. Anna developed a program that empowers HIV-positive individuals to recruit new doctors to the network, thus increasing access to care for the most underserved rural communities. This program was presented as a model for engaging rural consumers at national and statewide conferences. For her efforts, the Ohio Department of Health awarded her the Consortia Leadership Award in 2006 and the Pioneer Award in 2008.
Anna spent the summer after her first year of law school working with military personnel affected by Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell at Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. She currently serves on the executive board of the Women’s Law Association and the Lambda Law Society, is a junior staff member of the American University Law Review, and volunteers with the DC Employment Justice Center. She begins an internship with the National Partnership for Women and Families as the Adolescent Reproductive Health Intern in the spring.
Kavita Kapur
B.A. Environmental Studies, Political Science, University of California, Santa Barbara 2006; M.A. International Human Rights Law, American University in Cairo, 2007
Throughout her academic and professional experiences, Kavita has sought to advance social justice from a number of different angles. During her undergraduate studies, she focused on issues of sustainable development and conducted field work in Costa Rica and India. Kavita was active on issues of women’s empowerment and became particularly focused on preventing gender-based violence. Her graduate studies took her to Egypt, where she developed an understanding of international law and human rights, while also working for a women’s rights organization.
After leaving Cairo, Kavita returned home to Southern California where she assisted staff attorneys at the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law in their advocacy for immigrants’ rights through direct services and impact litigation. With an appreciation for this progressive power of law, Kavita joined WCL in Fall 2009 and got involved with various students organizations, as well as the Human Rights Brief and the War Crimes Research Office. Kavita spent her first law school summer with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where she worked in the Refugee Status Determination unit.
As a second year law student, Kavita is currently serving as co-chair for the Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and is interning with the ABA’s Commission on Immigration. She is also a research associate with the Public International Law and Policy Group.
Reena Parikh
B.A. English, Minor in International Studies, Boston College, 2006
Originally from Long Island NY, Reena has been passionate about social justice issues since her time at Boston College. During her undergraduate years, she was the founder of the Women of Color Caucus and studied abroad in Durban, South Africa, where she completed her senior thesis on the effect of water privatization in South Africa. She had various internships, including a memorable experience at a medium-security prison in Boston, where she taught a poetry class and tutored inmates in GED preparation. Upon graduation, Reena turned her focus inward to domestic issues. She participated in the Americorps VISTA program with a community development organization in the Bronx, followed by her work as an employment counselor at a New York City public high school.
At the WCL, Reena is involved in many activities that reflect her interest in civil rights & employment justice. She is the Chair of the Labor & Trafficking Committee for the Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and is a junior staff member on the American University Law Review. She enjoys being a fellow in the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Program where she teaches constitutional law to DC area high school students. Reena also serves as the Co-President of the South Asian Law Students Association, along with being an active member of the Progressive Students of Color Caucus (PPOCC). During her 1L year, she interned with the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center (APALRC) in D.C. followed by a summer internship with the Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund (AALDEF) in New York. This Spring, she will be interning with the Department of Justice – Civil Rights Division.
Anne Parsons
B.A. Anthropology, University of Chicago, 2004
Originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, Anne is focusing on immigration and human rights in law school and ultimately hopes to work with African immigrant communities. Prior to law school, Anne lived in rural Niger where she served as a Community and Youth Education volunteer for the U.S. Peace Corps. Upon returning to the states, Anne volunteered with The Advocates for Human Rights and World Relief in Minnesota. Immediately prior to law school, Anne spent a year in a public interest litigation firm in Chicago where she worked on consumer rights’ issues including predatory lending, debt collection abuse, tenants’ rights, and class action law. After her first year of law school, Anne worked with Catholic Charities Immigration Legal Services in D.C. on family-based petitions, asylum, U and T visas, and VAWA cases. As a second-year student, Anne is working as a judicial extern at the Arlington Immigration Court. She is also active in several student organizations, the American University International Law Review, the Sustainable Development Law and Policy publication, and the Student Advisory Board for the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. She speaks French and Hausa.
Lindsey Siegel
B.A. International Studies, Minor in Women’s Studies, Emory University, 2005
Lindsey has been a member of the movement to end violence against women since she became involved with a local rape crisis center during college. Immediately after graduation, Lindsey lived in Kampala, Uganda, and worked as a research assistant for a project on women’s perspectives of the Idi Amin regime. While there, she also volunteered for a community-based domestic violence organization called Raising Voices. Lindsey returned to Atlanta to work as a researcher at the Georgia Commission on Family Violence. Her main project involved speaking with survivors of domestic violence around the state with the goal of changing policy and practices based on their experiences. Lindsey’s main areas of interest are women’s rights, human rights, and violence against women. Although originally from Vero Beach, Florida, Lindsey considers Atlanta her adopted hometown.
On campus, Lindsey serves on the board of the Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and is an organizer for the Public Interest Students Coalition. She also started a used book drive and sale to benefit the Equal Justice Foundation, a campus organization that provides students with grants to do public interest work over the summer. Since coming to WCL, Lindsey has interned at the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation and the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia.
Amy Smith
B.A. Sociology, Gordon College, 2004
Amy Smith graduated from Gordon College with a degree in Sociology. During college, Amy implemented new methods of sustainable agriculture with farmers in Haiti and volunteered with Liberian refugees in Ghana. Through Amy’s international work, she developed an interest in issues of poverty and human rights, and after graduation, Amy moved to Mumbai, India to work with attorneys on cases of sex trafficking and forced prostitution.
At WCL, Amy continues to explore the intersection of poverty and human rights abuses. In her first law school summer, Amy interned with Timap for Justice, a human rights agency that provides free legal services to the rural poor in Sierra Leone. She also serves as co-chair for Poverty Law Society and works as a law clerk for the Public Defender Service of Washington, D.C.
Originally from Mokena, Illinois, Amy spends her free time in the garden or refinishing old furniture.
Ian Augarten
B.S. Human Development Studies, Cornell University, 2005; Certification in Bilingual Education, University of St. Thomas, 2006
Ian became interested in the juvenile justice system as an undergraduate at Cornell University, where he volunteered as a math tutor for adolescents incarcerated at the nearby MacCormick Secure Center. Motivated by this experience, he focused his studies on adolescent development and juvenile justice policy and practice, with an emphasis on exploring alternatives to incarceration for court-involved youth. Ian’s first experience as an advocate for youth involved in the juvenile justice system came during a summer internship with the Center for Community Alternatives, a program providing community-based services in his hometown of New York City.
After graduating in 2005 Ian moved to Houston, Texas and joined Teach for America, fulfilling his two-year commitment as a bilingual elementary school teacher teaching in both English and Spanish. When he completed his commitment in 2007, Ian pursued the opportunity to work full-time in the juvenile justice field, soon moving to Washington D.C. to join the Campaign for Youth Justice. The Campaign is a not-for-profit advocacy organization working to end the practice of trying, sentencing, and incarcerating youth in the adult criminal justice system in America. During his time at the Campaign Ian has worked to change federal and state juvenile justice policy by building support for reform amongst key policymakers and elevating the voices of parents and youth affected by the system. He oversaw the design and launch of a database which is now being used by juvenile justice-reform organizations nationwide, and co-authored two policy briefs investigating the disproportionate contact of African-American and Latino youth with the adult criminal justice system. Ian is looking forward to continuing his involvement in juvenile justice issues as a PIPS scholar and expects to find many allies in the WCL community.
Tracey Begley
B.A. Social Anthropology, Bates College, 2006
Born and raised in New York City, Tracey graduated from Bates College with a degree in Anthropology. During her time at Bates, Tracey studied in Chile for six months and volunteered for a British demining organization, the HALO Trust. She traveled to Afghanistan with HALO, where she wrote her thesis on humanitarian landmine removal. After graduation, Tracey began working at Survivor Corps (formerly Landmine Survivors Network) in Washington, DC. During her 2 ½ years at Survivor Corps, Tracey worked in the Rights and Advocacy Department, focusing on anti-landmine and cluster bombs campaigns. She was heavily involved in the fight for survivors’ rights in the recently negotiated Convention on Cluster Munitions, the international treaty banning the use of cluster bombs.
Most recently, Tracey spent six months in Guatemala with the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA). Tracey worked with Mayan communities that are organizing in defense of natural resources as well as with survivors of massacres in the 1980s who are now witnesses in the national genocide case.
The daughter of Northern Irish immigrants, Tracey enjoys spending time with her family in the United Kingdom and Ireland, as well as in Spain. Tracey enjoys travelling and yoga. She is an avid baker and biker, and is excited about being part of the Washington College of Law community.
Ashly Hinmon
B.A. Anthropology, Reed College, 2004
Born in Utah and raised in Oregon, Ashly Hinmon spent three years after high school living, working and studying in Europe, Central America, the Middle East and Asia. She returned to Portland, Oregon to study cultural anthropology at Reed College and wrote a senior thesis on globalization, media and constructions of gender in India. During college she became involved with movement to eradicate gendered violence, volunteering as an advocate with the Portland Women’s Crisis Line. After graduating from college she returned to India to conduct human rights research, monitoring and reporting in Chhattisgarh, a rural state divided by an armed conflict among Maoist insurgents, paramilitary organizations and the Indian military. She researched involuntary displacement and published articles on human rights abuses, development and conflict.
For the last two years Ashly has worked as a bilingual domestic violence advocate in Portland, Oregon with the DVERT program, a collaborative community response to high-risk domestic violence cases. Ashly works with Spanish- and English-speaking survivors of domestic violence to improve victim safety and access to the legal system as well as to promote offender accountability through collaboration with law enforcement, prosecution, probation and parole, and community-based agencies. Ashly is interested in issues of gender, human rights, development and the eradication of violence and is excited to continue pursuing these interests during law school and beyond.
Zachary Ista
B.S. Secondary Education, North Dakota State University, 2007
Zac Ista, originally from West Fargo, ND, comes to WCL after completing his degree in secondary education from North Dakota State University in 2007. As an undergraduate, Zac pursued many community service and leadership development activities. For several years, he was a member of the national board for Students Today Leaders Forever (STLF), a nonprofit dedicated to leadership development through service learning with an emphasis on college and high school students. In his role, Zac led several Pay It Forward Tours which are multi-day community service and leadership development trips for students that expose them to areas in need throughout the United States. Addtionally, Zac has been active in politics and government. He twice served as an intern for U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan, worked as campaign manager for a team of legislative candidates, and ran as a candidate for the North Dakota House of Representatives in 2006.
Since receiving his degree, Zac has worked in a variety of roles as an educator. He served as a coach and teacher for West Fargo Public Schools, was an educator and youth leader at Faith Lutheran Church, and traveled to Livingstone, Zambia, to volunteer as a teacher in rural African schools.
Zac is eager to join the PIPS community at WCL where he plans to focus on public service with particular interest in the federal government and public policy.
Cyrena Khoury
B.S.F.S. Culture & Politics, Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, 2003; M.A. Anthropology, Graduate Diploma in Forced Migration & Refugee Studies, The American University in Cairo, 2006; M.A. Arabic, University of Maryland at College Park, 2007
Cyrena grew up in northern New England and moved to Washington, DC in 1997. Since then, the intersection of international human rights and domestic civil rights concerns has formed the core of both her academic and professional endeavors. After working as a reading tutor in a DC public school, she took leave of her undergraduate studies in 1999 and moved to Tanzania to volunteer at the Mkombozi Centre for Street Children, an organization serving and advocating for the rights of children.
She then returned to Georgetown University, completed her senior thesis on the politics of international humanitarian assistance in the Sudan in 2003, and received a Boren Fellowship to study anthropology and forced migration at the American University in Cairo, Egypt. While there, she served for six months as a Resettlement Assistant with UNHCR, determining individual refugees’ eligibility for resettlement to the U.S., Canada or Australia. She also co-authored a funded research study, “Expectations & Experiences of Resettlement,” which traced Sudanese refugees’ perspectives on their resettlement from Egypt to each of those countries. In 2005, Cyrena received a second Boren Fellowship to develop her skills in Arabic. She studied at the University of Maryland and Damascus University in Syria for the next two years, and interned as a translator and Protection Assistant at UNHCR in Damascus during the spring of 2007.
While a 1L at WCL, Cyrena is on a leave of absence from her current position as a Policy Advisor with the Office for Civil Rights & Civil Liberties (CRCL) at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Her portfolio at CRCL has included immigration issues, refugee integration, and engagement of American Arab, Muslim and South Asian communities. She looks forward to her time at WCL, and to working with her colleagues to advance human and civil rights in the U.S. and beyond.
Natassia Megan Rozario
B.A. Political Science, Columbia University, 2004; M.P.H., Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, 2007
Natassia Rozario was born in New York and raised in New Jersey. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in political science and received her MPH from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Throughout her professional and academic career, Natassia has investigated health and human rights issues and plans to continue its study as a PIPS Scholar at Washington College of Law.
For her final Masters project at Johns Hopkins, Natassia used epidemiological techniques to better understand the practice of human trafficking among North Korean women in China. Her research took her out to Yanbian Prefecture, China, where she worked with a research team from the Johns Hopkins Center for Refugees and Disaster Response and a local Chinese NGO to better understand the gross human rights violation.
As a research associate at the Center for Medicine as a Profession at Columbia University, Natassia advanced her study of health and human rights. She worked on two major grant projects: The Challenge of Living Organ Donors to Social and Health Policy (funding: Robert Wood Johnson), and The Prescription Project (funding: Pew Charitable Trusts). Her work on living organ donation resulted in an article, "What Body Parts do We Owe Each Other?", published in the social science journal Society, and a chapter, "The Impact of Information Technology on Organ Donation: Private Values in a Public World", forthcoming in a Robert Wood Johnson funded book project on information technology and medical professionalism.
Most recently, Natassia served as a William J. Clinton Service Fellow in Ahmedabad, India. During the 10-month fellowship, she assisted the non-governmental organization, Saath, increase access to affordable healthcare to marginalized populations. Her main task was to conduct a health assessment of certain slum communities in Ahmedabad and advocate the government to open more urban health centers to serve these populations. She also helped the organization design a health insurance scheme for the urban poor.
Sarah Steinfeld
B.A. Sociology and Gender and Women’s Studies, Oberlin College, 2006
Sarah Steinfeld grew up in Pittsburgh, PA and began her nomadic life early. She attended Oberlin College, studying Sociology and Gender and Women’s Studies. Sarah became interested in sexual health and reproductive rights while taking a student-taught course at Oberlin. She soon became involved in the sponsoring organization, the Sexual Information Center (SIC). Through the SIC, she provided counseling to community members and later co-taught the same course that had initially sparked her own interest. Sarah spent a semester in the Netherlands where she completed a field study on the relationship between the Dutch Ministry of Public Health and NGOs specializing in sexual health. She later interned and volunteered at a variety of sexual health organizations in Philadelphia, Washington D.C, and northern Ohio. During her senior year, she coordinated Oberlin’s first conference on the politics of sexual health and subsequently received Choice USA’s Generation Award for excellence in student leadership.
In 2006, Sarah began working as a Grassroots Organizer for Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts (PPLM). Sarah organized communities all over Western Massachusetts, mentored students, and collaborated with other social justice organizations across the state. Her advocacy played a strong role in the passage of a landmark 2007 law increasing the buffer zone outside of reproductive health facilities. In 2008, Sarah became PPLM’s Education Policy Manager, a position that brought her to Boston. In that capacity, she was responsible for coordinating the lobbying efforts of CARE for Youth, a statewide coalition supporting comprehensive health education in schools.
While living in New England, Sarah volunteered on many campaigns for State House and Senate in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. In 2008, Sarah became a member of the inaugural class of Emerge Massachusetts, a training program for Democratic women interested in running for office. After a summer of travel, Sarah is eager to join the WCL community and to make Washington, D.C. her home.
Lauren Trevisan
B.S. Business Administration, Leadership and Change Mgmt, Georgetown University, 2006
Lauren Trevisan grew up in Burtonsville, Maryland and completed her undergraduate education at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. A Leadership and Change Management major, Lauren was the first student at Georgetown's McDonough School of Business to minor in Environmental Studies. Lauren began at Georgetown interested in pursuing a degree in finance, however after taking a number of environmentally-focused courses her sophomore year, decided to change her path to focus on environmental conservation and preservation. After graduating from Georgetown Cum Laude, Lauren began working for the Sierra Club, the nation's oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization.
While at the Sierra Club, Lauren worked on issues of environmental justice and explored the linkages between social justice and environmental quality. To support Sierra Club's campaign to transition from coal-fired electricity to renewable energy sources, Lauren developed Sierra Club’s national online database of proposed coal-fired power plants, which serves as a tool for clean energy activists across the country who are opposing new coal plants in their communities. Her work has been featured in The New York Times and Grist Magazine. Also during her time at Sierra Club, Lauren worked closely with a team of experienced environmental attorneys and saw first-hand how environmental litigation results in long-term environmental protections and brings relief to communities.
While at WCL, Lauren plans to continue to pursue her interest in environmental law,and is excited to learn more about the practice of public interest law from her classmates and faculty.
Ann Capps Warshaw
B.A. International Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2005
Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, Ann studied international politics as a Robertson Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During this time, she worked to halt capital punishment through campus organizing and as an intern with The Moratorium Campaign in New Orleans, Louisiana. After studying development and social movements in Oaxaca, Mexico, and Havana, Cuba, Ann began pursuing an interest in the legal and social issues facing immigrant communities in the U.S. As an intern with Student Action with Farmworkers, Ann spent a summer living in Newton Grove, North Carolina, where she taught English to farmworkers and began learning about the experiences and struggles of immigrant workers.
After graduating, Ann spent a year as the Autry Fellow at MDC, Inc., a Chapel Hill non-profit focused on economic development demonstration projects in the South. While at MDC, she worked on projects to promote individual asset development and researched the impact of philanthropy in the South. From 2006 to 2009, Ann worked as a paralegal at Legal Aid of North Carolina's Farmworker Unit. As part of the Farmworker Unit's outreach program, Ann traveled throughout North Carolina visiting farmworkers in their homes, providing legal rights information and interviewing clients. She assisted with litigation related to farm employment, H2-A and H2-B temporary work visas, family immigration and human trafficking. In addition, Ann coordinated the Farmworker Unit’s first Volunteer Income Tax Preparation site serving Spanish-speaking clients in rural North Carolina. While at WCL, Ann plans to continue working on issues affecting immigrants and low-wage workers.