Teaching & Students

Human Rights Fellows Report Back on Summer Experience

From immigrants rights at the Mexico border to the right to asylum for refugees in Greece, Handa Center Summer Human Rights Fellows have scattered to seven cities across the globe in an effort to better understand – and help address – some of the most pressing human rights issues of our time.

  • Siena Fay is in Washington, DC working with Advocates for Youth preparing advocacy materials and attending Congressional hearings.
  • Eddy Rosales Chavez is in Bangkok, Thailand with the International Organization for Migration diving into the impacts of climate change on migratory flows.
  • Kaylana Mueller-Hsia and Kyra Jasper are in Jakarta, Indonesia working with the Indonesian Institute for Independent Judiciary to research freedom of expression issues, including the proliferation of anti-blasphemy legislation.
  • Reed Canaan is in New York, NY with PEN America supporting their Artists at Risk program.
  • Lily Foulkes is in Los Angeles, CA with Esperanza Immigrants Rights Project helping lead “know your rights” seminars and supporting fundraising efforts.
  • Gabriela Torres-Lorenzotti   is in Washington, DC working with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to track press coverage and relevant convenings of key stakeholders.
  • Katie Wolfteich is in Samos, Greece with Samos Volunteers assisting with daily refugee camp operations and teaching French and English courses.
  • Ayushi Vig is in Jakarta, Indonesia with Filantropi Indonesia supporting special events around the burgeoning philanthropy sector, particularly as it relates to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
  • Emily Mendonsa is in India working on promoting and providing women's access to health services.

Overall, our summer fellows are reporting positive experiences full of tremendous learning opportunities as well as ways to meaningfully engage, all the while confronting the challenges of new environments. We look forward to welcoming many of them back to campus in the Fall and supporting them to further explore these issues through coursework and future experiential learning opportunities.