Berkley Center Staff

Berkley Center Research Assistants

• Jackie Aanonsen

  Jackie Aanonsen is participating in the Junior Year Abroad Network while studying in Australia at the University of Sydney for the fall semester. She is a Finance and International Business double-major and Sociology minor in the McDonough School of Business. She interned in the Private Wealth Management sector of UBS for two summers, and she is interested in pursuing a career in finance after college. At Georgetown, Jackie is a Member Service Representative at the Georgetown University Alumni and Student Federal Credit Union. She is also a member of the Georgetown Collegiate Investors and a tutor at the Academic Resource Center. Before coming to Sydney, she studied abroad at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, which was another incredible experience. In her free time, Jackie enjoys running, dancing, and traveling.

   

• Nafees Ahmed

  Nafees Ahmed, from Bethesda, MD, is a Doyle Student Fellow and Research Assistant for the Berkley Center. She has worked at the Berkley Center since the beginning of Spring 2009. Nafees is a sophomore in Georgetown College, with a prospective major in Government, a minor in French, and the School of Foreign Service Certificate in Islam and Muslim and Christian Understanding. In her time at Georgetown, Nafees has acted in the Georgetown Theatre Department’s play “Pentecost”, been actively involved in the Muslim Student Association, and was an Orientation Advisor at the beginning of the academic year. Currently, Nafees is an employee of the Corp at Vital Vittles in the Leavey Center.
  
  

   

• Sarah Arkin

  Sarah Arkin is a first year master’s student in the Conflict Resolution program. She graduated cum laude from Tufts University with a degree in international relations and Spanish. For the past few years, Sarah has been working as a journalist; most recently in Southern Virginia covering national election campaigns and healthcare, freelancing in Chicago, and as a photojournalist in Israel/Palestine. She won a Virginia Press Association Award for breaking news coverage in 2009. At Tufts Sarah co-founded EXPOSURE, a project for documentary studies for the advancement of human rights. She spent time in Uganda documenting internally displaced persons communities and working with an NGO on issues relating to community development and child soldiers. She has published an articles on ethnic conflict in Kosovo and on the role of tourism on culture and the economy in Buenos Aires. She is interested in religion, politics and conflict, civil-military relations and capacity building.
  
  

   

• Nayha Arora

  Nayha Arora, from Chicago, IL, was a 2008 Undergraduate Fellow. She majors in International Political Economy in the SFS. She has interned at the Interfaith Youth Core and considers interfaith cooperation and dialogue key to the maintenance of America's cohesive identity as it's religious landscape continues to diversify.

   

• Sarah Balistreri

  Sarah is a sophomore in Georgetown College and a Research Assistant at the Berkley Center. She plans on majoring in Spanish and Italian Studies and hopes to also get a certificate in Latin American Studies and Teaching English as a Foreign Language. Originally from Mequon, WI, she is enjoying going to college in the bustling city of Washington, DC and experiencing all it has to offer. In addition to working at the Berkley Center, Sarah is a tutor for the DC Schools Project, an ESCAPE First-Year Experience team leader, and a member of Students Helping Honduras.
  
  

   

• Greg Baltz

  Greg Baltz is currently pursuing a degree in International Politics with a focus on migration policy at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. His academic interests include social justice theory and the inter-cultural relations of migrant and native populations. His most recent research has focused on the religious rhetoric of world leaders, international law and capital punishment, and the influence of religion on economic growth. Active at the Center for Social Justice, he is a student leader of Georgetown University’s Hurricane Emergency Relief Effort (GUHERE), First-Year Orientation to Community Involvement (FOCI), and Hoya Outreach Programs & Education (HOPE).
  
  

   

• Carolyn Barnett

  Carolyn Barnett, Class of 2009, is a Culture and Politics major in the School of Foreign Service with a focus on Islam, democratization, and gender studies. She is also earning a certificate in International Development, concentrating on the Middle East and North Africa. Carolyn has been a student assistant at the Berkley Center since January 2008 and participated in the Junior Year Abroad Network from Cairo during the fall 2007 semester. She has worked for the Center on Islam, Democracy, and the Future of the Muslim World at The Hudson Institute, and she was a research assistant for Professor Samer Shehata of Georgetown's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies while she was in Cairo. At Georgetown, Carolyn is Editor-in-Chief of the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, works with the international development group Our Moment, and participates in student theater.
  
  

   

• Melissa Bell

  Melissa Bell, from San Juan Capistrano, California, is a junior majoring in Government in the Georgetown College. Melissa is interested in the intersections of business and personal religious and cultural traditions. Over the summer of 2009, she interned at an employment law firm in Los Angeles where she worked on cases of discrimination in the workplace. On campus, she is a Loan Officer at the Georgetown University Student and Alumni Federal Credit Union. Also, Melissa is the president of Prison Outreach, a volunteer organization through the Center for Social Justice that seeks to improve the rehabilitative aim of incarceration by tutoring inmates in GED subjects. She finds it rewarding to tutor inmates to help them pass the GED, so that they will have a better chance of succeeding in society. In her free time, Melissa enjoys training for marathon and half marathon races.

   

• Emily Bertsche

  Emily Bertsche is an International Politics major who hopes to get a certificate in International Development, hailing from the frigid but lovely Chicago, Illinois. When not working at the Berkley Center, she is busy working at her local YWCA, on the Forty-Seventh North American Invitational Model United Nations Conference or at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies. Growing up in the liberal Catholic tradition, Emily is interested in the intersections of gender, faith and religious tradition.

   

• Scott Breen

  Scott Breen is a Political Economy major, minoring in Environmental Studies and Philosophy, in Georgetown College. He is studying at Edinburgh University in Edinburgh, Scotland for fall 2009. Scott grew up in Northbrook, Illinois, where he graduated from Glenbrook North High School in 2007. While at Georgetown, he joined The Corp his freshman year out of his interest in the business world. His love of Georgetown also led him to becoming a Blue & Gray tour guide. Scott spent every summer from 1999-2009 at an overnight camp in Northern Wisconsin called Camp Timberlane. He developed his passion for the environment at Camp Timberlane. And after he graduates, Scott hopes to use his degree to pursue a career in environmental policy.

   

• David Buckley

  David Buckley is a Doctoral Candidate in Georgetown University's Government Department. He joined the Berkley Center as a Graduate Research Assistant in the Summer of 2007 after two years working on religion and American public policy at Faith in Public Life and the Center for American Progress. He has worked on the Berkley Center's Islam and the West Dialogue Report and on the New Wars of Religion database. David's current studies focus on religion, political mobilization, and violence. He holds an MA in Comparative Ethnic Conflict from Queen's University Belfast and a BA in Political and Social Thought from the University of Virginia.
  
  

   

• Tracy Casey

   

• Jason Cheberenchick

  Jason Cheberenchick, from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, is a senior in the Georgetown College of Arts and Sciences, where he is pursuing a double major in Theology and Government. He was a 2008 Berkley Center Undergraduate Fellow, working on the group’s report on interreligious marriages. Jason has worked at the Woodstock Theological Center on campus, interned at Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, and volunteered for the White House. He also studied abroad at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, as a NSEP David L. Boren Scholar.

   

• Rebecca Cohen

  Rebecca Cohen, from Charlotte, NC, is a junior in the Georgetown College, majoring in Theology with a concentration in Religious Studies on the Abrahamic faiths. She was a participant in the Brandeis University Interfaith Leadership Development (BUILD) program and was a contributor to the interreligious relations committee in the Boston Archdiocese in the fall of 2008. She plans to continue study in Roman Catholic Theology and Religious Pluralism with the goal of pursuing a career in interreligious dialogue on an international level as a way to promote peace.

   

• Jonathan Cohn

  Jonathan Cohn, from Philadelphia, PA, is a senior in Georgetown College. He was a 2008 Berkley Center Undergraduate Fellow, working on the group’s report on interreligious marriages. He is currently pursuing a double major in English and History as well as a minor in Spanish. In addition to working for the Discovery Initiative in the Student Ambassadors Program, he is the Co-President of Georgetown University's oldest environmental group, EcoAction, and has served in a variety of office positions in HOPE (Hoyas Outreach Programs and Education). He is currently a Sustainability Program Associate with SB NOW (Sustainable Business Network of Washington) and fills some of his remaining time helping in the box office for Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society.
  
  

   

• Deven Comen

  A government major with tentative minors in women’s and gender studies and theology, Deven Comen is a sophomore in Georgetown College. On campus, Deven is the Community Outreach Director for the College Democrats and an active participant in International Relations Club, South Asian Society and Rangila, the South Asian cultural dance show. Deven also serves on the Georgetown Scholarship Program (GSP) Student Leadership Board by interacting with alumni and mentoring GSP freshman. For the fall semester, Deven is interning on the Hill with Representative Rosa DeLauro to satisfy her love of policy, women’s rights issues, and coffee. Deven’s interests include following baking blogs, New York Times editorialists, yoga, international law, the millennium development goals, running, and cura personalis.
  
  

   

• Ilan Cooper

  Ilan Cooper graduated from King’s College in 2006 with a BA in War Studies. He worked for a year at Oxford Analytica and travelled to Ghana for three months working in indigent communities there. He obtained an MA from the University of Chicago in International Relations in 2008 and is currently studying in the Georgetown Conflict Resolution Masters program. His work primarily focuses on transitional justice, with a particular concentration on Southern Africa. This interview series was concerned with the role of religious actors in such transitional processes and the effects that they can have, both positive and negative, on the development of a society based on democracy rather than violence.

   

• Nicole Cordeau

   

• Rebecca Davis

   

• Jennifer Dixon

  Jennifer Dixon is a double major in English and Theology in the Georgetown College. She is participating in the Junior Year Abroad Network while studying in Scotland at the University of Glasgow the fall 2009. Jennifer was born in Royal Oak, Michigan, where she was raised Roman Catholic by a large and loving family. For Jennifer, religion has always been a large part of her life. It led to her extensive involvement at Georgetown in the Catholic Student Association, the Dahlgren Underground Mass choir, The Georgetown Academy, and several retreat programs through Campus Ministry. As a theology major, she hopes to discover the ways in which culture and religion have influenced literature over time. So, she is very excited to study in a nation rich in literature, history, and religion.

   

• Marisa Edmonds

  Marisa Edmonds is a sophomore in Georgetown College, majoring in American Studies and minoring in Justice and Peace Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies. She hails from Short Beach, Connecticut. Her chief involvements are with service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega, volunteering, and exploring DC. She loves the New York Times, all forms of water, studying education inequities and poverty in America, the Benedictine tradition, and building dialogue between young people affected by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

   

• Julie Espinosa

  Julie is a first-year Masters student in the Communication, Culture & Technology program at Georgetown. She received her BA from Harvard University in 2004 with a degree in Visual & Environmental Studies and an academic focus on filmmaking and photography. Prior to her studies at Georgetown, Julie spent five years in Austin working in film/video and during that time contributed to a number of documentary films. She is particularly interested in the uses of media and communication technology towards positive social change and is thinking about a career in public media or with foundations that support the arts and creativity.
  
  

   

• Amy Filsinger

  Amy Filsinger is a senior in the School of Foreign Service, majoring in International Politics with a concentration in Security Studies and working towards a certificate in International Business Diplomacy. When she is not holed up in the Berkley Center conference room, she keeps herself occupied as a campaign coordinator for Teach For America, a Midnight Mug Barista, and as a senior rep on the SFS Academic Council. Throughout her Georgetown career, she has been to Ecuador, Qatar, and back again, researching the intersection of development and security issues, with a focus on education. After graduation she plans to either devote two years to service in Teach For America, or - in a polar opposite direction that is representative of her general personality - work for an economic consulting firm.
  
  

   

• Richie Frohlichstein

  Richie Frohlichstein (COL '11) is majoring in Spanish in the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics. Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, he has pursued interests in both the Spanish and Arabic languages as well as U.S. History since arriving at Georgetown. Though he’d like to stay longer, Richie is currently studying abroad for the semester at the American University in Cairo, Egypt. He originally took Arabic because it is required for all language majors to take two years of another language outside their major. However he has come to focus heavily on a greater understanding of the Arabic language and Middle East/North African culture. This spring, Richie plans to return to Georgetown to add Arabic and History minors to his Spanish major. At Georgetown, Richie works for The Hoya, leads admissions tours for Blue and Gray, and enjoys eating GUGS burgers.

   

• Caitlin Fross

  Caitlin Fross is a junior in the School of Foreign Service majoring in Science, Technology and International Affairs with a concentration in Global Health. She is currently spending her fall semester studying abroad at Suffolk University in Dakar, Senegal, where she is continuing her studies in Public Health and French. As a Christian student living with a Muslim family, Caitlin is eager to explore the intersection of religion and politics, both inside and out of the classroom. Originally from Concord, Massachusetts, she gained her love of travel and culture while living abroad in London several years ago. At Georgetown, she is actively involved in UNICEF Georgetown and the squash team. Caitlin spent last summer resettling Burmese refugees in the Boston area and hopes to go on to work at a non-profit organization after graduation.

   

• Sarath Ganji

  Sarath Ganji is a native of Alexandria, LA and a junior in the School of Foreign Service, studying International Politics and International Development. He was a 2008 Berkley Center Undergraduate Fellow, working on the group’s report on interreligious marriages. He previously interned for Senator Christopher Dodd and the Atlantic Council of the United States. Beyond academics, he remains committed to his present hobbies of drawing comic strips and trash-talking while playing NFL Blitz.
  
  

   

• Walker Grooms

  Walker Grooms is a native of Birmingham, Alabama. He is a first-year student in the Master’s in Conflict Resolution program. Walker received his B.A. from Birmingham-Southern College in 2006, with a major in Philosophy and a minor in Latin American Studies. Afterward, he worked for Impact Alabama, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing and implementing substantive service-learning projects in coordination with universities and colleges throughout the state. His academic interests include recent indigenous social movements in Latin America, political philosophy, religion and conflict, globalization, and topics related the punk rock subculture. He enjoys playing drums and bass guitar, as well as esoteric history and trivia.

   

• Donna Harati

  Donna Harati, from Houston, TX, is a senior in the School of Foreign Service. She was a 2008 Berkley Center Undergraduate Fellow, working on the group’s report on interreligious marriages. She is majoring in Culture and Politics with a focus on social justice and pursuing a Women's and Gender Studies Certificate. Donna is involved with many groups based out of the Center for Social Justice and serves on CSJ's advisory board to student organizations. She has also worked with an NGO in Zambia and studied abroad in Senegal.
  
  

   

• Melinda Haring

  Melinda Haring joined the Berkley Center in September 2008 as a research assistant to Professor Thomas Farr. She is a graduate student in the Government Department at Georgetown University. Previously, she was a freelance journalist and English teacher in Ukraine, where her work was featured in The Press-Enterprise, Transitions Online, and broadcast and published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. She has also worked as an Advocacy and Communications Officer at Freedom House. Melinda is a graduate of Grove City College, where she assisted Paul Kengor with his best-selling book, God and Ronald Reagan (Harper Collins, 2004).
  
  

   

• Justin Hawkins

  Justin Hawkins (COL '09) is from Breinigsville, PA, and majors in Government with a double minor in Theology and Spanish. While on campus, Justin is a student fellow in the Government department’s Alexis de Tocqueville Forum for the Roots of American Democracy and a member of Intervarsity Christian fellowship. He is spending the entire academic year studying European Political Systems in Salamanca, Spain at La Universidad de Salamanca and Early Church History at La Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca. These two fields of study reflect his particular interest in the intersection of religion and politics and how those two forces influence each other on a national and individual level.

   

• Peter Henne

  Peter is a doctoral candidate in Georgetown University's Government Department. He joined the Berkley Center as a Graduate Research Assistant in 2009. Peter's current studies focus on religion and politics, specifically as it relates to political violence and foreign policy. He was formerly a Senior Consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton, where he worked on issues relating to terrorism and homeland security. Peter has written on terrorism and the role of religion in US foreign policy, and is a contributor to the Huffington Post.
  
  

   

• Eric Hoerger

  Eric Hoerger, from Chapel Hill, NC, is a sophomore in the School of Foreign Service. He is majoring in International Politics and hopes to pursue a certificate in International Development. Eric came to Georgetown this year as a transfer student from the University of Pittsburgh, where he was involved with Hillel, Model Arab League, and Session: Middle East, a student organization promoting intercultural dialogue on the Israeli-Arab conflict. His primary research interest include the intersection between sub-state nations and security.

   

• Jessica Holland

  Jessica Holland, from Omaha, Nebraska, is a junior in the School of Foreign Service. She was a 2008 Berkley Center Undergraduate Fellow, working on the group’s report on interreligious marriages. Jessica majors in Regional & Comparative Studies with an emphasis on the influence of religion and culture on political and business interactions in France and China. She studied at the Chamber of Commerce in Paris during the summer of 2008. Also, she is an active member in the Georgetown Protestant worship and Bible study group and Latin American dance group, Rito Y Sabor.
  
  

   

• Rustin Kashani

  Rustin Kashani, from Los Altos, CA, is a junior in the School of Foreign Service. He was a 2008 Berkley Center Undergraduate Fellow, working on the group’s report on interreligious marriages. He majors in Science, Technology, and International Affairs. He has been a SAT teacher for Capital Educators, a board member of the Iranian Culture Society, and a member of the SFS Academic Council.
  
  

   

• Daniel LaMagna

  Daniel LaMagna, from Gaithersburg, MD, is a freshman in Georgetown’s College of Arts and Sciences. He would like to major in Philosophy, Theology or Sociology. His other interests include art, music, photography and film. While attending Georgetown Prep, Daniel interned at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and worked in the NetSmartz Workshop. This program designs various media and conducts outreach to empower and educate children and teens to stay safe online. On one particular project, his team focused on the way teens use social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook . This experience sparked his interest in new social media, and he is excited to continue learning how the Internet affects religious and cultural groups, as well as society in general.

   

• Elizabeth Lawton

  Elizabeth Lawton is a senior in the School of Foreign Service, majoring in International Politics with a concentration in Foreign Policy and Policy Processes. She completed a certificate in Asian Studies and studied Mandarin and Chinese Studies in Beijing in the spring semester of 2008. Elizabeth further studied Chinese at the Middlebury College Language School in the summer of 2009. She has also interned in investment management at Goldman Sachs in New York. In her time at Georgetown, Elizabeth has been actively involved with The Hoya, the International Relations Club, and Mock Trial.
  
  

   

• Sara Lichterman

  Sara Lichterman is a graduate research assistant at the Berkley Center and a second year Masters student in the Communication, Culture and Technology program at Georgetown. She received her BA from Dartmouth College with a major in Film and Television Studies and worked in the film industry in New York, both in production and at a talent agency. Sara’s academic interests are media and telecommunications policy and ways in which political and cultural groups use old and new media to communicate. In her spare time, Sara enjoys movies, politics, cooking and travel.
  
  

   

• Sara Lichterman

  Sara Lichterman is a graduate research assistant at the Berkley Center and a second year Masters student in the Communication, Culture and Technology program at Georgetown. She received her BA from Dartmouth College with a major in Film and Television Studies and worked in the film industry in New York, both in production and at a talent agency. Sara’s academic interests are media and telecommunications policy and ways in which political and cultural groups use old and new media to communicate. In her spare time, Sara enjoys movies, politics, cooking and travel.

   

• Michael Losco

  Michael Losco, from Muncie, Indiana, is a senior in the College. He is majoring in Government with a double minor in Italian and Theater. This year he will be writing an Honors thesis in Government dealing with the use of social media technologies in the House of Representatives. In particular, he looks forward to exploring the role of social media in facilitating a dialogue between Muslims and Christians around the world.

   

• Paige Lovejoy

  Paige Lovejoy is a sophomore in Georgetown's School of Foreign Service originally from Cincinnati, Ohio. She is majoring in International Politics with a concentration in International Law, ethics, and institutions and is also considering a certificate in Women's and Gender Studies. She has been an undergraduate research assistant at the Berkley center since June. Though she has worked on a number of projects in her time at the center, she is especially excited to be helping with Professor Marshall's program on Religion and Development this semester. On campus, Paige is the social chair for a professional foreign service sorority, Delta Phi Epsilon, as well as an upper-class leader in the Georgetown Office of Leadership Development.
  
  

   

• Clare Malone

  Clare Malone is a senior English major in the College of Arts and Sciences with a minor in Government. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, the Riviera of the Midwest, Clare began work at the Berkley Center in the fall of 2008. She has an acute interest in the interrelation of politics, culture and religion, especially in Middle Eastern affairs, and studied Arabic in her first two years at Georgetown. In addition to her work at the Center, Clare is the Managing Editor of the Georgetown Voice, the University’s finest weekly newsmagazine.
  
  

   

• Luis Felipe Mantilla

  Luis Felipe Mantilla is a Doctoral Candidate in Comparative Government at Georgetown University. He graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College with a BA in Government. His research focuses primarily on issues of democratization, corruption, and religion and politics. Recent conference papers include: "The Political Foundations of a Democratic Church: An Analysis of Church-State Relations in Latin America since 1970," presented at the 66th Annual Midwest Political Science Association Conference, and "Violence and Accountability: A Multi-Method Analysis of Social Conflict in Peru," presented at the 49th Annual International Studies Association Conference. Currently, he is working on a comparative study of religious parties in Latin America and the Middle East, focusing on their effects on the process of democratization.
  
  

   

• Carlos Martinez

  Carlos Martínez is a graduate research assistant at the Berkley Center and a second year Masters student in the Communication, Culture and Technology program at Georgetown. He received his BA from Universidad de las Américas, Puebla with a major in Communication Studies. He has worked in branding and corporate identity in Mexico before coming to DC. Carlos' academic interests are technologies for development and national identities and how they all integrate and influence each other. In his spare time, Carlos enjoys movies and doing design stuff to help communicate better.
  
  

   

• Gerard McCarthy

  Gerard McCarthy is an exchange student from Sydney, Australia, majoring in Government & International Relations and Philosophy. He has previously researched the emergence of web-based religious-environmental groups within Australia, and he was instrumental in the establishment of weekly community dialogues aimed at bridging perception gaps between Sydney’s homeless and student communities. He is keen to investigate the way in which faith and identity intersects with the evolving world of modern communication to produce more globally-conscious faith and cultural communities. He is currently interning with a DC community organization, Faithworks, and co-hosts a weekly show, 'Artists in Exile', on Georgetown's student radio.

   

• Lauren Meigs

  Lauren Meigs, a Southern belle originally from Huntsville, Alabama, majors in English in the College. Despite Washington’s lack of sweet tea, she has truly loved her first two years at Georgetown. As a member of the GU Step Team and GU Concert Choir, she loves performing in a variety of settings. And she hopes to find some exciting Irish alternatives to these activities. Lauren will be spending her junior year abroad at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. She is looking forward to observing Ireland’s unique religious practices and beliefs, and she hopes to further the cause of global religious understanding and respect through her participation in the Junior Year Abroad Network.

   

• Yonatan Moskowitz

  Yonatan Moskowitz majors in Economics and Philosophy minors in Arabic in the College. He will study in Cairo, Egypt during the Fall 2009. He is from the small town of Los Osos, California, and the son of an ordained Rabbi. He enjoys challenging his faith through exploring other value systems. At Georgetown, he is a member of the Georgetown University Step Team, the Jewish Students' Association, a TA for the Georgetown Economics department, and the founder of the Georgetown University First Chance Lecture Seminar. Yonatan loves baseball, meeting people who disagree with him, and returning home to his family after a long absence.

   

• Annie Murphy

  Annie Murphy is a first-year graduate student in the English MA Program and a research assistant at the Berkley Center. She graduated magna cum laude from Wake Forest University in 2008 with a BA in English and studied in Christchurch, New Zealand, as an undergraduate. In the year after graduating, she served as an AmeriCorps volunteer, teaching adult basic education in Washington, DC. At Georgetown, she hopes to study postcolonial fiction and is particularly interested in researching the intersection of faith, social justice, and literature.
  
  

   

• Eitan Paul

  Eitan Paul is a sophomore in the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, majoring in International Politics. He is originally from Princeton Junction, New Jersey. Eitan serves as Director of Development for the Georgetown International Relations Club and is chairing crisis simulations at the National Collegiate Security Conference and the North American Invitational Model United Nations. He is also actively involved with Seeds of Peace, an NGO dedicated to empowering young leaders from regions of conflict with the skills required to advance reconciliation and coexistence. In his free time, Eitan enjoys playing the saxophone. At the Berkley Center, Eitan is excited to pair his passion for international affairs and inter-cultural exchange with his interest in research and writing.
  
  

   

• Melanie Pitkin

  Melanie Pitkin, class of 2011, majors in Culture and Politics in the School of Foreign Service with a concentration in conflict resolution while pursuing a certificate in International Development. She is from Boulder, Colorado, and spending the fall semester in Argentina. She is studying in the Faculties of Political Science and Sociology at the University of Buenos Aires. Deeply interested in the history of the Catholic Church’s role in Latin American politics, she wants to learn more about the influence of religion on modern Argentine political issues. She will also volunteer at Help Argentina, a non-profit organization focused on social and economic development. At Georgetown, she plays on the club basketball team, serves as a Relay for Life team captain, and serves on the College Democrats leadership staff.

   

• Lauren Reese

  Lauren Reese is a sophomore in the College from Raleigh, North Carolina. She is majoring in Sociology concentrating in Social Justice and minoring in Justice and Peace Studies and Spanish. She is involved in theater on campus and is active in H*yas for Choice, GU Pride, and Georgetown Multicultural and Biracial Organization. Lauren is the Marketing Coordinator on the executive board of the Student Commission for Unity and helps lead the pre-orientation program Young Leaders in Education about Diversity. Lauren will be studying abroad in South America in the coming year.

   

• Katherine Relle

  Katherine Relle (COL'11) of Potomac, Maryland, majors in Government and minors in Anthropology. She is coxswain on Georgetown’s Varsity Women’s Rowing team, officer to the Class of 2011 Student Council, and recent recipient of The HelleNext Athens Fellowship 2009. Following her summer fellowship, Katherine organized Cypriot Ambassador Andreas Kakouris' visiting lecture at Georgetown University to provide an opportunity for students to learn about the intersection between religion and politics in Europe. While abroad, Katherine will attend the London School of Economics (LSE). At LSE, she will compare the American and European political systems in order to study how government policy is influenced by organized religion. Katherine's own government experience includes volunteer/intern positions at the White House Office of Presidential Correspondence and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

   

• Vania Reyes

  Vania Reyes is a member of the class of 2011 in the School of Foreign Service. Hailing from El Paso, Texas, she has worked at the Berkley Center as a Student Assistant since the fall semester of her freshman year. Her work at the Berkley Center has been focused around the two undergraduate programs, the Junior Year Abroad Network and the Undergraduate Fellows Program. When she is not at the Berkley Center she enjoys spending her time co-hosting a show on Georgetown Radio and helping out with a few of the minority groups on campus.
  
  

   

• Viba Saligrama

  Viba Saligrama, a Finance and OPIM major in the McDonough School of Business, currently studies abroad in Dublin, Ireland, at University College Dublin’s Quinn School of Business. She was born in India, but immigrated to the USA as a baby and grew up in Wilmington, Delaware. At Georgetown, Viba works part-time at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute in addition to being a member of Hilltop Consultants and the Hindu Student’s Association. She also tutors with DC Schools. She is excited to spend her fall semester on the Emerald Isle. And through her travels, she hopes to enrich her understanding of Irish culture while enjoying the country’s beautiful landscapes.

   

• Kimberly Schisler

  Kimberly Schisler, from Palo Alto, California, graduated from the College. She majored in Women’s Studies with an emphasis in Globalization and Poverty. Kimberly was a 2008 Berkley Center Undergraduate Fellow, working on the group’s report on interreligious marriages. She has also been an intern at the small nonprofit Child Advocacy/Women’s Rights, and involved with Intervarsity Christian fellowship, Polynesian dance, and Our Moment, a club focused on international development. She is passionate about exploring the intersections of poverty, faith and the agency of women.
  
  

   

• Michaella Seaman

  Michaella Seaman, from Manhasset, NY is a senior in the School of Foreign Service. She is majoring in International Politics with a concentration in Security Studies. She also has a certificate in Muslim-Christian Understanding and is interested in increasing opportunities for interfaith dialogue within her generation. Michaella studied in Turkey the fall of her junior year and while living in Turkey taught English at a local elementary school. This summer she interned for Layalina Productions, a non-profit organization that works to improve U.S.-Arab relations through television programming, documentaries, publications and various cultural initiatives. Michaella is currently an intern at the American Bar Association and a boardmember of the Senior Class Committee.

   

• Nick Sementelli

  Nick Sementelli is a member of the class of 2009 and majored a Culture and Politics from Dallas, Texas. He was a Berkley Center Undergraduate Fellow in 2007, studying religious advocates in US politics. He worked on the Faith 2008 database, while he was a student assistant at the Berkley Center.
  
  

   

• Joseph Shamalta

  Joseph Shamalta, from Los Angeles, CA, joined the Berkley Center in September 2009 as a Graduate Research Assistant. He graduated summa cum laude from UCLA with a B.A. in Political Science and History. He is a currently pursuing a M.A. in Security Studies from Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service. Joseph has held internships with both congressmen and state representatives, and is currently interning for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He served as a fellow for the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, where he researched the impact of recent reforms on the intelligence community. He has a strong interest in national security issues, especially in relation to intelligence analysis and defense policy.
  
  

   

• Janice Shon

  Janice Shon majors in International Politics in the School of Foreign Service and pursues a certificate in Asian Studies. She concentrates on trans-state actors. Originally from the Chicago suburbs, Janice is far away from her usual climate. She has found herself next to beautiful Mediterranean beaches and the Taurus Mountains in Alanya, Turkey. She is studying in the McGhee Center of Eastern Mediterranean Studies for the fall at Georgetown University's villa. Janice is active in Intervarsity Christian Fellowship on campus, and she is passionate about human rights in North Korea. As a former participant in Rangila and Luau, she is looking forward to immersing herself in Turkish cultural activities.

   

• Sara Singha

  Sara Singha, originally from Karachi, Pakistan is a doctoral candidate in the Theology Department. She does comparative work between Christianity and Islam is writing her dissertation on religion and politics in South Asia. In addition, her interests include minority religious movements in South Asia, such as the Dalits and the Mar Thoma sects of Christianity in India, as well as the Ahmediyya and Bhori sects of Islam in Pakistan. At the Berkley Center, she works on the Undergraduate and Interreligious Understanding Project and engages students in discussions about their intercultural and interreligious experiences on campus.
  
  

   

• Melina Soroka

  After graduating with honors from St. John’s School in Houston, Texas in 2006, Melina enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences at Georgetown University as an undeclared freshman. Thinking she would major in History, Melina had a change of heart after her first Theology course at Georgetown, The Problem of G-d, and soon rediscovered her deep-rooted passion for religious studies, particularly Jewish and biblical history and the philosophy of religion. She spent the past year interning at the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society on K Street, working on international refugee and immigrant relief issues. Melina is currently a senior, serves on the board of the Georgetown Israel Alliance, and gives tours to prospective students for Georgetown’s Blue & Gray Tour Guide Society.

   

• Kate Taylor

  Kate Taylor, from Manhasset, New York, is a junior in the School of Foreign Service. She is a transfer student from Boston College, and is now majoring in Science, Technology, and International Affairs with a concentration in Energy and Environment. In addition to working at the Berkley Center, Kate splits her time between The Corp, Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society and Compass Partners. Kate is looking to study the interplay between energy, security and politics in her last two years at Georgetown.
  
  

   

• Anna Thomas

  Anna Thomas, from Portland, OR, is a member of the School of Foreign Service Class of 2011 and majoring in International Politics-Security Studies and pursuing a certificate in International Development. She was a 2008 Berkley Center Undergraduate Fellow, working on the group’s report on interreligious marriages. She is involved with The Lecture Fund and NAIMUN, and enjoys traveling and Arabic. She is currently spending the Fall 2009 semester in Amman, Jordan. In addition to the Middle East, she has minor obsessions with tea, F. Scott Fitzgerald, surrealist art, and the color red.
  
  

   

• Raymond Tolentino

  Raymond Tolentino, Class of 2009, majored in English with a focus on Cultural Studies and critical race theory and minored in Government and Japanese. He worked at the Berkley Center as a research assistant, and was a 2008 Berkley Center Undergraduate Fellow, working on the group’s report on interreligious marriages. In the Summer of 2007, Ray studied abroad in Kanazawa, Japan, during which he lived with a local host family. Quite young at heart, Ray also hopes that one day the Ninja Turtles will receive Nobel Peace Prizes for their extensive work in peacekeeping operations and inter-species understanding.
  
  

   

• Amy Vander Vliet

  Amy Vander Vliet is a graduate student in the Government Department focusing on political theory and political theology. She received her M.A. in Security Studies from Georgetown University and a B.A. from Dordt College, with majors in Political Studies and History. She has worked at the Berkley Center as a graduate research assistant since September 2006, and her interests include ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, religious perspectives on war and peace, and the influence of evangelical Christianity on American public life. As a Luce Graduate Research Fellow during Spring 2007 she researched the role of U.S. faith-based organizations involved in relief and development work and later contributed research support to the Berkley Center/Luce report "Faith Communities Engage the HIV/AIDS Crisis: Lessons Learned and Paths Forward." She has also interned at the American Enterprise Institute and the Ethics & Public Policy Center.
  
  

   

• Michelle Vanderwist

  Michelle Vanderwist (COL '11) studies English with a double minor in Spanish and Studio Arts. Originally from Solon, Ohio (a suburb about 30 minutes outside of Cleveland) Michelle is now studying abroad in Santiago, Chile. So far, she loves it. She will live with a host family for the Fall 2009 semester and split time between two universities: the University of Chile, and the Catholic University (PUC). While in Chile, Michelle volunteer for the English Opens Doors program, assisiting English teachers at a local public high school. In addition she has joined a local ultimate Frisbee team, and she is excited for the rest of her time abroad.

   

• Virginia Vasser

  Virginia Vassar majors in Arabic in the Georgetown College and pursues a certificate in African Studies from the SFS. Her hometown is Richmond, Virginia. She currently studies in Senegal, where she is living with a host family in Dakar. She is participating in Dakar's CIEE program, which partners with Suffolk University's Dakar campus. In January she hopes to continue to another CIEE program in Amman, Jordan in order to begin rigorous Arabic study and immersion. She will split her year between the two countries to obtain a unique perspective on Islam and religious values in Africa and the Middle East. Afterwards, she plans to use the insight gained on this trip to help foster a greater understanding and respect for Islam in her community.

   

• Maura Welch

  Maura Welch majors in Culture and Politics in the School of Foreign Service with a focus on human rights and gender inequality. Also, she is working towards a certificate in International Development. Originally from Syracuse, NY, Maura is now studying abroad in Amman, Jordan, at the University of Amman - a school of over 40,000 students. Throughout the fall semester she will study Arabic and the political implications of the water shortage in the Middle East, specifically Jordan. She is excited to be living with a Christian family in Amman and to have the opportunity to travel throughout the Middle East.

   

• Shuang Wen

  Shuang Wen joined in the “Religion and Society in China and the US Project” at the Berkley Center in Summer 09. Besides working as a research assistant, Shuang is a Ph D candidate in History at Georgetown University, with research interests on cultural history of Arab-Chinese mutual perceptions, China’s foreign policy to the Middle East, and China-Middle East-US triangular relationship on energy and security issues. Prior to her study at Georgetown, Shuang was a broadcasting journalist in Hong Kong and professionally trained conference interpreter in Beijing (Mandarin-English-Cantonese). She studied at Beijing Foreign Studies University and the American University in Cairo, earning MAs in simultaneous interpreting and translation, and Middle East Studies respectively. Shuang enjoys reading, swimming, cooking and babysitting.
  
  

   

• Christine White

  Christine White, Class of 2011, is a Finance and International Business double major in the McDonough School of Business. Christine is in Dublin for the Fall of 2009. And she is excited to share her experiences at the University College Dublin and in Ireland at large. Christine is from Long Island, NY, and involved with Alpha Kappa Psi - the Professional Business Fraternity, Club Field Hockey, D.C. Reads, and 85 Broads at Georgetown.

   

• Hailey Woldt

  Hailey Woldt is an Ibn Khaldun Junior Fellow at the American University and a research associate at the Berkley Center. She is currently working as the chief coordinator for the project "Journey into America," sponsored by the Berkley Center, American University, and the Brookings Institution and led by Dr. Akbar Ahmed. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Georgetown's School of Foreign Service with a certificate in Muslim-Christian Understanding and a degree in Culture and Politics. She traveled to eight Muslim countries for fieldwork and contributed to the book Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization (Brookings Press, 2006) with Akbar Ahmed. She is from Dallas, Texas, and now lives in Washington, D.C.
  
  

   

• Katherine Wolfenden

  Katherine Wolfenden was born in Southampton, NY and raised in Chapel Hill, NC. At fifteen, she graduated high school and took a gap year before college, in which she travelled to Nicaragua and Portugal and worked as a teacher’s assistant and a deputy field organizer for President Obama’s campaign. She attended Northeastern University in Boston for her freshman year of college, where she worked as a research assistant for Professor Bruce Wallin, wrote for the Huntington News and coordinated an after-school program for the student organization Social Change through Peace Games. She is now a transfer sophomore in Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service majoring in International Politics. Currently she works as a research assistant for the Center for Research on Children in the United States, copy editor for The Hoya, researcher for the College Democrats and Student Group Liaison for the International Relations Club. She hopes to continue researching intercultural relations in the future.

   

• Paul Yoo