BGIA Profiles Betsaida Alcantara (Fall 2003) While attending BGIA in the fall of 2003, Betsaida interned at Central American Legal Assistance. After graduating from Bard in 2005, she worked as a paralegal at the Workers' Rights Law Center (www.workersrightsny.org) in Kingston, NY. Betsaida recently received a fellowship from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute and is currently working for New York Senator Charles Schumer as a Policy Fellow on issues ranging from immigration, international affairs to economic development policy. Brian Block (Fall 2005) Brian was a member of the Fall 2005 class of BGIA. During his time at BGIA, he interned in the Country and Regional Programs department at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, where he was responsible for writing a review on tools for assessing sexual risk behavior in subjects participating in clinical trials. He came to BGIA from Oberlin College, where he majored in Biology and minored in Chemistry. Since graduating from Oberlin in May 2006, Brian has been working as a research technician at the Partners AIDS Research Center of Massachusetts General Hospital. He is part of a group that is working to identify genetic and immunogenic commonalities amongst people who are able to control HIV infection themselves, without needing treatment. Brian plans to go to medical school in the fall of 2008. Clémentine Igilibambe Clémentine B. Igilibambe attended BGIA during the fall 2007 semester, and interned at the New York State Attorney General’s Office. Clémentine is an International Studies and Human Rights major at the University of Dayton. Originally from Rwanda, Clémentine left her country in 1994 to escape the Genocide and civil war. At the age of eight, she fled with her parents and six brothers and sisters and lived in refugee camps and settlements in Congo and Kenya before she and her family got visas to move to the United States. Clémentine attended Chaminade Julienne Catholic High school in Dayton, Ohio and received several scholarships to attend the University of Dayton. At the University of Dayton, Clémentine Founded the Afrika Club and was a member of the Human Rights Committee, The Student Leadership Council, The Student Achievement in Research and Scholarships and secretary for the Student Advisory Committee for Foreign Languages. She was also selected to be on a panel on Africana Studies at Stander Symposium and another panel on International Discrimination. Clémentine also volunteered at the American Friends Service Committee and Habitat for Humanity. Daria Solovieva (Spring & Fall 2004) Daria interned with Eurasia Net at the Open Society Institute in the Spring 2004 and at and the International League for Human Rights in the Fall of 2004. While at BGIA, she served as a co-editor in chief of BardPolitik. She graduated in 2005 with a degree in Global Studies. Daria now serves full time as an executive support officer at CHF International, a non-profit emergency management and disaster relief provider in conflict zones worldwide, including Lebanon, Iraq, and Sudan. She continues to freelance part-time and has most recently contributed to World Politics Watch.com. Eben Kaplan (Fall 2001) Eben Kaplan is a research associate at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he is among the editorial staff of the web site, cfr.org. Eben writes, edits, and researches content for the site and provides administrative support to the rest of the editorial team. Prior to his arrival at cfr.org in July 2005, Eben was an intern at Foreign Policy. He graduated from Bard College in 2003, as a political studies major. Before starting his professional career, Eben traveled throughout the United States and to Querétaro , Mexico, where he taught English. While at BGIA, in fall 2001, he interned in the Council on Foreign Relations' Publications Department and was an editor of the first two issues of BardPolitik. Ethan Porter (Fall 2005) Ethan Porter is the Associate Editor of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas. A 2007 graduate of Bard College, Ethan has been published in Newsweek and The Forward. He has served as the National Communications Director for the College Democrats of America and, while at Bard, he edited the campus newspaper and the campus international affairs journal. Fittingly enough, in addition to winning the Bard Political Studies Prize, he was also a two-time winner of the school's Democracy Award. While at BGIA in the fall of 2005, Ethan interned at Newsweek International. Kerry McIntyre Shapleigh (Fall 2003) After graduating from Yale with a degree in Classics, Kerry decided to change her focus to international relations and chose to attend BGIA for an immersion in that field. While at BGIA, Kerry interned at the Open Society Institute, working for their Justice Initiative on their Congo project. Having been raised in Morocco, Kerry found her knowledge of French to be very useful for her internship. After completing the program, Kerry applied to law school and transitioned into a job at O.S.I. in the Office of International Operations and Open Society Initiative for East Africa. She deferred law school to work at O.S.I. and has been a mentor to BGIA interns such as Ayan Abshir, BGIA class of fall 2005. Kira Lom Kira Lom is the Grant Manager at the Third Millennium Foundation. During her undergraduate studies at Haverford College, Kira majored in East Asian Studies and completed an exchange program on Comparative Culture at Sophia University in Japan. After graduation, Kira returned to New York to attend BGIA in Fall 2006. Through BGIA she took courses on humanitarian affairs and international ethics, and worked full time as a Program Assistant at the International Center for Tolerance Education. At the completion of her internship, the Third Millennium Foundation (TMF) hired her as the Grant Manager. Kira now administers the Foundation’s many grants, fellowships and programs building the field of early childhood tolerance education and human rights. Lyric Thompson (Spring 2007) During her Spring 2007 semester at BGIA, Lyric interned with the Global Justice Center (GJC), an emerging international nonprofit working to uphold women's human rights in conflict and post-conflict situations. Throughout her internship, Lyric wrote winning proposals for program support and expansion in Iraq and Burma, and attended sessions of the 51st U.N. Commission on the Status of Women as a representative of the GJC, a member of the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security. Lyric's writing was published in the Fall 2006 and Spring 2007 editions of BardPolitik, including pieces from her collegiate honors thesis work on political action and human rights in Ghana, West Africa. Over the course of her time at BGIA, Lyric was twice published by Newsweek International, and has continued to contribute to the news magazine. After graduating from BGIA, Lyric accepted a position in Washington, DC, backstopping a $52 million post-conflict, grants-based development project in Sudan, funded by USAID and implemented by Development Alternatives, Inc. She currently works for Women for Women International, an international organization that provides microfinance assistance to women victims of war. She is a Phi Beta Kappa, suma cum laude alumna of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Melissa Hines (Fall 2005) As a BGIA student during the fall 2005 semester, Melissa interned at the International Partnership for Service-Learning and Leadership (IPSL), a small non-profit that advocates for Service-Learning and administers college and graduate-level intercultural exchange programs. She is a 2007 graduate of Oberlin College, with an individual major entitled “Education for Social Change.” Following graduation, she plans to pursue a Master in Teaching/Elementary Education Certification. Her experience studying in Argentina, Spain, and Namibia prior to and during college have greatly influenced her concentration on studying multicultural and social justice based education. She plans to study educational Leadership after gaining experience as a classroom teacher. Nyasa Hickey (Summer 2006) Nyasa is currently the Program Assistant for the Center for Dialogues: Islamic World-U.S.-The West, a program that aims to foster greater communication between the Muslim World and the West. The Dialogues program is directed by Mustapha Tlili and implements international conferences, roundtable talks, and policy reports. Nyasa graduated from the State University of New York at New Paltz in 2006 with degrees in both English and Black Studies along with a minor in Law and Politics. Prior to attending BGIA in the summer of 2006, Nyasa worked at the Workers’ Rights Law Center of New York, where she provided legal support for low-wage migrant workers. While at BGIA, Nyasa interned for the international branch of Planned Parenthood of New York City, Margaret Sanger Center International, where she developed an analysis of women's health organizations, specifically trends in their focuses, areas of concern, and funding. Her areas of interest include international conflict, women's empowerment, and African culture. Onnesha Tao Roychoudhuri (Spring 2003) While at BGIA in the Spring of 2003, Onnesha interned at Witness and at Human Rights Watch in the Justice Initiative. After graduating from Bard in 2004, she completed a fellowship at Mother Jones magazine. She was also a contributing author to Women’s Lives, a Women’s Studies textbook. Onnesha currently works as an editorial fellow for Alternet.org where she is a regular contributor. Rafi Rom (Fall 2001) A Member of BGIA’s first graduating class, Rafi helped to found the journal BardPolitik. Rafi is currently a paralegal Community Legal Services in Philadelphia, PA, where he assists low income people with legal problems with welfare, food stamps, and Medicaid problems. He also works at the Chinatown Free Clinic as a benefits counselor, helping immigrants navigate the health care system. Rafi is currently the chair of the legal committee of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, which focuses on bringing US Human Rights violations to international legal venues. He is in his first year in the University of Pennsylvania's Pre-Med post-baccalaurate program Raimondo Chiari (Fall 2001) Raimondo Chiari graduated BGIA in the fall of 2001. While at BGIA, he interned at the Ford Foundation. Under the guidance of James Chace, he spent his senior year at Bard College writing his thesis on regionalism and identity in the context of the European Union, Turkey and the Kurds. He earned an M.A. in Peacekeeping Management at the University of Turin, Italy in the Fall of 2004. He has worked as a language teacher and cultural mediator in the state prison of Turin, Italy. He worked with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to oversee the electoral processes in Kosovo and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Iraq. He is presently working as an Electoral Advisor with the United Nations Mission in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI). Rebecca Iwerks (Summer 2004) Rebecca Iwerks participated in BGIA’s first summer program in 2004, interning at both the Open Society Institute and EngenderHealth. Rebecca is now a Program Coordinator at OSI where she splits her time between the Indonesia Project and the Revenue Watch Institute. Her responsibilities now include coordinating OSI’s grant making and operating programs in Indonesia, with an emphasis on Access to Justice, Public Health, Media, and Local Governance Capacity Building. In addition, Rebecca works with Revenue Watch Institute in Indonesia and other Asian-Pacific countries to support national advocacy and local capacity building that promote transparency and accountability in the management of revenues from oil, mining and gas. Rebecca graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 2004. She lives in New York, but is still a Red Sox fan. Salim Morsy (Fall 2002) A member of the Fall 2002 BGIA class, Salim interned at the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs. After attending BGIA, Salim spent six months in Chile researching his senior thesis on Chilean Economics. He graduated from Bard College in 2004, and worked as a Research assistant at MFY Legal Services, Inc. in New York from March 2005 to January 2006. He is currently studying for a Masters in European Political Economy at the London School of Economics Sapna Mehta (Fall 2004) After graduating from Swarthmore College in 2004 with a BA in Asian Studies, Sapna attended the BGIA program to learn more about issues in international relations. She did an internship with Channel Thirteen/PBS, working on the middle school multicultural literature project that was being done for Annenberg. After the internship and BGIA program ended, she continued working with Channel Thirteen until completing the first version of the project. Sapna then attended a postgraduate program in Social Anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. She is now working to complete a Master's degree and will return to New York to pursue an interest in education and development policies. Sarit Shatken (Spring 2004) While attending BGIA in the spring of 2004, Sarit interned at the Open Society Institute in their International Harm Reduction program. After graduating from Bard with a degree in Human Rights in 2005, Sarit worked in Amsterdam for Women on Waves, helping women attain access to reproductive choice in countries where it is illegal. She went on to work at the International Institute of New Jersey, where she assisted survivors of torture seeking asylum in the United States. Sarit now attends Case Western Reserve University, where she is studying to become a nurse practitioner. She looks forward to working internationally using her new skills to eliminate disparities in healthcare. Shawn Finnell (Fall 2006) Shawn is currently the Program Associate for The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, Inc., an organization with over $750 million in assets, dedicated to philanthropy and grant making in 23 metro Atlanta counties. Shawn works in the Community Partnerships division, focusing mostly on providing grassroots nonprofits with grants from the foundation's Neighborhood Fund and overall broad community development. Shawn graduated from Emory University in 2006 with degrees in Political Science and Cultural Anthropology. Prior to attending BGIA in the fall of 2006, Shawn researched the cultural psychology of race as a fellow in the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program. During her time at BGIA, Shawn interned for the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, where she acted as the Ethics, War & Peace and Development & Media Intern, doing multiple research projects on international political conflict and helping to develop a development strategy for the organization. Her areas of interest include race culture in the U.S., Middle Eastern and Eurasian affairs, and international conflict resolution. Simar Singh (Summer 2004) Simar Singh is the Program Specialist for the Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, a global network of NGOs that strives to end violations against children in armed conflicts and to guarantee their rights. As part of her work she assists with report development, country research, fundraising, advocacy, as well as supervising Watchlist interns and volunteers. Simar graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Magna cum Laude with a degree in International Relations from Mount Holyoke College in May 2006. Her senior research project was on “Weakness in the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration system: Examining the re-recruitment of child soldiers in the DemocraticRepublic of Congo.” She spent her junior year in Montpellier, France studying the political-economy of the European Union and gaining proficiency in the French language. Originally from India, Simar is fluent in Hindi and Punjabi. Yasmeen Turner (summer 2005) After graduating from Arcadia University in May 2005 with a BA in International Business, Yasmeen attended the BGIA summer program. Yasmeen's desire to transition from business into social and political work let her to intern with Bidoun Magazine while attending BGIA. After completing the program, Yasmeen was offered a full-time position at Bidouin. She now works for the Defense Logistics Agency as an Acquisition Specialist.  back to top

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