Kiphart Students
As part of its mission, the Kiphart Center is developing a generation of leaders, scholars, and practitioners that are exceptionally well-prepared for careers in the field of global health and social development in the 21st century. Each year, up to 20 exceptional students are accepted into our graduate and undergraduate cohort programs. Kiphart graduate students are selected from Crown Family School’s Global Social Development Program. Undergraduate students from the College are selected to participate in Kiphart programs such as the Kiphart Collegiate Fellows program, the Kiphart Policy Challenge, and other experiential learning opportunities. Kiphart students are a talented and diverse group of individuals. Learn more about current students below.
Kiphart Global Scholars
Olga Bednarek
Olga is currently a dual degree student in Social Work and Public Policy. She has a background in international relations and education, having worked in the Republic of Georgia and Ukraine in school settings for four years. While in Ukraine, Olga also worked with local Ukrainian social workers to develop programming for HIV+ youth and their families, helping establish a regional program that reached 49 new community members. Most recently, she coordinated a healthcare initiative at a local nonprofit in New York that sought to increase undocumented communities’ access to healthcare. Olga is interested in bringing social work into the policy space at a national and international level and is interested in the role of multimedia and disinformation in conflicts.
Christopher Garcia
Christopher is a first generation Latine graduate student. They received their undergraduate degree in Sociology and plan on continuing their career in either policy work or research. Chris’ international expertise comes from personal lived experience, with their parents being immigrants from Nicaragua. Chris grew up in Los Angeles, but has spent a significant amount of time in Nicaragua with family members and community organizers that have ties in both Los Angeles and Nicaragua. They hope to work with other grassroots organizers in larger Latin American cities and understand the ways that social work practice translates and does not, in a vastly diverse cultural setting. They are very grateful for their current opportunities and look forward to learning more about global social service. Chris is a current student in the Global Social Development Practice Certificate at the Crown Family School of Social Work Policy and Practice at The University of Chicago.
Catalina Micán
Catalina Micán holds a B.A. in Economics, a B.A.in History and a Master in International Studies from Los Andes University in Bogotá. She is currently a third year University of Chicago student at Harris School of Public Policy and Crown Family School. She worked for seven years in Colombia in social policy in the public and private sectors. Particularly, she worked in the monitoring and evaluation of the policy for victims of the internal armed conflict from the Government, set the logic model for the peace agreement with the Farc Guerrilla, and later worked in the social security net from the private sector. In the future, she wants to contribute to the strengthening of social security nets in Latin America, and finding flexible paths to formalize labor in the region.
Anna Samulski
Anna is a humanitarian advocacy, policy, and campaigns specialist with extensive experience supporting the protection of refugees, internally displaced persons, and other vulnerable communities in the Middle East and North Africa region. Most recently, she managed Oxfam’s Humanitarian Advocacy and Campaigns teams in Lebanon and Algeria, and previously coordinated research and advocacy on the perpetration of mass atrocity crimes in the MENA region for the Global Center for R2P and Crisis Action. Anna holds a Master’s in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies from Exeter University and a Master’s in Arabic and Persian Language from Edinburgh University.
Kiphart Collegiate Fellows
Sarah Adonle
Major: Common Year
Risa Akiba
Major: Statistics
Zoë Benjamin
Major: Critical Race & Ethnic Studies
Kenzi Bustamante
Major: Biology
Minor: Global Health
Christina Byun
Majors: Human Rights; East Asian Languages and Civilizations
Ermelinda Calderon
Major: Common Year
Patrick Callister
Major: Economics
Minor: Global Health
Joy Dada
Majors: Math and Economics
Orion Douglas
Major: Common Year
Nina Hafner
Majors: Biological Sciences; Public Policy
Gabriella Haywood
Majors: HIPSS; Global Studies
Audrey Leonard
Major: History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science and Medicine
Timothy Lu
Major: Common Year
Matthew Martinez
Major: Economics
Jessalin Nguyen
Major: Environmental Science
Avery Rosado
Majors: Biological Sciences; Public Policy
Abigail Yuhan
Majors: Biology; Public Policy
Yushu Qiu
Major: Data Science
Students not pictured:
Amulya Agrawal, Anusha Mehta, Cara Crittenden, Gabriela Meschino, Kody Tinga, Lamrot Jinfessa, Mihika Jain, Toluwanimi Akinlade
Learn More About Student Opportunities
The Kiphart Center for Global Health and Social Development offers a number of events, programs, and activities for graduate and undergraduate students. To learn more about these opportunities, click here.