Alumni Directory Display

James graduated with a degree in Government and Legal Studies and is originally from Little Rock, Arkansas. He enjoys traveling, learning other languages, and outdoor activities like hiking and whitewater kayaking. At Bowdoin, he was on the rowing team and led a group of volunteer tutors who staff a study center at the Portland Housing Authority. He also had several major opportunities to travel and volunteer abroad, spending a summer teaching English and volunteering at a health clinic in Rwanda, 6 weeks spent as a kindergarten classroom assistant at Safe Passage in Guatemala City, and a semester in Lima, Peru studying and volunteering as a math tutor and leading a leadership workshop with disadvantaged urban youth at Building Dignity. While in Ethiopia next year, James looks forward to teaching Chemistry, learning Amharic, and getting involved with the health clinic at Project Mercy.

Caleigh ived with a host family in rural Budondo, Uganda and interned for a local Savings and Credit Co-op (SACCO) for eight weeks in 2013. During this time, she worked with three other interns to develop a short- and long-term income-generating project for SACCO members. She recently traveled back to Uganda to independently research small-scale entrepreneurs’ perceptions of aid organizations in Kampala and Jinja for 8 weeks as part of her honors thesis. Caleigh has also worked as a research assistant for the Eleos Foundation, an organization that invests in market-based solutions to poverty alleviation in Africa and Latin America as well as for the Center for Complex Operations (CCO), a government think tank where she worked as a Research and Editorial Assistant for the Africa edition of CCO’s premier security studies journal, PRISM. She then served as co-director of Northwestern University Community for Human Rights, one of the largest social justice organizations at Northwestern that organizes the largest student-run human rights conference in the country as well as various programming events, a Spring Break service trip, and a student-organized seminar. She rowed all four years for Northwestern Crew Team, an entirely student-run organization, and was elected on the Executive Board where she served as Transportation Chair, Varsity Women’s Team Captain, and President. Caleigh graduated from Northwestern University in June 2015 with a BA in Political Science and International Studies with a focus on International Political Economy and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Alumni Update:

Jessica is currently the Salesforce Administrator & Architect at the Heising-Simons Foundation in the Bay Area, where she leads technical design of the large foundation’s grantmaking platform. Outside of work, Jessica volunteers with the large-scale metal & fire sculptural group the Flaming Lotus Girls.

Julia is a graduate of UC Berkeley, where she studied Political Economy and Public Policy and cultivated an interest in using data to inform policy and improve livelihoods in the developing world. Her research experience at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health and the Blum Center for Developing Economies heightened her interest in examining the relationship between the global north and south and advocating for health access as a fundamental human right. Originally hailing from Long Beach, California, Julia spent the last two and a half years supporting the design and implementation of evaluations and randomized control trials at Social Impact, a Washington DC-based international development consulting firm. During her time at SI, Julia gained field experience supervising data collection in Nepal, supported a maternal and child health evaluation in Laos, analyzed data for a Ghana education portfolio, and implemented a nationwide labor force study in Kosovo. In her previous work, Julia interned at a Los Angeles-based nonprofit where she worked to improve economic outcomes for marginalized communities, and contributed to policy briefs and research projects in human rights and sustainable development at a Madrid-based think tank.  Julia is looking forward to honing her monitoring and evaluation skills and focusing her efforts at the local level in Lwala.

Fellow Bio:

Liza Hillenbrand is originally from Summit, NJ and has lived in NYC since graduating from Princeton in 2004. Liza majored in politics, was pre-med, and had two certificates: one in French language and culture and another in European political studies. Liza was a member of TI, played varsity lacrosse all 4 years, was a volunteer EMT, and spent a gap year abroad living in London and Paris while at Princeton. Since graduating, she has worked in public finance investment banking at JPMorgan in NY, continued her volunteer EMT work, done a marathon and triathlon, and coached lacrosse to little kids. She will be working at BroadReach Health Care in Cape Town, South Africa.

Alumni Update:

Kaitlin is working at the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining as an Explosive Ordnance Risk Education Officer. Based in Geneva, she works at a global level (policy, coordination, capacity development) with periodic travel to mine-affected countries, especially in the Middle East.

Fellow Bio:

Kaitlin studied Government and African Studies, co-founded a student anti-genocide coalition and was awarded high honors for her thesis on the politics of classifying mass atrocities. In addition to her studies at Smith, Kaitlin participated in an experiential learning program on peace and conflict in East Africa and spent her junior year abroad in Geneva on Smith’s Advanced Program in International Relations and Development Studies. Kaitlin continued her education at the London School of Economics and Political Science, graduating in 2013 with a Master’s degree in comparative conflict studies. Her dissertation focused on explaining differences in patterns of conflict within two regions of the DRC. Having previously interned with Human Rights Watch and the International Centre for Migration, Health and Development, Kaitlin is excited to now learn about the unique challenges and rewards of working in the field. She is also looking forward to discovering Malawi’s countryside, learning to cook without perishable ingredients, and (hopefully) adopting an adorable furry friend.

Alumni Update:

Grace works at USAID as a Relationship Manager for the Development Credit Authority, where she builds and strengthens partnerships with private financial institutions in six countries in Africa. She currently lives in Washington, DC but will soon relocate to Abuja, Nigeria.

Fellow Bio:

Grace (Princeton ‘11) majored in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs with a certificate in African Studies. She originally hails from Livingston, NJ. While at Princeton, she worked behind the scenes on theater productions, served as Business Manager of Princeton University Players, and was a member of Princeton Tower Club. She is excited to return to the African continent after studying abroad at the University of Cape Town. She can’t wait to explore Ghana and learn everything she can about the African cashew industry, which will hopefully include many tasty samples.

Clare graduated from Colorado College with a major in English and minor in Russian, Nonviolence, and Music. The child of anthropologists, Clare spent extended periods of her life living with livestock herders in East Africa, where she learned, firsthand, of the daily challenges impoverished rural families face in developing countries. She also spent some time in Japan, where she learned about Kyoto’s education system. Through these varied experiences, she developed a commitment to eliminating barriers to high quality education and an interest in the policies that shape people’s everyday economic and educational realities. During college, Clare worked on political campaigns, served as a legislative intern for two United States Senators, and founded a college organization to address socioeconomic challenges. In her study abroad to Russia, she conducted research about Russians’ understandings of their identities from a contemporary global perspective. Upon graduating, Clare served as a Youth Specialist for the non-profit, Joint Initiatives, where she developed new strategies for strengthening youth voices at all levels of child and family systems and services. Clare’s fellowship with the Indigenous Education Foundation of Tanzania has a mission she loves – providing high quality education supported by the indigenous community the organization serves.

Alumni Update:

After his fellowship, Michael moved to Boston to complete an MD and an MPP at Harvard. He is currently a resident in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, also in Boston.

Fellow Bio:

Mike Honigberg ’08 is a Woodrow Wilson School major and pre-medical student from McLean, VA. At Princeton, Mike was a varsity swimmer, a dancer with BodyHype Dance company, a tour guide and officer of Orange Key, and co-chair of the PIIRS Undergraduate Fellows. He studied abroad at the University of Cape Town in the spring of 2007, an experience which instilled a love of Africa in Mike. Mike has worked in chemistry and nanotechnology research, in pediatric trauma care in Washington, DC, and in pharmaceutical consulting in Boston. Working this year to prevent and treat pediatric HIV in Lilongwe, Malawi, Mike can’t wait to immerse himself in Malawian culture and explore as much of Africa as possible.