Fellow Bio:

Jessie Cronan ‘07 is a religion major from Boston, MA. During her PiAF fellowship year Jessie will be working at the Rift Valley Children’s Village in Karatu, Tanzania. She is an avid traveler and spent the fall of her junior year studying abroad at St. Andrews University in Scotland. On campus Jessie was the Class of 2007 secretary and a member of the Cottage Club. She is excited to spend next year in Tanzania.

Jessica majored in International Affairs at The George Washington University. She most recently worked in Washington, DC at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), an international NGO that supports electoral processes in developing democracies. Prior to joining IFES, Jessica worked as a Project Assistant for the Southern and East Africa team at the National Democratic Institute. Throughout her undergraduate career, Jessica held several internships at various organizations in DC, including Human Rights Watch and Peace Corps World Headquarters. Jessica spent her junior year studying abroad, first in Florence, Italy and then in Uganda. While in Uganda, Jessica worked with the Refugee Law Project in Northern Uganda, conducting field research on the region’s socioeconomic development and transitional justice process. Jessica continued her research upon her return to GW, completing her senior thesis on the challenges of implementing transitional justice mechanisms in post-conflict societies in Africa. Jessica is looking forward to improving her Swahili, playing/watching lots of soccer, exploring more of East Africa and meeting new friends and colleagues at the IRC in Kasulu.

Originally from Orono, Minnesota, Jacob is a graduate of UW-Madison, where he majored in Biology with a certificate in African Studies. During his undergraduate career, Jacob spent a summer interning with the National Marrow Donor Program in Minneapolis, and he returned to Madison to found UW’s chapter of Be The Match on Campus, a student organization devoted to increasing awareness and membership of the national bone marrow donor registry. In the spring of his junior year, Jacob seized the amazing opportunity to spend a semester abroad in Cape Town, South Africa, where he studied Marine Ecology and volunteered at a community health clinic. In Madison, Jacob also spent 2 years in UW’s Central Nervous System Regeneration Lab and later joined UW’s Department of Emergency Medicine as a clinical research assistant examining radiological methods for diagnosing appendicitis. He also enjoyed volunteering at the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin, where he managed the daily food pantry and helped disabled HIV/AIDS patients regain independence. Jacob is unbelievably thrilled to head off to Tanzania to assist with BIPAI’s inspiring social and medical programs, improve his Swahili, and climb Mt. Kilimanjaro!

Jake graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in International Studies and a minor in Philosophy. During his time at the University, Jake studied three years of Kiswahili and wrote for the Africa Region of the Michigan Journal of International Affairs. He travelled to and worked in Uganda twice during his time as a student. His first trip was spent working as an intern with the Maendeleo Foundation in Mukono, Uganda. There he spent two months teaching children and adults how to use computers and worked with the Foundation’s director to identify new methods for developing the organization. The following summer, Jake held a three-month research associate position with the Refugee Law Project in Mbarara, Uganda where he conducted a study on the ability of refugees to both access and use technological devices in the Nakivale settlement. He held nearly 100 interviews with refugees of varying ages, nationality, and gender to determine how best to approach developing a technology education program in the settlement. Jake looks forward to practicing his Kiswahili and pursuing his interest in using technology to improve livelihoods in his upcoming work with Population Services International in Tanzania.

Alumni Update:

(Hannah K. Brown) Prior to working at the IRC during her fellowship year, Hannah received her BA in International Relations and Sociology from the University of California, Davis, and her MA in Global and International Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has worked in the international refugee space for the past decade, including in Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda, and for the U.S. federal government in Washington, DC. She has previously worked at the Department of Homeland Security’s Refugee Affairs Division and for the Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. She received her PhD from George Mason University’s Carter School for Peace & Conflict Resolution, where she also now teaches, and her dissertation focused on refugee protection and human security in Zimbabwe.

Fellow Bio:

In 2014 Hannah received her MA in Global & International Studies from UC Santa Barbara, focusing on human rights in sub-Saharan Africa. Her MA thesis was titled, “How Mitigating Conflict and Building Lasting Peace Prevents Genocide and Mass Atrocity: A Ugandan Case Study for Central Africa Today.” She spent fall 2013 in Uganda, where she worked in Patongo, Northern Uganda, conducting field research and volunteering with PCCO, an organization engaged in counseling individuals traumatized by war. She also lived in Kampala, interning in the POL/ECON section of the U.S. Embassy where she worked on human rights issues. In 2012 Hannah graduated cum laude from UC Davis with a BA in International relations and Sociology focused on development in Africa, during which she studied abroad in Botswana. She has also spent time in Washington, D.C. working with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in the Crisis, Conflict, and Cooperation Division and working with Africa Action. When she’s not reading books on Africa, you can catch her rapping to Tupac or hitting the beach! Hannah is very excited to spend her fellowship year in Kasulu, Tanzania working with the International Rescue Committee!

Alumni Update:

Erin is currently completing a Master’s of Science in Nursing degree.

Fellow Bio:

Erin hails from Chicago, Illinois. While she loves all things Windy City, Erin’s first love is her alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she majored in African Language and Literature and International Studies and minored in African Studies. Erin studied abroad twice: at Trinity College Dublin and at the University of Ghana-Legon. Additionally, she participated in various service projects working with vulnerable populations in Ghana, New Orleans, Rwanda and Nicaragua. At UW, Erin served as a Director and Executive Board Member for an organization dedicated to supporting children and families affected by HIV/AIDS. After graduation, Erin spent two years working in the Development Department of Invisible Children, an organization dedicated to dismantling the Lord’s Resistance Army in Central Africa. At Invisible Children, Erin was involved in everything from corporate partnerships to fundraising to stewardship, and also assisted with donor relations during the Kony 2012 campaign. Prior to her fellowship, Erin served as a Global Health Corps fellow at Kyetume Community Based Health Care Programme in Mukono, Uganda as the Fundraising and Development/ Human Resources Officer. While in Tanzania, Erin is excited to add Swahili to her African language repertoire and put her motorcycle skills to use in Dar es Salaam traffic.

Emma is originally from Princeton, NJ, but she has called Washington, DC home for the last few years. In 2013, Emma graduated from the George Washington University with a BA in international affairs and concentrations in Africa and international development studies. During her time at GW, Emma spent a semester abroad in Kampala, Uganda, where she studied international development and interned for Uganda National Action on Physical Disability (UNAPD), an NGO focused on improving the lives of people with physical disabilities. Upon graduation, Emma began working for the ONE Campaign, a global advocacy organization dedicated to ending extreme poverty and preventable disease. Emma loves to travel, and has been lucky enough to spend time in Rwanda, China, Laos, and Myanmar. She also loves her alma mater (Raise High!), movie trivia, and snacks. Emma is incredibly excited to move to Dar es Salaam, where she hopes to meet new people and learn many new things, including Swahili.