Physics alumna Erin McCarthy ’23, right, was lead author on a study published in Physical Review Letters, which uncovered mechanisms that cause particles to sort spontaneously into different groups. Professor M. Lisa Manning, left, was a co-author.

Erin McCarthy ’23, physics summa cum laude, is a rarity among young scientists. As an undergraduate researcher in the College of Arts and Sciences’ , she guided a study that appeared in March 2024 in . It is the most-cited physics letters journal and the eighth-most cited journal in science overall.

McCarthy and postdoctoral associates Raj Kumar Manna and Ojan Damavandi developed a model that identified an unexpected collective behavior among computational particles with implications for future basic medical research and bioengineering.

“It’s very difficult to get a paper into Physical Review Letters,” says , co-author and the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Physics, as well as founding director of the . “Your scientific peers must judge it as exceptional.”

McCarthy, a New Jersey native, chose Syracuse because of its “tremendous energy,” she says. “The educational and the research side of things was amazing. I came planning to be a physics major who was premed. I loved physics and biology, and I wanted to be involved in healthcare and medicine. And I got lucky in that I met Dr. Manning as a freshman, and she introduced me to computational biophysics. I started in research during my freshman year, which is extremely unusual.”

“Erin learned coding from scratch, and then did hours and hours of simulations, which took a lot of perseverance,” says Manning. “It’s just a fantastic testament to her work ethic and brilliance that this paper appeared in such a prestigious journal.”

Erin McCarthy standing in front of the Physics Building during 2023 graduation weekend.

The research team used computational physics modeling to figure out the underlying mechanisms that cause particles to sort spontaneously into different groups.

Learning how particles behave in physics models could provide insight into how living biological particles—cells, proteins and enzymes—remix themselves in development.

In the early stages of an embryo, for example, cells start out in heterogeneous mixtures. Cells must self-sort into different compartments to form distinct homogenous tissues. This is one of the major collective cell behaviors at work during development of tissues and organs and organ regeneration.

L. Hazel Jack

Jack was working in the airport advertising field after earning a bachelor’s degree in marketing management and advertising from Pace University. She was responsible for her company’s national sales conference, scheduled in New York City on Sept. 10 and 11 that year, and was at a printing facility in New Jersey when the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center occurred.

“It was this moment that got me thinking, ‘Is this really what I want to do? What’s my purpose?’” Jack recalls. Soon after, she began searching for more meaning within her selected field, ultimately leading to a job in marketing and communications for the City University of New York’s School of Professional Studies.

That ignited her passion for higher education, and she has since held various executive roles related to marketing, communications, special events, advancement and crisis management with Johns Hopkins University, Howard University and now Colgate University, where she currently serves as vice president and chief of staff to the president. She has continued to collect advanced degrees along the way, and in fall of 2017, began her pursuit of a Ph.D. from Syracuse to take her expertise to the highest possible level.

An Unexpected, But ‘Easy Choice’

Jack, a first-generation college student, says when she was choosing where to study as an undergraduate, she didn’t consider her current role in higher ed administration as a viable career path. “I didn’t even know this was a thing. I just assumed I would do some kind of corporate communications or advertising. I never anticipated getting this level of education,” she says of attaining an MBA in marketing and a master’s degree in higher education administration from Baruch College before moving on to a doctoral degree.

“I often feel like I shouldn’t be here,” Jack says. “When you read about education and who tends to persist and who does well, I don’t exactly fit that mold.” After deciding to attain a Ph.D., she applied to a handful of programs, including the one at the School of Education. She didn’t think she would be admitted. “When I did, I was like, ‘Well that’s an easy decision!’”

She immediately connected with the professors and coursework. “I took a course on organization and administration in higher education, which was immediately applicable to my role at Colgate—looking at various aspects of how different institutions of higher learning are structured and some of the nuances of hierarchies and governance, which was really helpful,” says Jack.

Beyond coursework, she has been grateful to connect with her peers in the program who also work in higher education, helping break down the siloes that can prevail within and across institutions.

DEIA In Theory and In Practice

Another favorite course of Jack’s was one she took with on race, representation and culture. “It instantly gave me language to put to experiences I’ve had that I couldn’t explain before,” Jack says. “We dove into the literature around identity and place within higher education. As a woman of color in higher ed, working mostly at predominantly white institutions, there was always this ‘outsider’ feeling, even as I progressed in my career. Reading literature that described that experience, I realized it was not just in my head; it was real. It helped me make sense of what I’ve experienced in the space and reassured me that I deserve to be in this space.”

Jack plays an integral role in diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) work at Colgate and through her association with several professional organizations—including One X League, Chief, the National Council of Negro Women and as a John Roberts Lewis Fellow with the Faith & Politics Institute. She finds herself continuously revisiting and integrating her School of Education coursework into her career and advocating for others in the space who may share her background.

“Right now there is so much conversation around DEIA and higher ed, especially with affirmative action being struck down,” Jack says. “A lot of the conversation hits very close to home, and it’s often taking place in spaces where I’m the only one or one of very few who have a similar experience to me. Considering multiple perspectives is more important now than ever as we’re dealing with such complex issues.”

Dissertation Research on the Visibility of Black Women Leaders

Jack’s doctoral dissertation explores how Black women college presidents have historically been covered by the press—a topic she selected years ago, but has a certain element of timeliness in the wake of recent high-profile resignations of female college presidents, including the departure of Claudine Gay from Harvard University.

Focusing on eight Black women who led higher education institutes of various types and sizes beginning in the late 1980s, Jack examined national, regional, local and student press coverage of their tenures. She completed a content and discourse analysis of what was written and how they were written about, resulting in three preliminary findings.

“Up until recently, and I’m talking within the last 20 years, these women were often described physically in the coverage. For example, ‘She had short cropped hair with a beautiful smile and wore a blue suit,’” Jack says. “How often do you see a man written about in these terms? Second, unless they had a controversy or were a ‘first’ of some sort, they weren’t written about at all. A lot of the presidents in the middle of my timeline were basically non-existent in terms of being covered. My third finding is this notion that [Black female presidents] have to be perfect in their role and act in an exemplary way at all times—there is no margin for error.”

Jack anticipates defending her dissertation by the end of the spring semester. She plans to continue in her role at Colgate and considers a future in teaching, but says she isn’t in a rush to make any big moves or firm plans: “I’ve been working full-time and studying part-time for the better part of the last 20 years,” she says. “Maybe it’s time for a break. Maybe it’s time to come home from work and take a walk for a change. I never would’ve expected that I would be here in the first place, so we’ll see what happens next.”

Sam Clark (center) poses with Robin Howard (left) and Anna Proulx at the LA semester wrap event. (Photo courtesy of Sam Clark)

Sam Clark ’24 has known since he was 9 years old that he wanted to be a film director when he grew up. After a family trip to Egypt where his dad took hours and hours of video, Clark found himself enthralled by the footage and the ability to tell stories through film.

When it was time for him to choose a college, Clark was interested in Syracuse because not only did it boast one of the top-ranked film schools in the country but also because of its , offered through the Lawrence B. Taishoff Center for Inclusive Higher Education in the School of Education. InclusiveU, celebrating its 10-year anniversary this year, offers one of the premier opportunities in the country for students of all ages with intellectual and developmental disabilities to experience college life in a fully inclusive setting.

The decision to attend Syracuse was one of the best he ever made, Clark says. He’s spent the last four years studying the craft of filmmaking through his coursework, primarily in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) and S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

For the past two semesters, Clark has taken advantage of the , getting a flavor of life on the West Coast and “in the industry,” as he would say.

“LA has been incredible,” Clark says. “Every morning I go to my internship and then at night, I take awesome classes with professors who have been in the industry and who know the ins and outs of working in the media and entertainment fields.”

Clark and Doug Robinson (left) of Doug Robinson Productions at an LA-area event (Photo courtesy of Sam Clark)

In spring 2023, Clark participated in the and interned with Doug Robinson Productions (founded by fellow Orange alumnus Doug Robinson ’85) on the Sony Pictures Entertainment lot, where his duties included reviewing and evaluating scripts, shadowing production assistants on set and listening to pitches for future projects.

“He [Doug] took me on the set of an ’80s flashback show called ‘The Goldbergs’ and I learned about the art of production, editing and sound mixing,” Clark says. At night, he studied acting, writing and production through his Newhouse coursework.

Notably, he also found professional and industry mentorship under , director of Newhouse LA. “Robin has been awesome about giving me many opportunities in LA, from going to industry premieres to teaching me about pitching and helping me to attend PA [production assistant] bootcamp, which was hugely valuable,” says Clark.

“Sam is truly a shining light, a fantastic young man!” says Howard. “Everyone here has been deeply touched and inspired by his journey with us. It is a gift to know him.”

When faculty and staff affiliated with the saw how enthusiastically Clark was embracing the Newhouse program and all he was learning, they encouraged him to remain in Los Angeles for the fall semester through their immersion program. Clark got another internship, this time as a development intern with The Gotham Group, a talent management company, where his duties include listening to and evaluating clients’ pitches and their potential to become a movie or TV production. “I can’t say too much about the types of projects I’ve been working on, because it’s kind of classified,” Clark says with a grin.

His fall 2023 coursework encompassed a filmmaking senior project, a scriptwriting class focused on episodic dramas and a networking class, which he says has been his favorite class of the semester. “SULA has been helping me out with the alumni community in Los Angeles and making connections with people who may be able to help me in my future career, hopefully with getting a job in the industry,” Clark says. “I have especially appreciated [VPA program director for SULA] and the many opportunities she has given me as an InclusiveU student, including facilitating my attendance at several film festivals.”

Clark (center) hits the red carpet with film directors Alejandra Vasquez (left) and Sam Osborn at AFI Fest, organized by the American Film Institute. (Photo courtesy of Sam Clark)

“Sam embodies the spirit of SULA—a positive attitude, a willingness to try new experiences, an openness to network and introduce himself, and a strong work ethic,” says Proulx. “He has touched this program in so many positive ways, and we are honored to be a small part of his learning journey.”

Clark’s senior film project draws inspiration from the 2023 Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes—the plot involves artificial intelligence taking over an actor’s career. He says he has learned a lot about pitching his own projects through his internship at The Gotham Group, and he hopes to get a job as a production assistant after he graduates in May. Ultimately, he aspires to achieve his dream of becoming a filmmaker, and while Clark is not sure if he’ll remain in Los Angeles or return to his hometown of Philadelphia, he knows his time spent at SULA has set him up for future success.

“Sam is the epitome of what you want to see in a college student,” says Sam Roux, academic coordinator with InclusiveU in the School of Education and Clark’s academic advisor. “He is acutely aware of college’s transient nature and hustles every day to get the most out of this experience. The guy is a total rockstar.”

Rockstar, yes—and hopefully someday a big-time movie director too.

Georgia Fernandes

From a young age, Georgia Fernandes ’24, a fifth-year student from Kenya studying in the School of Architecture, has always wanted to tell stories. Fernandes’ desire to create something from scratch, much like architecture, led her to begin writing movie scripts as a hobby during the pandemic. Realizing the impact that film had on communities in Kenya and around the world, Fernandes wanted to create films that would do the same and make people think, feel and imagine.

“All of my scripts surround strong women and put women in the main spotlight,” says Fernandes. “Where some create feel-good experiences, others are more of a raw insight into what it means to be a woman living in this world.”

After listening to true stories of the resilience and bravery that many young Kenyan girls had, Fernandes knew she had to tell their story.

“,” a Kenyan film highlighting the truth about HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence, written and produced by Fernandes, opened with its first screening in November 2022 on the eve of the , an annual international campaign led by UN Women.

Representing the perseverance that thousands of young girls demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic when statistics of gender-based violence reached appalling heights in Kenya, the film combines hundreds of different real-life stories affecting girls under the age of 15 that all have one thing in common: rape.

“Mercy”

In the film, 15-year-old Mercy faces the unimaginable. What could have been the end of her story is only the start of an incredible and transformative journey of triumph over adversity.

“‘Mercy’ is not a film that begs for sympathy, but it strives for change,” says Fernandes. “I think stories like this that describe the courage that young African girls show should not be kept secret but instead should be shared with the world. I hope that everyone who watches the short film will see how one wrong decision can affect multiple lives.”

“Mercy” officially opened for public viewing in March 2023, coinciding with , a day-long student-driven event to raise awareness of modern slavery.

“My hope for this film is that it will launch the , which would push men to think twice before they even touch a girl,” says Fernandes. “‘Mercy’ is more than a movie; it’s a movement with a purpose.”

Since premiering, the film has been that focus on women’s rights, including those partnering with the as well as the .

Fernandes is working on creating “Triple Caution,” a film about a female’s courage and determination in the Kenyan motorsport industry, due out in 2025.

Founded in 1953, the Marshall Scholarships finance young Americans of high ability to study for a graduate degree at an institution in the United Kingdom in any field of study. Volynets was one of 51 students selected from around the country and is Syracuse University’s sixth Marshall Scholar.

Volynets is minoring in museum studies in the  and Russian in the College of Arts and Sciences. They are a Coronat Scholar and a member of the .

“To me, being a Marshall Scholar means having an incredible opportunity that I am so grateful for. It means that I get to be a citizen ambassador to the U.K.,” Volynets says. “The U.K. has a very different approach to heritage management than the U.S. does, which I’m very excited to learn from—and I’m looking forward to seeing all of the U.K.’s really interesting heritage sites.”

Volynets plans to pursue a career in safeguarding Ukrainian cultural heritage. They are applying to Oxford University’s master of philosophy program in visual, material and museum anthropology. They plan to write their thesis on the role that Ukrainian cultural institutions have played in the fight for Ukrainian independence.

“Oxford is such an amazing fit for this goal, because of its very active Ukrainian Student Society (including the Oxford-Kharkiv association), work being done by professors to preserve Ukrainian cultural heritage amidst the war, its new Ukrainian archives and the fantastic Slavonic studies department, which hosts weekly open discussions,” they say.

“In addition, the Pitt Rivers Museum at Oxford is doing sector-leading work in museum decolonization, and I’d really love to get involved. Pursuing these opportunities will help me get the skills, experience and knowledge to prepare me to work at an institution safeguarding Ukrainian and other threatened cultural heritages,” Volynets says. “I can’t express how excited I am to become involved with these communities and opportunities next fall.”

“Iona’s extraordinary record of service and leadership in the field of managing and safeguarding cultural heritage made them an outstanding candidate for the Marshall Scholarship,” says Jolynn Parker, director of the (CFSA), which worked with Volynets on their application. “The U.K. is a global leader in heritage management. The opportunity to pursue a master’s at Oxford in this field will position Iona superbly for the career they plan.”

In October 2022, Volynets was named one of three Syracuse recipients of the Voyager Scholarship: the Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service, a new award for juniors committed to public service funded by the Obama Foundation. In April, they were named a 2023 Truman Scholar in recognition of their leadership, service, academic accomplishment and commitment to a career of public service.

In recent months, Volynets studied Russian for eight weeks in Tbilisi, Georgia, on the Critical Language Scholarship. They also visited six other post-Soviet states through the Voyager Scholarship to conduct research for their senior thesis on the diversity of national memory in post-Soviet states. They visited around 70 museums between their Voyager Scholarship and time in Tbilisi.

Volynets recently completed their time as a Lender Center Fellow, where they and other fellows were engaged in a project focused on migrant women’s wellness in the Northside neighborhood. They presented their work on culturally appropriate food bank services at the Environmental Design Research Association conference in Mexico City last June and are working to get funding to expand their research on food banks to other neighborhoods next semester.

Volynets has also served as a service-learning intern at the University’s Shaw Center. “I’ve continued working with the Environmental Design class, which this semester has meant learning a lot about Syracuse’s Southside and the history of the 15th Ward,” they say. “I’ve also been researching how to identify and prevent volunteer burnout so that we can update our volunteer and service-learning guides.” Volynets has also been working in the archives at the Onondaga Historical Association, creating finding guides for their Underground Railroad and Zonta Group collections.

Additionally, they were an intern with Save the Children and the Council of Europe and a Teen Council member for the Smithsonian Galleries of Asian Art. During winter break, they will be working for Save the Children’s Disability Inclusion department again.

Students interested in applying for national scholarships that require University endorsement, such as the Marshall Scholarship, should complete an “intent to apply” form with Center for Fellowship and Scholarship Advising by the end of June 2024 and plan to work with .

Chelsea Bouldin

School of Education doctoral student and University Fellow Chelsea Bouldin has been awarded an Imagining America (IA) Publicly Active Graduate Education (PAGE) fellowship for the 2023-24 academic year.

for publicly engaged graduate students across humanities, arts and design. The program encourages public scholarship, fosters a national, interdisciplinary community of peer scholars, and creates opportunities for collaboration, networking and mentorship.

An engaged scholar, Bouldin is student lead for the , which builds community among graduate students who self-identify as Black, Indigenous or other persons of color; a graduate student representative on the School of Education Committee on Diversity; and a former Graduate Student Coordinator. Her research interests include Afro-futurist literature, as exemplified by the science fiction writer Octavia Butler.

As an IA PAGE Fellow, Bouldin will attend the in Providence, Rhode Island, including a pre-conference IA fellows orientation and a lightning-round discussion of her scholarship during the conference. She also will meet monthly with her cohort of eight fellows from across the United States during the year. “I’m excited to work in this way. These meetings will be a chance for us to workshop our scholarship and discuss specific topics of our choosing,” says Bouldin. “As I began studying engaged humanities work more formally, I realized the extensive overlap between the values of this fellowship and the dissertation project work I am developing. It felt organic for me to apply for this fellowship, and I am truly honored to be in such an intellectual community-oriented space.”

Also receiving a 2023-24 IA fellowship is College of Visual and Performing Arts undergraduate Rayan Mohamed ’26, a student in the Higher Education Opportunity Program, part of the School of Education’s t.

From left: Elliott Lewis, Dominic Chiappone and Cayley Young take part in the mock deposition.

student Dominic Chiappone ’24 defended an article he wrote for The Daily Orange in a class exercise designed to simulate a deposition a journalist could face if sued for defamation.

The mock deposition was part of a communication law class taught by Newhouse Professor . The case centered on a story Chiappone had written for The Daily Orange involving campus police.

Lewis, who is a member of the New York State Bar Association’s media law committee, played the role of Chiappone’s attorney.

“Most civil lawsuits are resolved before going to trial, so that makes it rare that a journalist would have to testify in court if sued for libel,” Lewis says. “But a journalist might have to sit for a deposition to answer questions about their reporting before a settlement is reached, or the lawsuit is dropped.”

Local attorney Cayley Young ’17, L’20, an alumna of the Newhouse School and College of Law, played the role of the plaintiff’s lawyer. Young, who works for the law firm of Martin Ganotis Brown Mould and Currie, peppered Chiappone with questions about his sources and fact-checking process.

“It’s good to get our students thinking about the kind of scrutiny they could face if someone sues over a story they’ve written,” Lewis says.

Had the hypothetical lawsuit been real, Lewis and Young agreed Chiappone would win.  According to Lewis, “He got his facts right and did his due diligence.”

For Raven Campbell ’24, who grew up in Jamaica and moved to the United States when she was 14, the journey to her chosen career path has at times felt just as long and daunting.

Raven Campbell

But in conversations with her family and Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics advisor, , and through out-of-classroom experiences such as her observership this past spring at a hospital in Kingston, Campbell has transformed her passion for working with children into her career goals of becoming a child life specialist and then a developmental pediatrician.

While pediatricians offer general primary care services to children, developmental pediatricians assist in specific difficulties, struggles or deficiencies in the growth and development of a child. “I’ve always had a love for children and felt a spark when I was around them,” says Campbell. “But career-wise, I didn’t know what I was going to do.

“I had my first class with Professor Cameron, and she was talking about child life, and I thought that was something I wanted to do,” Campbell continues. “As time passed, I wanted to do more with that and this spring in Jamaica I met a developmental pediatrician and learned that’s something I’m interested in doing while also getting my child life specialist certification.”

Cameron, a professor of practice in the (HDFS) at Falk College, says Campbell’s child life coursework has provided a foundation that will benefit her as a developmental pediatrician because the curriculum focuses on the impact of illness, injury, trauma and hospitalization on human development. “Raven’s ambition to pursue dual credentials makes sense to me because she’s someone who wants to leave no stone unturned and is deeply committed to providing exceptional care to children and families,” says Cameron. “It takes a lot of work to become certified, but she sees the value in the knowledge, skills, and abilities of child life specialists and how having that skillset can take you far in meeting the needs of children, youth, families, and communities.”

‘Children Gravitate Toward Her’

Born in Brooklyn, Campbell moved to Kingston with her family when she was a baby. She grew up in a house that centered on children and education as her mother, Pauladene Steele, is in her 23rd year as a teacher, Coordinator of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program, and now Vice Principal at the , a private international school in Kingston. “I saw very early that how she interacted with children really stood out,” says Steele. “I found it unique that children–ones she knew and ones she didn’t know–would easily gravitate toward her and it became more pronounced as she started to interact in Sunday School at church.

Raven Campbell with her cousin, Mialani, in Hampton, Virginia. While helping to raise her cousin, Campbell started to become interested in child development.

“She had this calming effect where children were involved,” says Steele. “And she could take on the identity of an older one, a little one, a baby; she had that fluidity in terms of engaging and interacting with all children.”

When she was 14, Campbell moved to the United States to live with her uncle (Steele’s brother) in Virginia. Steele wanted her daughter to have a U.S. education, and Campbell spent four years at Bethel High School in Hampton, Virginia. During that time, Campbell’s aunt had a baby, Mialani, and Campbell is proud to say that she helped raise her. While enjoying the time with her cousin, Campbell started to become curious about child development and the cultural differences between the United States and Jamaica. “In Jamaican culture, it’s normal for conversations you have with a child to be more like the conversations you have with adults; it’s not baby talk,’” says Campbell. “With food as well; people here tend to wean their kids into solid foods, but Jamaican people give babies various kinds of foods from an early age. I had a different perspective than other people because I grew up in a Jamaican family and things were so different.”

When she was a senior in high school, which was also the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Campbell became ill with sepsis and had to be hospitalized. Sepsis is a serious condition that occurs when the body’s immune system has an extreme response to an infection. “After the care she received, she said, ‘Mom, I really want to work in a hospital. I don’t want to be a medical doctor, but I want to work in a hospital and work with children,’” says Steele. “She thought a big part of her recovery was because of the attention and care she received from the different practitioners who helped her, and she wanted to do just that.”

Please visit the to read more about Campbell’s journey to Syracuse University.

Ludmilla Evelin

Ludmilla Evelin, an alumna, came to the United States to unlock those doors and expand her law career by studying at Syracuse University. Evelin, a public prosecutor from Brazil, is responsible for prosecuting homicide cases, inspecting police department work, and helping survivors, victims of the crime and the victim’s families overcome challenging moments after the crime.

“Brazilian prosecutors play a vital role in protecting essential rights within the democratic system, such as safety, the welfare of vulnerable groups, education and the environment, in addition to criminal trials,” Evelin says.

In order to better assist her community and reach additional communities, Evelin knew she needed to expand her research about law and is now an LL.M. candidate at the .

“There are several reasons that justified my decision to study in the United States,” Evelin says. “First, traveling is a powerful way to broaden our life view. The United States offers an incredible diversity of cultures and lifestyles. Second, studying abroad helps us gain new perspectives on the profession and opens up new opportunities. In my case, as a legal professional, I learned a new legal system and new tools to answer legal issues. I can apply this knowledge to my job, sharing what I’ve learned with my colleagues and team.”

But before diving into the program, Evelin participated in the English for Lawyers program hosted by the English Language Institute.

English for Lawyers is a summer program designed for non-native speakers of English who intend to earn an LL.M. degree in the United States. The objectives include increasing participants’ ability to understand and discuss common legal matters and improving their research skills.

“The English for Lawyers program provided me with a solid foundation in legal terminology and communication, which facilitated my transition into the LL.M. program at the College of Law,” Evelin says.

Expanding Opportunities

The English Language Institute staff and instructors acted as cultural and linguistic guides as Evelin journeyed through the program and adjusted to living in the United States. The program not only prepared Evelin for her LL.M. program, but the lessons have been transferable as she participates in an internship program at the Onondaga County district attorney’s office.

“The English for Lawyers program helped me improve my English language skills, enabling me to effectively communicate and work in an English-speaking legal environment, not only during my internship but in several situations of daily life,” Evelin says. “By interning at the Onondaga County district attorney’s Office, I could observe and participate in various legal proceedings, mainly at the homicide division. I attended several lectures that were provided to us about legal professions, visited law firms and learned about the Syracuse Police Department. I could apply what I learned at the College of Law to analyze cases under the supervision of assistant district attorneys.”

Representing international LL.M. students, Evelin gave a speech at the College of Law’s 2023 commencement ceremony.

From meeting President Joe Biden, being a judge at the Transatlantic Negotiation Competition hosted by Syracuse University and Queen’s University Belfast, to assisting the organizers of the International Law Weekend in New York City hosted by the International Law Association-American Branch, the English for Lawyers program prepared Evelin for a variety of unique opportunities she didn’t expect to experience. Moreover, Evelin was given the honor of representing the international LL.M. students and was selected to give a speech at the College of Law’s 2023 commencement ceremony, which she says was a great honor and challenge.

“I wanted to address a message of gratitude, the significance of overcoming language and cultural barriers, and the importance of representing international students. It was one of the best and most unforgettable experiences that I had in the United States,” Evelin says.

Staying Involved

As Evelin continues to study in the United States, she’s taken this opportunity to engage with the local community and is giving back to those who have been so welcoming to her.

“My credential as a Syracuse University student allows me to volunteer at the Family Court/Volunteer Lawyer Project; lecture about the American legal system, the role of the district attorney in society and legal professions for kids and teenage immigrants at the Rise Project; occupy the pro bono and community service chair at the Student Bar Association at the College of Law; and be a student ambassador at the International Law Society-American Branch. These activities make me feel like I belong in my community and this country,” Evelin says.

Additionally, Evelin is broadening her educational palate and pursuing a variety of courses outside of the realm of law to diversify her expertise and apply it to her practices.

“Attending Syracuse University has been filled with such memorable experiences as studying in diverse environments, attending classes at different schools like the and evolving personally and professionally through various activities,” Evelin says.

Advancing Career Goals

Evelin and her colleagues take a picture with President Joe Biden L’68.

English for Lawyers and the College of Law have not only prepared Evelin with the knowledge and skills she needs to best represent her clients and society—in her case as a prosecutor—but her time at Syracuse University has also provided her with the confidence to succeed and advance in her career.

“During my journey in the United States, I’ve learned about alternative dispute resolution to develop the necessary skills to negotiate and mediate. These skills will allow me to handle pleadings when it’s possible,” Evelin says. “Furthermore, in the criminal area, I’ve researched victim’s rights. In Brazil, public prosecutors have paid more attention to this topic to guarantee the victims’ protection. The American legal system has been working on this for several years. The American experience helps me understand the better path to achieve the best results in this area.”

As Evelin considers the next steps in her career, she reflects on how her experience at Syracuse has prepared her to follow her dreams. For Evelin, the human experience drives her career, and she says learning English has allowed her to create a deeper connection with a wider population.

“Over the next five years, I plan to apply the knowledge and experiences gained in the United States to my work in Brazil,” Evelin says. “I aspire to collaborate with international organizations and use my academic and professional background to make a positive impact, not only in my country but also in other countries.”

Heather C. Fischer

Heather C. Fischer, a graduate student in the executive master’s in international relations (E.M.I.R.) program in Washington, D.C., has been named a 2023 Eisenhower USA Fellow. One of 11 recipients of the honor by the organization Eisenhower Fellowships, she was selected for her work fighting human trafficking and other human rights crimes in the national security space.

Named after the U.S.’s 34th president, Eisenhower Fellowships was founded in 1953 to provide mid-career leaders from around the world the opportunity to travel to different countries to connect with fellow professionals of their respective fields.

Fischer works as the senior advisor for human rights crimes at Thomson Reuters Special Services, a D.C-based data and technology company. As a contractor for the federal government, she helps inform the company strategy to combat human trafficking, safeguard children from online sexual exploitation, pursue human rights violators, and promote women, peace and security.

The fellowship supported Fischer’s recent travel to Malaysia and Thailand to study best practices to address forced labor in global supply chains and develop a U.S. public awareness campaign to educate consumers about making ethical purchasing decisions for goods and services free of forced labor. Her academic research work during the fellowship was supervised and supported by Jay Golden, Pontarelli Professor of Environmental Sustainability and Finance and director of the Dynamic Sustainability Lab.

Heather C. Fischer is shown with, from left, Ekachai Pinkaew of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner, and human rights activist Sompong Srakaew of the Labor Rights Promotion Network, on a tour of a migrant Burmese community outside of Bangkok, Thailand. During the tour, Fischer spoke with workers about conditions in seafood processing factories.

“Heather and I are working with Thomson Reuters to develop a technical bulletin to educate multi-national corporations, governments and NGOs as well as consumers on the important issues of forced labor in supply chains,” says Golden. “A key component of our work is to provide both public policy and business strategies to assist in identifying and eliminating products that are derived from forced labor around the globe.”

Before joining Thomson Reuters, Fischer worked for the McCain Institute, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Justice and the White House. She was a special advisor for human trafficking and the inaugural human trafficking czar during the Trump administration.

Fischer enrolled in the E.M.I.R. program in August 2021 to enhance her policy-based perspective in support of her work.

“Obviously, my time in government provided valuable public affairs experience, but I was really thrown into the deep end of the pool,” she said in a . “When I saw Syracuse was offering an executive master’s program in conjunction with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, I knew this would be a great opportunity to work on the theory around the intersection of national security and human rights.”

Story by Sophia Moore

Ionah M. Elaine Scully

Holding a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and certificates of advanced study in conflict resolution from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and in women’s and gender studies from the College of Arts and Sciences, Scully’s research involves storytelling, Indigenous methodologies, land pedagogy and Two Spirit critiques.

Scully adds this fellowship to their New York Public Humanities Grant (2021), University of California Davis’ Publicly Active Graduate Education (PAGE) fellowship (2019) and Syracuse University’s LGBT Resource Center Social Justice Award (2016), as well as awards for excellence in teaching, activism, writing, scholarship and land-based education initiatives. Scully also is a professional dancer and dance instructor who has been one of the most sought-after teachers and performers in Upstate New York.

A member of the University’s (IGD), a theory and practice-based initiative of social justice education, Scully has created an Indigenized IGD course—offered in community, school and higher-education settings—that employs land, Two Spirit and other Indigenous pedagogies to create generative dialogue and communities of care and learning across difference.

Scully teaches foundations of education, gender studies, and Native studies, describing their teaching philosophy as publicly engaged, activist, and holistic. In their courses, they encourage multi-sensory learning, the mitigation of classroom hierarchies, and addressing equity issues to move learning toward antiracist ends.

About Ionah Scully’s Doctoral Thesis

Scully’s dissertation—”Nehiyaw Two Spirit Creation Stories: Re-mapping Home, Desire, and Indigenous Education Through the Body”—brings together Two Spirit (Native 2SLGBTQIA+) people of Michel First Nation (MFN) to dialogue about Nehiyaw (Cree) creation stories and subsequently recreate—or re-map—their own creation stories as Two Spirit (2S) people to understand how these stories can support Indigenous and decolonizing educational practices.

For more on Scully’s dissertation, visit the .