Spotlight on the Fellows
The Carl Wilkens Fellowship Program trains emerging leaders across the United States to build lasting networks of citizens empowered to protect civilians, stop perpetrators, and hold policy-makers accountable. As part of the program, Fellows receive training in leadership development, community outreach and coalition building, legislative action, media outreach, and fundraising. Thousands in the international community are asking what they can do to stop genocide and by developing the capacity of individual citizen leaders and communities to respond to situations of egregious violence across the globe, the Carl Wilkens Fellowship and Genocide Intervention Network/Save Darfur Coalition are answering.
Staci Alziebler spent the last 9 years working for the World Federalist Movement, an international nongovernmental organization which has been a strong advocate for an international criminal court which would hold accountable those guilty of crimes such as genocide, as well as has galvanized support for the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ principles, which would require the international community to intervene when a country cannot or will not protect its own citizens. She intends to use her passion for peace, along with her networking ability, to create an advocacy community in New York City that will be a powerful force in ending genocide once and for all.
Kristen Anderson has been a member of Des Moines for Darfur since 2007 and views the Carl Wilkens Fellowship as an opportunity to broaden the anti-genocide constituency throughout central Iowa. Kristen will be working to develop a network of activists and volunteers spanning across multiple ages and backgrounds in order to raise awareness of the crisis in Darfur and to advocate for genocide prevention as a United States foreign policy priority. She welcomes anyone interested in joining the movement to contact her directly.
Mike Brand, Executive Director of Idealists United, is a Human Rights educator and activist. For the past five years, he has worked to increase support for the promotion, protection and defense of Human Rights for all. Mike’s involvement in the anti-genocide movement was sparked while doing research on the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Mike has spent over a year living and working in Rwanda, working with Rwandan youth on issues such as education, Human Rights, and combating genocide ideology. Mike is energized by his acceptance into the 2011 class of Carl Wilkens Fellows and is going to use this opportunity to breathe new life into the anti-genocide and Human Rights movements in his hometown community on Long Island. Mike is also excited to work on bolstering education and activist efforts in his community and focusing local media attention on issues of genocide, mass atrocities and post-conflict situations as well as the efforts made to alleviate such issues.
Dr. Richard Clark is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at John Carroll University. He is also the Director of the Peace, Justice, & Human Rights program at JCU. His interest in genocide prevention grows from his teaching, research and activism in enhancing social justice and human dignity. He has explored peace building and conflict transformation in Northern Ireland, South Africa and Latin America. Richard plans to use his Carl Wilkens Fellowship to further his work as a human rights activist in his community and to advocate for genocide prevention as a United States foreign policy priority.
Laura E. Collins has practiced law since 2005 with a non-profit organization providing free, civil legal services to low-income people on cases affecting their basic needs. She was made aware of the genocide in Sudan while studying International Human Rights Law in Italy with Richard Goldstone. Laura has educated attorneys, college students and business leaders on issues of International Public Law and Business Ethics. She will use the Carl Wilkens Fellowship as an opportunity to build a coalition of local activists who will hold the United States to its obligations under International Law to stop and prevent genocide.
Jenni Currie currently teaches in the history department of C.F. Vigor High School in Prichard, Alabama. In addition to teaching, she is involved with and is a published author with the Freedom Writers Foundation in Long Beach, California, a regional director of the National Conference for Community and Justice, facilitator in an inter-racial dialogue group called Bridges, sponsored by The Quest for Social Justice, a Master Teacher for the Gulf Coast Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education, and a program volunteer for Camp MASH, a summer camp for children with arthritis sponsored by the Alabama Arthritis Foundation. As a Carl Wilkens Fellow, Ms. Currie hopes to increase the awareness of current issues of genocide in Darfur and empower local communities and national politicians to become involved in the major human rights movement of anti-genocide.
Cynthia Davis has been a Decorative Artist since 1993. Throughout her career Cynthia has given back to the community through volunteerism in local organizations such as Operation Hope and Habitat for Humanity and is a contributor to Bridgeport’s Lighthouse After School Program and many Autism organizations. She has served as a board member for the Trumbull Academic Challenge for Excellence, an organization that supports the academic and social justice clubs at Trumbull Schools. Cynthia is currently a board member of Hope for Ariang, an organization founded by one of the Lost Boys of Sudan with a mission of bringing primary education to war victims in South Sudan. She founded the program “Interns of Hope” to lead high school students in fundraising efforts and awareness campaigns for this cause and other human rights issues.
A professor of composition and literature at Bergen Community College in New Jersey, Ellen Rosner Feig directs the Awareness and Information Program, Child Slavery/Trafficking/Soldiers for the Center for Peace, Justice and Reconciliation and is active in creating a lecture series focused on genocide and conflict. One of her primary interests is the use of discarded technology to create a genocide alert system in areas of conflict; she is currently working on such an initiative, Dump the Digital Divide, with New York based not-for-profit I Am Worth More. In addition, Professor Feig is a graduate of the first class of Malaria Griot Fellows, a fellowship of ONE/Malaria No More where she focused on awareness and prevention.
As a Gifted and Talented teacher in Prosper, Texas, Tara Gipson has taught about genocide over the last eight years. In 2010, Tara and her 23 students created an online memorial to remember the victims of the Rwandan genocide of 1994. The project,"teensmad4Rwanda" used USA Today's “America Wants" Twitter Campaign to launch their genocide awareness project. With hard work and commitment, Tara and her students earned a complimentary ad in the USA Today paper. Tara hopes to learn how to take her passion of educating others about genocide and inspiring them to get involved in ending genocide will be taken to the next level as a Carl Wilkens Fellow. She wants to someday work fulltime for genocide intervention, helping the promise of "Never Again" be a reality.
Rick Hankins is a doctoral candidate in Religion at Claremont Graduate University. In his dissertation, currently entitled Confronting Genocide: A Theological Foundation for the Responsibility to Protect, Rick grounds the responsibility to protect in a theology of solidarity and then explores the implications of this theological orientation for questions pertaining to genocide prevention, humanitarian intervention and post-genocide justice. Through the Carl Wilkens Fellowship, Rick hopes to engage churches locally and nationally in a discourse on genocide, in part through the publication of a church curriculum which he plans to develop as an offshoot of his dissertation.
Beth McDaniel has served throughout her adult life in a variety of capacities within groups devoted to ending discrimination and improving the lives of others. As an active member of numerous Jewish organizations in the Austin, Texas area, she has helped to heighten community awareness of and action against the atrocities of genocide. Her community activism began early in her life and continued through law school where she applied her legal training to help develop a mediation program for under-privileged students and worked in a free legal clinic to assist indigents in obtaining disability benefits. More recently she served as a Big Sister for seven years in the Austin Big Brothers-Big Sisters organization. In 2008, Beth decided she would personally do something to heighten awareness of the plight of the at-risk population in Darfur, and commissioned a mural in downtown Houston that was seen by over 100,000 per day leading them to Save Darfur organizations. This life-long dedication to ending the human tragedy of ethnic cleansing has lead her to serve as a Carl Wilkens Fellow where she hopes to amplify her skills in order to have an impact on preventing genocide worldwide.
Cory McMahon is a registered nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital with a background in Public Health. She recently served as the Vice President of the board of directors for Sibusiso, a non-profit organization working to help those infected and affected with HIV/AIDS locally and abroad. She has worked very closely with immigrant and refugee populations in Massachusetts to provide health education and awareness, increase access to health care, and serve as a resource to connect those in need with other critical services. Through the Carl Wilkens Fellowship Cory intends to work with the nursing community and the immigrant and refugee populations in Massachusetts to raise awareness and promote advocacy to advance the anti-genocide movement. She is looking forward to the Carl Wilkens Fellowship as an opportunity to build a sustainable network of anti-genocide activists in Massachusetts committed to the cessation and prevention of genocide.
Jim Messina is the Director of Spiritual Development at Saint Martin de Porres Academy, a tuition-free Catholic Middle school in New Haven, Connecticut. Jim has dedicated the last six years to working with children from economically disadvantaged families while instilling in them the importance of social justice and community service. As a part of the Religion curriculum at the school, Jim has taught about genocide and the imperative nature of intervening on behalf of those who are suffering. Jim has given his students the opportunity to meet and interview survivors of the genocides of the Holocaust and Darfur. Jim plans to use his Carl Wilkens Fellowship as an opportunity to further his work as a teacher and human rights activist in his community and to advocate for genocide prevention as a high priority in United States foreign policy.
Nicole Moore has worked as a middle and high school English teacher in Oakland and San Jose for the past four years. Her curriculum reflects her belief that educational standards and complex social issues can be addressed simultaneously, and she is most proud of the instructional plans she created for units dealing with connections between the Holocaust and Sudan. While working as a classroom teacher, Nicole has volunteered with the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation, raising funds for the Foundation and spending six weeks during the summer of 2010 working as a volunteer teacher in Marial Bai, Sudan, where she facilitated workshops for local teachers and administration that sought to share lesson planning and activity strategies that utilize minimum resources. After her experience in Sudan, Nicole returned to the United States determined to capitalize on her passion and dedication for those who have experienced genocide. With the Carl Wilkens Fellowship, Nicole hopes to create relevant, standards-based classroom curricula that can be utilized by teachers across the country; create partnerships between the refugee communities in her area and local groups; and generate interest and attention to issues related to genocide in her community.
In late 2006 Phil Nippert began following Darfur more closely after working in human rights issues with Amnesty International USA. Since then, working with many others in greater Louisville (including the 2010 Carl Wilkens Fellow from Louisville Jan Arnow) he has advocated for Darfur, South Sudan and recent anti-genocide legislation during numerous visits to federal legislators' offices, public presentations and research articles in Forsooth, the Fellowship of Reconciliation's local monthly newspaper. Since May 2009 the local Darfur advocacy group with which Phil is involved, Kentuckiania Interfaith Taskforce on Darfur (founded by Bob Brousseau and Dr. Dave Robinson) has mentored recently-arrived Sudanese refugees as volunteers with Kentucky Refugee Ministries. As a Carl Wilkens Fellow, Phil hopes to continue to build a permanent network in the greater Louisville area to prevent mass atrocities and genocide.
Njeru Nthigah is an entrepreneur and a devoted human rights activist. He first became interested in helping to end any current and/or prevent any possible future genocide after learning about the Rwanda atrocities. Over the years, he has actively been involved in anti-genocide activism including writing letters and participating in petition campaigns targeting the White House, US Congress and the United Nations. Njeru plans to use his Carl Wilkens Fellowship opportunity to actively advocate for genocide prevention, educate his community and lobby elected officials to ensure that genocide prevention is a major priority of United States foreign policy.
Megan O'Connor has worked with several resettlement organizations in Arizona providing services and advocating for refugees coming from war-torn countries worldwide. Currently, Megan is the Director of The Welcome to America Project, which works to create welcoming communities for newly arriving refugees resettled by the UN from war-torn and oppressed countries worldwide. She has studied politics and international studies at Arizona State University and Charles University in the Czech Republic. Megan holds the Carl Wilkens Fellowship as opportunity to educate the local communities about the atrocities that happen daily throughout the world and how they impact Arizona residents.
