Kenneth J. Cmiel Funded Human Rights Internship Program
The Kenneth J. Cmiel Funded Human Rights Internship Program provides funding to selected students who have secured a summer internship with a local, national or international non-governmental organization or governmental agency engaged in human rights related advocacy, research or education. Program funds cover travel and living expenses associated with the internship. Current UI undergraduate, graduate, and professional students who will remain enrolled in a degree program at the UI the semester following their internship are eligible to apply.
The program is named to honor the late director of the UICHR, Kenneth J. Cmiel. Professor Cmiel was a faculty member in the UI Department of History and an internationally renowned scholar of the history of human rights. The program, established in 2005, was the fulfillment of a longstanding vision for Professor Cmiel.
"Ken's vision, to make the Center a unique and valuable resource for student learning about human rights, his generous and effective leadership, and his commitment to human rights work in all its forms, brought this program to life and remains its guiding force." -- Amy Weismann, UICHR Deputy Director
Download the application for the 2008 Kenneth J. Cmiel Human Rights Funded Internship Program (deadline is March 15, 2008). If you have any questions about the program, please contact Amy Weismann.
Previous Years' Winners
2007 Recipients
Read the press release about the 2007 recipients.
Mona Dalal
Second-year student, Carver College of Medicine
Love and Mercy Coalition
Tanzania
The limited access to primary health care impacted Mona Dalal when she aided staff at a rural hospital in Itigi, Tanzania. Through the Love and Mercy Coalition, Dalal was able to help care for impoverished children. In Itigi, where she spent the first part of the summer, she said, “Most of the patients have never seen a doctor before.” Due to limited clean water, lack of education, and large family sizes, malnutrition and infection are common. Dalal also spent time in the capital, Dar es Salaam, where she shadowed doctors and witnessed life-changing surgeries. “I think that health care is a human right,” she said.
Katie Jo Sloter
Undergraduate, psychology and international studies
George Foundation
India
Katie Jo Sloter traveled to the state of Tamil Nadu in India to work with the George Foundation. She spent time in a rural healthcare clinic, taught an English class for seventh graders at the foundation’s school, and visited surrounding villages to conduct surveys and give seminars about public health concerns. Through her own teaching, she believes she helped individual community members and also aided her own understanding of the struggles people face to realize human rights where resources are very limited. Sloter is concerned about domestic abuse throughout the world: “I really have a passion for making people feel safe,” she said.
Wesley Carrington
Second-year student, College of Law
Ministry of Human Rights
Buenos Aires, Argentina
During an eight-week internship in Argentina, Wesley Carrington researched proposed municipal legislation and determined how fundamental human rights might be implicated. As an intern with the Sub-secretariat of Human Rights for the city of Buenos Aires, he used his Spanish skills and prior knowledge of the country to “research issues at the intersection of law and human rights.” In addition to research, Carrington was allowed to sit in on consultations with Argentinians seeking help from the office – from homeless men looking for shelter to “a military cook from the 1980s who talked about detention plans he had overheard from superior officers” during the country’s Dirty War.
Amanda Furst
Third-year student, College of Law
The Advocacy Center
New Orleans, LA
Amanda Furst spent her summer providing a myriad of free legal services through an internship with the Advocacy Center in New Orleans. Furst worked with individuals affected by Hurricane Katrina who were still trying to rebuild their lives. “Everyone I worked with already had been through 30 agencies, but none worked out,” she said. One of the most important experiences of her internship was the amount of exposure she had with clients. “New Orleans needs a lot of help still,” said Furst. “It’s not about rebuilding the city; it’s about the 200,000 who don’t have homes and can’t feed their kids.”
Bogdan Ciochinaru
Undergraduate, political science and international studies
Asociatia Pro Democratia
Romania
Bogdan Ciochinaru interned at the Pro Democracy Association and Freedom House Foundation in Romania. He coordinated a workshop for social activists, contributed to projects helping inmates, researched European civic education, and participated in The Initiative for Clean Justice – a movement toward judicial reform and anti-corruption
measures in the country. He enjoyed working with other young people dedicated to improving their country. “I learned a lot, about how to actually make an impact ... and it renewed faith in the power of young people to make changes,” Ciochinaru said.
Suzie Pritchett
Third-year student, College of Law
Africa Division, Human Rights Watch
New York City
Interviewing human rights researchers and practitioners in the field was routine for Suzan Pritchett during her internship at the world headquarters of Human Rights Watch in New York City. The third-year College of Law student undertook a research project focusing on the newly emerging African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. She examined how the Court can serve as a source of justice for African women who have experienced human rights violations that fall under the Court’s jurisdiction.
Mingzhao Xu
Second-year student, College of Law
Housing and Community Development Program, Asian Law Caucus
San Francisco
Mingzhao Xu spent the summer with the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco. As part of the Housing/Community Development team, she researched and wrote memos on housing/civil rights issues, prepared for eviction defense litigation, organized tenant workshops and translated for Cantonese/Mandarin clients. She also helped organize grassroots tenant groups and clinics. Xu added, “I learned the most from the people I worked with because there [are]certain things that you cannot learn in law school ... [for example] how to explain complex legal ideas to limited-English speakers with little education.”
Mary White
Ph.D. candidate, UI College of Public Health
World Health Organization
Geneva, Switzerland
Health communication and information technology were the primary forces driving Mary White during her internship at the World Health Organization’s international headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. White spent the summer working on two projects that aim to make information accessible in places where internet access is limited. “Information, education, and being able to support oneself is a human right,” said White. The eGranary and Global Health Campus, which are sponsored by UI and utilized by the WHO, use technology to provide digital libraries and conferencing capabilities to medical and community workers worldwide.
Londa Vanderwal
Ph.D. candidate, UI College of Public Health
Gambia College
The Gambia
Londa Vanderwal, a Ph.D. candidate in Occupational and Environmental Health, spent the summer researching the health and safety of agricultural workers in The Gambia. Through an internship with The Gambia College, Vanderwal was able to apply her knowledge of the discipline to a practical setting. In addition to introducing new farming tools for workers, Vanderwal said she helped develop a course in agricultural health and safety as well as help create policies enforcing workers’ rights in the country. “Occupational health and safety is not practiced much in Africa,” said Vanderwal. “I was trying to make work less difficult as well as improve their health and safety.”
2006 Recipients
Read the press release about the 2006 recipients.
Yayuk Mardiati
Ph.D. candidate, College of Education
Research Center for Women at the University of Jember
Indonesia
Tiana Gierke
Third-year student, College of Law
Legal Aid of Cambodia
Cambodia
Monica Foley
Ph.D. candidate, Department of HIstory
FAIR Fund
Africa
Mary-Justine Todd
Master's candidate, International Studies
Relief to Development Society
Tanzania
Lyndsey Wilkinson
Second-year student, Carver College of Medicine
Love and Mercy Coalition
Tanzania
Asmita
Undergraduate, Economics and PEOPLE Program
International Labor Organization
Geneva
Jacob Wedemeyer
Third-year student, College of Law
Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid
Eagle Pass, Texas
2005 Recipients
Read the press release about the 2005 recipients.
Edward Jones
NY Lawyers for the Public Interest
New York City
Emily Carlson
Kensington Welfare Rights Union
Philadelphia
Matthew Stromquist
Lawyers for Human Rights
South Africa
Alexis Bushnell
Global Youth Connect
Cambodia
Christopher Konkobo
Center for Study of Genocide
Rwanda
Yolanda Villalvazo
Proteus
Des Moines
Robin Dull
Vera Institute for Justice on the Commission of Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons
New York City