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

2010 Deadline for Submissions:
Friday, March 12, 2010

Download the application for the 2010 Kenneth J. Cmiel Human Rights Funded Internship Program (deadline is Friday, March 12, 2010). If you have any questions about the program, please contact Liz Crooks at (319) 335.3900 or send an e-mail to uichr@uiowa.edu.

2009 Winners

Rita Bettis

College of Law
ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project
New York City

Rita hopes to practice human rights litigation with a focus on international or domestic women’s rights. She will be spending her summer interning with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, based in New York City. Rita will be working on a project which deals with “women’s rights, reproductive justice, and prisoners’ rights cases” that has the potential to make a positive and far-reaching impact on the rights of women. “Working for the ACLU at the national level doing impact litigation has always been a dream of mine, and this summer is an immense gift,” Rita said. “I am very grateful for the Cmiel Award, without which my internship with the ACLU would not have been possible.”

Kumneger Emiru

Second-year student, College of Law
National Immigrant Justice Center’s Asylum Project
Chicago, IL

Kumneger Emiru is a second year law student for the fall semester, and hopes to graduate in May of 2011 to pursue a career in international human rights law or immigration law. Kumneger said her interest in international law stemmed from her experiences in Ethiopia, “witnessing numerous acts of atrocities and perpetrators that go with government impunity.” Kumneger is putting her law school skills to use as the legal intern for the National Immigrant Justice Center’s Asylum Project in Chicago, IL. “My summer internship at National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) this summer allows me to not only gain invaluable legal experience in this field, but also allows me to work in an area that I am passionate about,” Kumneger said.

Megan Felt

Undergraduate, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (Anthropology and Spanish)
Interchurch Commission of Justice and Peace
Colombia

Megan Felt has finished her junior year in the College of Liberal Arts, and hopes to graduate with a double-major in anthropology and Spanish. This summer, Megan will work with the Interchurch Commission of Justice and Peace in Colombia – an organization which aims to combat daily violence done unto rural-dwelling Colombians in the department of Choco. “Anthropology … greatly aids in human rights work [because] it helps the individual respectfully and thoughtfully relate to people of different backgrounds, and better understand the roots of global social issues,” said Megan, who is planning on using her degrees to pursue a career in human rights advocacy in Latin America. “Because anthropology believes in intersectionality of all factors, such as race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic class, etc., it illuminates the facts that the mass media often misses, that human rights abuses such as the mass internal displacements in Colombia root from deeply embedded social structures whose authority are often left unquestioned.”

Emily Lewis

Graduate, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (International Studies)
Global Welfare Association
Bamenda, Cameroon

Emily Lewis is working toward receiving her Masters degree in International Studies. Her summer will be spent in Cameroon, where she will address child trafficking issues with the Global Welfare Association.

Adebukola Ogundoyin

Student, College of Medicine
Institute for Advanced Medical Research and Training
Ibadan, Nigeria

Adebukola Ogundoyin is currently dual-enrolled as a medical and public health student. Adebukola will be working on a sickle-cell program in Nigeria through the Institute for Advanced Medical Research and Training this summer.

Misha Quill

Ph.D. candidate, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (Anthropology)
Center for Victims of Torture
Minneapolis, MN

Misha Quill is in the second year of her cultural anthropology PhD program. This summer she will be working with the Center for Victims of Torture in Minneapolis, MN.

Rachel Sandler

Graduate Student, College of Medicine
Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO)
Lima and Iquitos, Peru

Rachel Sandler recently finished her third year of medical school, but is continuing her studies this summer, aiming to earn a Master’s in Public Health. Rachel said her future plans involve working in a field which combines “clinical primary care medicine and public health work,” specifically in relation to adult primary care in underserved communities, such as immigrant and refugee populations. Though Rachel ’s internship with the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) does not formally begin until August, it is what she describes as a “dream come true.” Last summer, Rachel had the opportunity to go to Iquitos, Peru for two weeks with Dr. Patch Adams of the Gesundheit Institute. This opportunity allowed her to come into contact with PAHO, which offered her an internship in Peru this summer. “When I go in August, I will again be participating with the clowning, playing, painting, fun mission with over 90 clown volunteers from 11 different countries,” she said. “In September, I plan to leave until July 2010 and continue formally working with PAHO in both Lima and Iquitos.”

Tia Upchurch-Freelove

Undergraduate, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (International Studies and Political Science)
Colonias Development Council
Las Cruces, NM

Tia Upchurch-Freelove is an undergraduate double-majoring in international studies and political science. This summer she will be in Las Cruces, NM working with Colonias Development Council to advocate on behalf of migrant workers’ rights. “By studying for a semester in Mexico and working with a human rights organization there, I was able to have a very small glimpse of life in Mexico, and began to gain a basic understanding of views outside of my own country,” Tia said. “I knew that the best way to gain greater understanding of human rights and its significance to migration was to view first-hand the borderland and get involved with an organization that could show me what is being done to create economic and cultural development in those areas. I believe this time [in New Mexico] fits in very well with my desire to learn as much as possible about the interactions between both the United States and Mexico, and the way it shapes the lives of people living in either [country].”

Alena Vazquez

Graduate and Law student, College of Law
Equip for Equality
Chicago, IL

Alena Vazquez is currently working toward both her law degree and her master’s in social work. Alena is one of two interns working in the abuse investigation unit at Equip for Equality, a state-mandated protection and advocacy organization for persons with disabilities based in Chicago, IL this summer. “The mission of Equip for Equality is to advance the human and civil rights of children and adults with physical and mental disabilities in Illinois. It is the only statewide, cross-disability, comprehensive advocacy organization providing self-advocacy assistance, legal services, and disability rights education while also engaging in public policy and legislative advocacy and conducting abuse investigations and other oversight activities,” Alena said. She credits her future aspirations to working as the manager of Wild Bill’s Coffeeshop in North Hall, a school of social work-sponsored service learning project which employs adults with major disabilities. “I have spent my entire career working with persons with disabilities,” she said. “It was through these experiences that I developed lasting friendships with many of these individuals and have come to realize the significant boundaries persons with developmental disabilities, physical disabilities, and mental illness face. There is extreme injustice and prejudice facing this population and often it is persons with disabilities who have the least access to redress.” Alena hopes to further these learning experiences, as she plans to do advocacy work for persons with disabilities in the future.

John Woolfrey

Second-year student, College of Medicine
O.A.S.I.S. Clinic
Oakland, CA

John Woolfrey is a second year medical student. He will be spending his summer working for the OASIS Clinic in Oakland, California.

Previous Years' Winners

2008 Recipients

Alexandra Basak

College of Law
Paz Horowitz (legal services)
Quito, Ecuador

Micheil Cannistra

College of Medicine
Indian Health Service
Tuba City, AZ

Taryn Dozark

College of Law
The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights
Cairo, Egypt

Natalie Ehalt

Undergraduate, College of Education ( Secondary Education, Foreign Language – Spanish)
Hispanic Advocacy & Community Empowerment through Research
Minneapolis, MN

Ghassan Harb

Undergraduate, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (History)
Project Takamol/USAID
Cairo, Egypt

Matthew Lozier

College of Public Health
World Health Organization
Geneva, Switzerland

Elizabeth Petersen

Undergraduate, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (English, Anthropology)
UIHC HIV/AIDS Program
Iowa City, IA

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