The Berkley Center offers a number of ways for students to get involved with the work of the center, including participating in fellowship programs, taking courses and conducting research through the Doyle Engaging Difference Program, and working as student assistants.
Our approach to student programs at the Berkley Center is grounded in the Jesuit value of caring for the whole person (cura personalis), a central tenet of the Georgetown University education. Our programs are animated by the center's mission of bringing together scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and students to seek a more just and peaceful world by deepening knowledge and solving problems at the intersection of religion and global affairs.
2019-2020 marked the 10-year anniversary of two cornerstone student programs, the Education and Social Justice Project and the Doyle Engaging Difference Program. This year also brought new opportunities for growth in our Religion, Ethics, and World Affairs minor with the support of a newly created director of student programs position. The following report captures the achievements of our students this year, celebrates a decade of accomplishments, and looks to the future of Berkley Center student programs.
Show evidence of global awareness, particularly interreligious and intercultural competencies, by engaging in discourse and practice on matters of political, religious, social, economic, and racial differences.
Demonstrate analytical skills and the ability to clearly articulate complex issues in research and digital scholarship.
Illustrate interdisciplinary knowledge integration and intellectual curiosity in traditional and experiential learning spaces.
Shaping our student engagement mission is the Doyle Engaging Difference Program, which is celebrating its tenth year in 2020. The program began with a generous gift and accompanying vision from William J. Doyle (C’72, chair of the Georgetown University Board of Directors) to see Georgetown University lead the way in creating and implementing learning spaces that equip Hoyas to authentically and constructively engage differences, ultimately enabling them to repair communities through public and private institutions at local and state levels. The following report highlights our contributions to the Doyle Program as part of our collaboration with Georgetown’s Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship.
Berkley Center faculty bring years of scholarly and practical experience to the classroom, teaching in seven departments across the university while conducting active research projects at the center. The center also supports Doyle Seminars, high-level undergraduate courses that are provided extra funding to develop inclusive pedagogies and engage diversity and difference.
New Faculty and Staff Slider
Craig brings a vision of integrating learning objectives rooted in the center’s mission into all of our student programming. Craig recently earned a Ph.D. on the use of Quranic proof texts by medieval Christian Arabic and Syriac authors, and she will be teaching with the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in fall 2020.
Fr. McGlone is a former assistant professor of psychiatry in Georgetown University's School of Medicine and served as chief psychologist and director of counseling services at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. He will conduct several research projects based at the center in the coming years.
Student Testimonials Slider
My involvement with the Berkley Center has been the highlight of my academic experience at Georgetown. The classes I have taken towards the Religion, Ethics, and World Affairs minor and my work experience as a research assistant for Fr. McGlone have been incredibly intellectually stimulating and have made me reconsider my post-graduation goals. All of these experiences have taught me to embrace complexity and be ready and willing to think and act in newer, more creative, and more compassionate ways.
Participating in mentored research at the Berkley Center has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my Georgetown undergraduate career. As a fellow in the Education and Social Justice Project, I have been able to combine my academic passions with real-world applications. In addition, my work as a research assistant for Professor Shaun Casey has allowed me to explore the intersection of religion and politics, while also inspiring me to further study these topics in graduate school. These opportunities have enabled me to use my research skills outside of the classroom and to make a difference in the lives of others as an undergraduate student.
This year, Amelia Uelmen launched an alumni network for her Doyle Seminar, Religion and the Work of a Lawyer (LAW J/G-1038), which explores how practitioners think about legal questions and their own work as lawyers as related to their religious or spiritual outlooks. Uelmen brought together over 100 alumni, faculty, and students to launch the alumni network at a luncheon held during the Georgetown Law reunion weekend in mid-October.
Students Reflect on Religion and the Work of a Lawyer Slider
I think [Professor Uelmen's Doyle Seminar] has been so valuable in allowing us to really dig deep within our own reflection and then when we encounter things that we don’t necessarily agree with, learning how to interact with that and communicate with differing perspectives or values.
Alexander Afnan (L’21)
Faith and law do not contradict. This idea really opened up in Professor Uelmen’s class. It was my first time that I got to talk about my faith at law school and didn’t feel as though I had to hide it.
Lindsey Keiser (L’16)
[Professor Uelmen's Doyle Seminar] serves as an annual ‘check in’ for me—a time set apart for thoughtful self-reflection, when I can meaningfully contemplate my personal and professional decisions and better align those to my core values and desires.
Micah Fielden (L’16)
2019-2020 Doyle Seminar Faculty Slider
Laura and Gaetano De Sole Professor of Contemporary Italian Culture, Department of Italian
Benedetti’s Italian Writing and Culture (ITAL 233) course helped advanced Italian learners practice and refine their writing skills through intensive work on a variety of texts that deal with culturally salient topics in modern Italy.
Assistant Professor, Department of Classics
Students in Catenaccio’s Shakespeare and the Classics (CLSS 206) course asked how Shakespeare adapted his sources to explore the most urgent social, political, and aesthetic questions of his own era.
Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Classics
In Migration and Mobility in Rome (CLSS 244), Evan Jewell introduced students to issues surrounding the history of migration in the Roman Empire, taking chronological focus spanning the history of the empire. The seminar also scrutinized contemporary definitions of mobility for their applicability to the Roman world.
Senior Research Fellow, Berkley Center
Associate Professor, Department of Government
In Philosophy of Liberation (GOVT-457), Johnson led students in examining twentieth-century African-American and Black diaspora liberation philosophy, theology, and human rights activism in an effort to understand the moral frameworks, ethical traditions, conceptual basis, and historical roots of liberation thought in the United States, the Caribbean, and Africa.
Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Art and Art History
Intermediate Animation (ARTS 226) explored experimental and traditional animation practices through exercises using 2-D digital techniques. Kelly prompted students to consider the content of their work: What ideas are you trying to express, why are they important, and what is the best way to communicate that to an audience?
Assistant Professor, Department of French and Francophone Studies
In Caribbean Crossings: Mobility and (In)Hospitality in the 20th and 21st Centuries (FREN 339), students examined the different art forms that reflect the pathways and challenges of Caribbean migrants beginning in the late-1940s. This seminar, taught by Jennifer Boum Make, emphasized the Caribbean as a culturally diverse religion.
Chair, Department of English
A graduate-level seminar, Ortiz’s Latinx Literature Now (ENGL 641) familiarized students with an emerging body of literary and cultural work by artists hailing from the largest cultural minority population in the United States, creating opportunities for critical reflection on how national, comparative, and “minority” literatures mutually interact and inter-implicate one another.
Teaching Professor, Women's and Gender Studies Program
In Violence, Gender, and Human Rights (WGST 260), Park explored the gendered manifestations of violence in public and private spheres within the context of the relationship between globalization; development; and human, civil, and citizen rights. Special emphases were given to the issues of racism, sexual exploitation, poverty, labor, health care, homophobia, militarism, and globalization.
Senior Research Fellow, Berkley Center
Lecturer, Georgetown Law
Amelia Uelmen guided students through reflection on how spiritual or religious outlook can shape how they think about legal questions and work as lawyers in Religion and the Work of a Lawyer (LAWJ/G-1038).
Evan Jewell on Teaching a Doyle Seminar Slider
In many ways, [my Doyle Seminar] was the most fulfilling teaching experience of my career so far, as every class we ended up having such meaningful discussions and debates about immigration, refugees, displacement, xenophobia, and more. At another level, meeting the other Doyle instructors earlier in the semester was formative for my own teaching: I built connections with two professors working on the issue of migration/immigration in different fields, and even co-led a joint class excursion to a museum, which turned out to be a very meaningful moment of cross-pollination between our classes—and the basis for future scholarly collaboration.
Evan Jewell, Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Classics
The Berkley Center administers the Religion, Ethics, and World Affairs minor, which offers students the opportunity to reflect on faith and ethics in international affairs, religion and politics, and religion in history and culture. Learning at the Berkley Center extends far outside classroom walls through the global experiences of the Junior Year Abroad Network and our collaboration with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
Program Tracks - We designed “tracks” for REWA students based on their interest in a particular region, religious tradition, or thematic focus. The new tracks sort the almost 400 REWA-designated courses to help students achieve their academic and professional goals.
Cross-Campus Collaboration - Beginning in fall 2020, the Berkley Center will offer the REWA minor across Georgetown’s schools, opening up opportunities for students in the School of Nursing and Health Studies and the McDonough School of Business.
Publication Experience - Growing our campus partnerships, we plan to increase opportunities for student research presentations and publications, offering more ways for students to gain valuable experiences in scholarship and digital outputs.
This year, the REWA capstone was taught by Michael Kessler in fall 2019 and by Rev. Drew Christiansen, S.J., in spring 2020. Kessler’s course focused on questions of justice, particularly at the global and transnational levels. Christiansen’s course emphasized how the contemporary rise of xenophobia and “illiberal democracy” challenges faith-based advocacy and humanitarian outreach. Seniors presented their capstone projects in a virtual spring symposium that included a week-long digital poster session and an engaging roundtable discussion with faculty.
Virtual Spring 2020 REWA Student Symposium Video Player
REWA capstone students presented their research and received feedback from peers and experts in the Georgetown community during our Virtual Spring 2020 REWA Student Symposium, through an online poster session and roundtable with Berkley Center faculty.
Graduating REWA Students Slider
Thesis: "Holy Seeing an Advantage in International Law"
In my REWA thesis, I explore the capacity of the Roman Catholic Church to exert its will within international law. My research examines whether it is more able to do so in bilateral or multilateral contexts, and uses several arms treaties and the Paris Climate Agreement as examples for comparison.
Thesis: "The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend, Unless They're a Terrorist: Proxy Use of Middle Eastern Non-State Actors in U.S. Counterterrorism Policy"
My research explores the role of non-state groups in U.S. counterterrorism policy and attempts to assess the effectiveness of using these groups to counter terrorism. It provides an in-depth analysis of two major non-state actors: the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Afghan Local Police.
Thesis: "The Peruvian Gold Rush: Is the Government Restoring Social Order in Madre de Dios?"
I examine the restoration of social order in the Peruvian region of Madre de Dios, where illegal mining is accompanied by a host of other illicit activities including human trafficking, prostitution, and money laundering. My paper analyzes how the Peruvian government re-established rule of law and its efforts to restore moral norms that are not delineated within the legal system.
Thesis: "Religion as a Political Vehicle: An Examination of the Influence of Orthodoxy in Serbia by Russia"
My thesis explores how Russia is wielding Orthodox Christianity to exert its influence in Serbia. I found that Russia has successfully used the church to increase Putin’s favorability in Serbia and thus widen the division between Serbia and the West—a tactic that could very well be employed within other Orthodox states.
Thesis: "Religious Solutions to Religious-Fueled Conflict: A Comparative Case Study of Northern Ireland and the U.S.-Mexican Border Immigration Policies"
The research I conducted for my REWA capstone presents a comparative analysis of the Troubles in Northern Ireland and the disputes over family separation at the U.S.-Mexican border, two conflicts that were fueled in different ways by religious identities and religious rhetoric. I argue that conflict fueled by religion necessitates a response by religious institutions.
Thesis: "The Efficacy of the Guantanamo Military Commissions"
My REWA thesis examines the implications of enhanced interrogation techniques used in wake of the 9/11 attacks on the ability of military commissions to administer true justice. Using the framework of efficacy, I argue the military commissions provide the most auspicious option for legal recourse but cannot give detainees justice to its fullest extent.
Thesis: "'You’ve Got to Destroy the Foundations’: Destruction of Sacred Spaces as Preludes to Genocide in China and Bosnia"
In my REWA thesis, I present a comparative analysis of the Bosnian War and eventual genocide with contemporary China, which projects real security threats (violent separatists) onto non-combatants (Uighurs) in the name of state security. I argue that these perceived security threats are unfounded and used to justify the destruction of sacred spaces before committing genocide.
Thesis: "Holy Sites Governance and Religious Conflict"
My REWA research explores competing religious claims to land and holy sites through a comparative analysis of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and the Ram Janmabhumi/Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya, India. Using these case studies, I consider how competing religious claims to holy sites can be resolved in a manner that is just and minimizes conflict.
Hear from REWA Alumni Slider
As a major in international economics, concentrating on finance and commerce, the REWA program definitely shaped my undergraduate experience. The program helped me focus my passion on macroeconomics, as it gave me the opportunity to explore the ethical components of those topics in greater depth. More importantly, though, I think the program provided the chance to see challenging situations that are extremely relevant to our world today through the unique vantage points at the intersection of religion and world affairs, making all of its classes truly exceptional.
Mikaela Ballon Carneiro (SFS'20)
REWA was one of the best experiences of my time at Georgetown. I didn't discover the Berkley Center or REWA program until my junior year, and then I quickly made sure I took enough classes to get the certificate. The classes I took for REWA were among the best I experienced at Georgetown, and they shaped my thinking of world affairs. I especially enjoyed the small class sizes, which made for excellent discussion.
Kari (Coffman) Sahan (SFS'12)
I was part of the first class of REWA students, and the program was perfect for me at that time. It allowed me to back-door a lot more philosophy and theology classes into an SFS curriculum, and that has served me extremely well over time. I remember writing then, and still believe now, that ethics is an essential practical bridge between religion and world affairs—after all, anyone working in a multicultural, multiconfessional world is going to have to wrestle with ethics.
Colin Steele (SFS’12)
My REWA classes were among the most rewarding and memorable classes from my undergraduate experience. The small class sizes and direct engagement with some of the world's leading scholars on these issues was incredibly rewarding. I also found the curriculum to be flexible in allowing me to tailor the REWA courses to fit my interests.
Jared Ison (SFS’17)
In keeping with the university’s mission to offer an education that fosters lifelong learning and service, we’ve just launched our alumni network, connecting young professionals with our growing curricular program and allowing the Berkley Center to continue fostering these relationships and building meaningful mentorship into our model.
Guided Discussion - JYAN participants now reflect on religion and culture in their host countries through guided discussion boards among smaller peer cohorts, a space for students to engage with diverse opinions and approaches.
Social Media Engagement - Students create social media posts around the role of religion in culture, politics, and society, and produce a final reflection piece for publication, connecting their experiences to issues of diversity and tolerance on campus. Explore social media posts and reflections from the 2019-2020 cohort.
Community-Building - The JYAN program is now bookended by a pre-departure lunch, establishing connections and trust as foundational to authentic engagement, and post-return dinner, designed to equip students with reflection resources.
In 2019-2020, 21 students participated in the JYAN program. They witnessed and wrote about issues ranging from political unrest in Hong Kong and Chile, to the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read about their experiences by clicking on each highlighted country.
JYAN Student Reflections Slider
SFS’21
Barcelona, Spain
"JYAN is a wonderful initiative—I found my abroad experiences more meaningful through guided discussions and sought camaraderie with fellow cohort members. I am so grateful for the community support given throughout the process."
SFS'21
Berlin, Germany
"Since arriving in Berlin, my awareness of my Polish heritage, as well as the ways it influences my identity and thus contours my social interactions and my understanding of the world around me, has experienced a multi-level metamorphosis."
Read the full post "Enlightenment through an Encounter with Drunkenness" here.
SFS'21
Cape Town, South Africa
"Existing as Black in South Africa requires grappling with an anger that is not my own...My Blackness links me to this space, ties my foreign body to the history of South Africa, and allows me to feel this history on multiple levels. While my ancestral rage may occasionally overwhelm me, it is a lens through which I can complexify and more deeply engage with my experiences in South Africa."
C'21
Singapore
"[A]chieving some semblance of unity—whether in Singapore, the United States, or even on a global scale—lies in...personal shifts. It demands that we acknowledge our individual shortcomings and gaps in understanding and strive to respect and embrace the appearances, perspectives, and experiences of those who are different from us."
Rhya Evans (NHS’22) is the 2020 Berkley Center-Pulitzer Center international reporting fellow. Her project will explore the cultural and religious beliefs that influence menstruation and menstrual management, as well as its social and economic consequences, among Rohingya women and girls in Bangladesh.
The Berkley Center collaborates with Georgetown’s Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service to support Education and Social Justice fellows, in a model of mentored research echoed throughout the center. Student assistants and visiting graduate researchers at the Berkley Center play a critical role in supporting the work of scholarship at the center.
Hear from Our Student Assistants Slider
Student Assistant, Student Programs
Current Position: Naturalization Legal Assistant, Catholic Migration Services
"Through my role at the Berkley Center, I gained exposure to the great work that faith-based organizations undertake in pursuing social justice. My experiences at the Berkley Center helped inspire me to complete a year of service with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps."
Student Assistant, American Pilgrimage Project
Current Position: Facebook Intern
"I became a student assistant as a freshman; my skills and experience were quite limited. In the past two years, serving as a student assistant has allowed me to develop skills in project management, including research, outreach, and stakeholder engagement. Further, the center’s staff and fellows have provided me with opportunities for professional development and growth. This summer, I will be interning at Facebook, and I am convinced that securing the internship is largely attributable to the skills I acquired at the Berkley Center."
Student Assistant, Faculty Research
Current Position: Research Analyst, Georgetown's Center for Security and Emerging Technology
"As someone who plans to pursue a career in the world of academia and think tanks, working at the Berkley Center provided me with invaluable research experience at a major research institution. I was able to interact with respected academics, develop my editing abilities, and learn about religion and international relations, all while helping the center in its mission of promoting research that can advance a more just and equitable world."
Student Assistant, Communications
Current Position: Intern, "The New Republic" magazine
"As someone pursuing a career in media, the Berkley Center was a perfect working and learning environment. I was able to participate in so many aspects of the center's media presence, from writing articles to helping manage the website. But more than that, working at the Berkley Center allowed me to interact with fascinating research, speakers, and faculty with whom I never would have crossed paths otherwise."
Visiting Researchers Slider
On May 14, 2020, Tatiana Cojocari, Fulbright visiting researcher at the Berkley Center from the University of Bucharest in Romania, presented on “Weaponizing God for the Clash of Liberal and Traditional Values.” Cojocari used the 2018 Romanian Pro-Family Referendum as a case study of a polarized debate on Christian values from the perspective of involved actors and promoted societal narratives.
On January 28, 2020, Tobias Cremer, a visiting research fellow at the Berkley Center, presented his dissertation research, which seeks to comprehend the ambiguous relationship between national populism and religion in Western Europe and the United States.
Watch Cremer's research presentation here.
Read a Berkley Forum Q&A with Cremer on national populism and Christian symbolism.
Now celebrating its tenth year, ESJ has enabled 38 talented Georgetown undergraduate students to study a wide variety of institutions—including universities, primary schools, and health education initiatives—quite literally from Cambodia to Canada, Peru to Poland. No two experiences in the field look exactly alike, even for members of the same cohort. Take, for instance, 2019, when the program sponsored three fellows who each researched a different site: a secondary school in Malawi, a college in rural Thailand, and an urban university in Ireland.
This map highlights the 38 countries in which our Education & Social Justice fellows have conducted their research projects, noting the common vulnerable populations the program serves.
Our 2019 ESJ Fellows Slider
C'20
Dublin, Ireland
In June 2019, Price traveled to Trinity College, Dublin, a renowned university in Ireland, to learn about the intricacies of ecumenical faith, religiously charged politics, and communal dialogue at Trinity College. Her consequent work investigated the history of Protestant and Catholic faith at Trinity College, and how members of the Christian faith who reside there are responding to the powerful trends of secularism that are sweeping the campus.
Read Price’s “Discussion with a Laurentian Society Member, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland” here.
NHS'20
Chiang Saen, Thailand
Ross spent three weeks at Xavier Learning Community (XLC) in Chiang Saen, Thailand, where she examined inclusion and inculturation. Ross’s final study focused on how XLC’s educational practices and Jesuit values create unity out of diversity, building an inclusive community for individuals from different nationalities, ethnicities, and religions.
Moving forward, fellows will create a dynamic long-form final report and presentation that integrates the latest in digital scholarship. The publication of research findings in engaging digital formats, from text-mining tools and data visualization graphics to embedded videos, will allow fellows to develop highly marketable skills in research outputs. ESJ alumna Grace Koehl (NHS’19) redesigned her final case study, “Faith-Based Education and Social Responsibility in Spain and Latin America,” as a prototype of this new format.
This brochure offers a vision for the future of ESJ, which entails renaming the program; expanding it to additional fields beyond education, including migrant and refugee care, global health, and environmental stewardship; increasing the number of annual participants; and increasing the academic rigor through course credits and incorporating digital scholarship design.
Hear from ESJ Alumni Slider
The idea of the whole person and how it can encompass solidarity with humanity and with your neighbors, friends, and loved ones was something that specifically came from the ESJ Project. That vision of human flourishing is what I took away from the program and has shaped how I want to impact the world through participatory design and co-creation for social change.
Now, I work at an NGO focused on community development in Cape Town, South Africa, where I am responsible for research and project support. The ESJ Project definitely gave me the confidence to continue doing research. And I feel that the topic I studied, service-learning, also gave me the desire to work more on applied research. I loved academia, but I feel much more comfortable in the NGO space, where it is easier for our research findings to meet communities where they are.
