Alumni Updates - Spring 2005



Sigrid Arzt ('91), from Mexico, is founder and co-director of Democracy, Human Rights and Security (Democracia, Derechos Humanos y Seguridad, A.C.). This non-governmental organization, based in Mexico City, aims to link government, academic researchers and representatives of civil society in order to support reforms that promote respect for human rights and the strengthening of Mexican democracy. Sigrid is also director of political analysis at the research center Fundacion Rafael Preciado, which conducts political and social policy studies. She is a doctoral candidate in international relations and comparative politics at the University of Miami. E-mail: sarzt@ddhs.org.mx

Julie Hart ('91), from the United States, is associate professor of sociology and peace studies at Bethel College, a small Mennonite liberal arts college in southeast Kansas. In 2003 she returned from a two-year sabbatical in Guatemala, where she wrote six peace and justice texts that are used in a two-year program of intensive courses for church leaders throughout Central America. She has worked summers with Christian Peacemaker Teams in Israel/Palestine from 1997-2000 and in Colombia in 2004. Julie earned her Ph.D. in sociology from Notre Dame in 1994, with the dissertation topic, The Impact of a Peer Mediation Program on an Elementary School Environment. E-mail: jhart@bethelks.edu

Marianna Kozintseva ('92), from Ukraine, has been appointed vice president for Global Emerging Markets Equity Strategy at Bear Stearns, a leading investment banking and securities trading firm in New York City. She is responsible for investment strategy for Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Marianna received her Ph.D. (with honors) from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins in 2004. She previously worked for the RAND Corporation, the World Bank, and the International Institute for Management Development (IMD, Switzerland). E-mail: Mkozintseva@bear.com

Dani Leis ('92), from the United States, coordinates volunters for Outside In, a social service agency in Portland, Oregon. She writes, “Outside In is on the leading edge of social work for homeless youth populations. We offer case management, health care, employment resources, transitional housing, and a day program which provides shelter from the weather, showers, activities, and two hot meals a day. We also have IDU health services, a queer youth drop-in center, a trans resource center, and full services for HIV+ youth aged 16-23. Our success rate working with homeless youth is tremendous. Outside In also has a medical clinic open to any homeless, low income or uninsured person. The clinic is a teaching site for three area medical schools and offers alternative medicine such as naturopathic, acupuncture, and Chinese herbal medicine as well as allopathic (western) medicine. Approximately 150 volunteers, including doctors, perform a critical role in supporting Outside In's mission. It is a source of pride for me that my job is to facilitate, support and encourage volunteer service.” Leis previously ran a queer youth program, Rainbow Youth, and was the founder and chair of Capitol Pride, Salem, Oregon's gay/lesbian/bisexual/trans pride festival. E-mail: leis@earthlink.net

Fran Teplitz ('93), from the United States, is managing director of the Social Investment Forum, the nonprofit association for socially and environmentally responsible investing (known as SRI), and is the SRI director for Co-op America. Co-op America is a nonprofit membership organization that involves consumers, businesses and investors in economic strategies to advance positive social and environmental change. Fran worked with Peace Action and the Peace Action Education Fund for seven years before joining the Social Investment Forum and Co-op America Peace Action is the largest U.S. grassroots organization dedicated to disarmament and economic justice. Fran now serves on the board of directors of the Peace Action Education Fund. E-mail: franteplitz@socialinvest.org

Jana McDonald ('97), from the United States, is working in Mirebalais, Haiti with Tulane University as the program coordinator of Mother to Child Prevention of Transmission of HIV. In December 2004 she took a two-month leave of absence to work in South Africa with the United Nations on an HIV/AIDS project. Jana earned a masters degree in international public health from Tulane University in 2001. She has since worked on prenatal health education with migrant farm workers on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and served as health coordinator for the American Refugee Committee in Gjilan/Gnjilane, Kosovo. She says, “I am surprised more peace studies students haven't gone into public health. The job I had in Kosovo was actually a perfect combination of my two degrees, using health to build peace — every project we worked on had to somehow bring the various ethnic groups together. Our biggest success was opening the hospital to receive patients of all ethnicities.” E-mail: bananaj@hotmail.com

Tara Aziz ('98), from Iraq, is program officer at the Washington Kurdish Institute in Washington, DC. After graduating from ND she returned to Iraqi Kurdistan, where she worked for the United Nations Office for the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq (UNOHCI), UNICEF and other international humanitarian agencies. In these positions, she worked extensively with local and international non-governmental organizations, developing and analyzing a wide range of programs. In 2000 Tara participated in the establishment of a local NGO that promotes women's empowerment in Iraqi Kurdistan. E-mail: taraaziz@hotmail.com

Tilla McAntony ('98), from Kenya, is a senior consultant in the Poverty Reduction and Governance Division of the World Bank Group in Washington, DC. He earned his Ph.D. in political science from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University in 2003, and taught at Colgate University and John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth before joining the World Bank. He writes, “I propose, design and implement public sector governance reforms for World Bank client countries in the Africa region. I prepare the reforms under technical assistance (capacity building) frameworks which include the areas of fiscal reforms (budgeting and fiscal transparency) and anti-corruption (transparency and integrity systems including civil service, rule of law and other institutions of governance). In addition, I travel frequently to Africa as part of mission-team to advise stakeholders, hold meetings, and implement workshops, seminars and other learning events.” Tilla's most recent publication is a 2004 co-edited source book, Poverty Reduction Strategies in Decentralized Contexts: Comparative Lessons in Local Planning and Fiscal Dimensions (World Bank, 2004). E-mail: blue2050@hotmail.com

Rainer Hindsberg ('99), from Finland, serves as public information officer for the Parliament of Finland. Rainer is working on a public outreach project, seeking to increase public access to the parliament and the MPs, both physically and in the broader sense. “I've had a very exciting year at work. We just opened a visitor's centre that I was in charge of planning. And now we're taking parliament to different fairs, where people have access to the MPs and where we civil servants provide information on the organization. Also, we're hard at work planning the centennial of Finland being the first country in the world to extend full political rights to everyone! All this is particularly exciting as we have lots of people from the 10 new EU countries coming here to learn from our efforts to make government transparent.” E-mail: rainerhindsberg@hotmail.com

Marlise Richter ('00), from South Africa, is a researcher at the AIDS Law Project at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at Wits University in Johannesburg, where she supports a legal team working on cases of AIDS discrimination, prepares policy proposals on AIDS-related issues for submission to parliament, teaches a course in “HIV/AIDS and the Law” at the Wits Law School, and drafts AIDS educational materials. She also volunteers with the Treatment Action Campaign, an AIDS activist organization, and is studying for an MA in Law at the Wits Law School. E-mail: richterm@law.wits.ac.za

Catalina Acevedo ('02), from Colombia, works for the mayor's office in Bogotá, Colombia, where she designs research on domestic and sexual violence. She also teaches “Comparative Peace Processes” in the political science department of Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá. E-mail: acevedo_catalina@hotmail.com


Abolghasem Bayyenat ('02), from Iran, is working in the office of the trade representative of Iran, where he helps prepare for the accession of his country to the World Trade Organization. Ghasem is also engaged in negotiating bilateral and regional preferential trade agreements between Iran and its trade partners. In 2004, he spent three months in Geneva at a trade policy course organized by the World Trade Organization Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation. In his personal capacity, Ghasem also continues to write political commentaries and reports on domestic and foreign political developments for the Iranian press. E-mail: abayyenat@yahoo.com

Shabnam Siddiqui ('03), from India, is working in Mumbai (Bombay) with the Public Concern for Governance Trust (PCGT), which works to mobilize public opinion and increase public participation and activism. Its goal is to create more transparent and efficient governance in India. Through her work with PCGT, Shabnam is fulfilling her dream of creating a non-violent law enforcement agency in her state by identifying areas in which civil society can complement the services of the law enforcement agencies in curbing crime and corruption. She has developed training courses for the police on attitudinal and behavioral change and integrity, and is involved in a dialogue with the public on the role of the police force and its limitations and constraints.  E-mail: shabsids@rediffmail.com

Alexei Zakharov ('03), from Russia, has been appointed Russia Anti-Discrimination Fellow of the Justice Initiative of the Open Society Institute based in Moscow. His responsibility is to support the work of the Tajik migration center and other human rights organizations working in Russia and to monitor and document cases of institutional ethnic discrimination and racially motivated violence in Russia. After completing his second year at Kroc as a Fulbright Scholar, he received Kroc funding to support a teaching internship in the department of political science of the State University of Humanitarian Sciences in Moscow. E-mail: alexei_zakharov@mail.ru

Elias Omondi Opongo, SJ ('04), from Kenya, has been named program officer for peacebuilding at the Jesuit Hakimani Centre in Nairobi, Kenya. Hakimani is a combination of two Swahili words, Haki (justice) and Amani (peace). “I give training workshops on peacebuilding, conflict resolution and good governance to various communities, leaders and organizations in Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. This has been a challenging experience especially when, as a trainer, one realizes that the conflicts are so big yet the affected people are so hopeful. More and more I learn to trust in human capacity to transform evil.... I also do research on various social issues and participate in advocacy campaigns in collaboration with other peace organizations.” In June 2004 Omondi published an article, “The Silent Cry of Aids Orphans in Africa: A Looming Disaster on the Continent,” in Hekima Review, a publication of Hekima College, Jesuit School of Theology. E-mail: eliasomondi@yahoo.com

Chayanit (Nid) Poonyarat ('04), from Thailand, has been appointed coordinator of the Freedom of Expression/Freedom of Information Project at the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), a Bangkok-based leading regional human rights organization. The aim of the three-year project is to protect and promote freedom of expression and freedom of information in the Southeast Asian region. Nid hopes that, with her background in both media and peace studies, she will be able to contribute significantly to these goals.  She is shown here during an official visit to the UN in Geneva.  In December 2004 Nid completed a Kroc-funded internship with Nonviolence International Southeast Asia in Bangkok. E-mail: chayanitp@yahoo.com

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