Sorensen Fellows prepare for summer journeys

The eight Brandeis undergraduates will participate in internships around the globe this summer

Photo/Marci McPhee

The 2015 Sorensen Fellows.

Eight Brandeis undergraduates have been named Sorensen Fellows and will participate in internships around the globe this summer.

The Sorensen Fellowship Program, which began in 1998, is sponsored by the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life and honors the late Theodore C. "Ted" Sorensen, an advisor and speechwriter for John F. Kennedy and the founding chair of the center's international advisory board.

Selected after a competitive application process, the students will receive a stipend to cover travel and living expenses for their summer internship and are taking a course of their choosing this semester as academic preparation. In the fall, they will regroup and take a course together providing perspective on their experience. The fellows also publish an anthology reflecting on their experiences.

Here are the 2015 Sorensen Fellows  (read full profiles of each of the fellows on ethics center website):

Ariella Assouline ’17, from Miami, is double majoring in film and women’s studies. Assouline’s internship is at the Feminist Majority Foundation in Los Angeles, where she will work on leadership building for local college feminist organizations. She plans to research and develop discussion workshops regarding the lack of diversity and representation of women and women’s roles in television and its subsequent effect on society.

Bethlehem Seifu Belaineh ’16, from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is majoring in biological physics and economics. This summer, she will be starting EthioSTEM, a mentorship and leadership program for young Ethiopian girls that will match them with university mentors in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields and other professionals in Addis Ababa.

Tove Freeman ’16, from Oakham, Massachusetts, is double majoring in health: science, society, and policy and biology. Her passion for research and improving health outcomes led her to her summer internship at the National Center for Minority Health Research in Oslo, Norway. During her internship Tove will assist with cultural competency training for clinicians in Norway.

Shaoleen Khaled ’16, from New York City, is double majoring in biology and health: science, society, and policy with a minor in chemistry. Her internship will be with the California Women’s Law Center, where she will work to optimize reproductive health awareness, care, and access among marginalized groups (such as adolescent girls, low-income, and immigrant women).

Anni Long ’16 is triple majoring in anthropology, international and global studies, and women’s, gender and sexuality studies with a minor in peace, conflict, and coexistence studies. Born in Tianjin, China, she lived in several cities in northern and southern China in her childhood. At the age of 10, she moved to Shanghai. Long will intern with Media Monitor for Women Network, a Beijing-based Chinese feminist organization that promotes gender equality in the media. She hopes to initiate lectures/forums in middle schools to plant seeds for complex thinking about feminism among Chinese youth.

Wilkins Lugo ’17, is majoring in biochemistry. He was born and raised in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He will intern with the Housatonic Valley Association, focused on their efforts to improve water quality in the Still River Watershed, education and outreach and more. 

Regina Roberg '17, from Chicago, is double majoring in psychology and Hispanic studies, and minoring in international and global studies and legal studies. Roberg will intern in Buenos Aires, Argentina at a local health center's psychiatric wing through the nonprofit organization Voluntario Global. She will assist psychologists with observations and cases, lead community workshops about topics such as mental hygiene, and will broaden her own understanding of how different communities and cultures approach the discussion and treatment of mental illness. 

Bezaye T. Teshome ’16, a neuroscience and biology major from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, will be returning to Ethiopia this summer as an intern with the Nia Foundation. She will work with children on the autism spectrum, participating in speech therapy and social skills trainings, taking part in workshops designed to equip parents with techniques to enhance their children’s communication and social interaction abilities, and working with professionals in special needs education to plan activities for the children at the Nia Care Center.