Alumni Updates: Class Years 2010-19
Below are archived updates for alumni graduating in the 2010s. Visit the Recent Alumni Updates page for current news.
Daniel Casey '14 He is currently working at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in Seattle as a Post-Bachelor Fellow. As a fellow, Daniel work full-time doing Global Health research while taking coursework to complement his job (and potentially towards an MPH in Health Metrics and Evaluation). Specifically, he works on the Risk Factors team where we study how different social, environmental and health risk factors contribute to the burden of disease experienced by different age, sex, and country groups. Day to day, this means lots of modeling and programming in Stata to explicate the role of individual risk factors (e.g. alcohol consumption or air pollution). His degree in Sociology was instrumental in helping him end up at IHME. His sociology coursework gave him the intellectual tools to examine complex networks and gain familiarity about the intersecting effects between humans, society and the environment. In his work, a lack of knowledge about the origin and propagation of different risk factors would hobble our attempts to understand their effect on health. He also owes a huge deal to the sociology faculty for inspiring his passion for social science research and teaching him quantitative and qualitative tools to conduct top-notch research.
Andrea Filzen '13 I graduated with a major in Sociology in 2013. After graduating from The College in 2013 with a BA in Sociology and a concentration in Religious Studies, Andrea joined the Peace Corps in Morocco for the 2014-2016 term. She worked with the youth development sector and developed programs on youth leadership, female empowerment, youth entrepreneurship, and expanding global consciousness. She also focused on HIV/AIDS prevention and exercise & nutrition in her Moroccan community. She very much enjoyed her experience as a volunteer promoting U.S.-Moroccan relations and looks forward to continuing her career with international development work. (4/5/2016) In 2012-13 She was a participant in the Sharp Seminar https://www.wm.edu/as/charlescenter/donor-sponsored/sharpseminar/index.php, a joint initiative between the Pulitzer Center and the College of William & Mary. Here is a link to her report on the Tohono O’odham Nation and the US-Mexico border. http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/clash-border-tohomo-o%E2%80%99odham-nation-migration-Mexico-Arizona-Native-Americans (7/2015)
Noelle Francois '10 writes that she has partnered with fellow alums William Jeffries, Emily Fuhrman, and Rachel Pick to launch a startup in New York City. Heat Seek NYC uses the internet of things to help vulnerable tenants in the wintertime when their landlords don't provide adequate heat (as required by law). The team won the NYC BigApps tech competition in 2014 by building low cost temperature sensors, and we're incorporating as a nonprofit this fall. If you are as interested in the intersection of technology and social justice as well are, feel free to reach out, or offer your support at http://heatseeknyc.com/. Media attention: https://www.inverse.com/article/5835-heat-seek-nyc-s-smart-sensors-help-tenants-document-too-cold-apartments. (4/2016)
Jessica Kahlenberg '12 Jessica graduated from the College of William & Mary in 2012 where she majored in sociology and history. Since graduating, Jessica has worked on three continents, focusing on the sociological issues of global inequality, gender, human rights, global health, and access to education. She spent a summer interning for a fair trade non-profit organization in Guatemala called Mercado Global, where she enjoyed working with indigenous women to sell their artisan crafts on the global market. Following that, she spent a year in India as a World Partners Fellow doing research for a HIV-prevention NGO called SANGRAM, and loved seeing firsthand the real change that grassroots NGOs can make. She subsequently worked in Uganda for a micro finance institution setting up a student loan product for students that could not afford college, in addition to working as a data analyst consultant for a girls’ health NGO. She is currently teaching English to students at a government-funded vocational college in Colombia, in addition to doing research on the side. Jessica hopes to continue focusing on international development from a sociological perspective, specifically on access to education, issues of social justice and promoting gender equality.
Christiana Kallon '11 After graduation she worked at William & Mary for three years as an Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Admissions where she was primarily responsible for multicultural recruitment. In June 2014 she moved to Amman, Jordan and supported humanitarian efforts in the region in her role as a Programme Analyst for the United Nations Office of Project. Christiana is currently 2015-16 AAUW International Fellow and P.E.O International Peace Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education pursing an M.S.Ed in International Educational Development. Her area of focus is gender education in sub-Saharan. Her Sociology experience at William & Mary was really the introduction to deconstructing the binaries in our global community that has created barriers between people and places. The ability to use her "sociological imagination" to understand the fluidity and dynamism of the human experience has been fundamental to all of her academic and professional experiences so far. (11/2015)
Max Lander '13 For my first work adventure after graduating from William and Mary in 2013, I guided high school groups on summer service and homestay trips to Senegal, West Africa. After returning, I moved to Washington D.C. to begin an internship at World watch Institute working in a research group focused on clean energy development. Joining the Institute full time shortly thereafter, my work has focused on analyzing energy markets, policies, and regulatory structures, particularly with an emphasis on sustainability. I have also worked on several projects advising African and Caribbean governments on policy, financing, and technical strategies to facilitate the development of low-carbon power systems. Examining a topic as convoluted, political, and all-encompassing as energy, my sociology degree has provided me with many of the tools needed to understand the underlying components of energy production. In particular, my sociological toolkit has allowed me to analyze the interplay between the political, social, and economic realities that shape society’s relationship to the energy.
Ruby Langeslay '12 graduated with an Interdisciplinary Studies degree in public health, sociology being one of the primary disciplines included. She continued on to the University of Southern California to obtain her Master of Public Health degree with a Global Health Leadership concentration. While studying at USC, she completed her academic practicum at the UN's 66th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland as a member of the civil society delegation for the Union for International Cancer Control. Additionally, her previous research with the William and Mary organization Medical Aid Nicaragua: Outreach Scholarship (MANOS) led her to current position as a Clinical Research Coordinator for the U.S. Air Force at Travis AFB in Northern California. Day to day responsibilities include managing 5 to 10 research projects for the base's medical center. Ruby helps medical residents to write their research protocols, submit them for IRB review, and once approved, run all the logistics of the projects. Studying sociology has been critical in all of Ruby's public health experiences because understanding the social structures in any environment is the first step in identifying how to best address underlying health problems in a population. (4/2016)
Brandon Lardy '13 After graduating from The College in 2013 with a BA in sociology and public policy, Brandon went on to receive a Master of Public Policy with a focus on social policy from The George Washington University. He is currently a research associate at the Partnership for Public Service, a good government nonprofit based out of Washington, DC. He plans to pursue a doctorate degree in social policy or sociology in the coming years. (10/2015)
Melanie Levine '13 is currently a Business Development Associate at Dexis Consulting Group in Washington, DC. Our company focuses on international development, particularly USAID, State Department, and World Bank contracts.(4/2016)
Jasmine (Turner) McLaughlin '13: I graduated from the Master of Social Work (M.S.W.) program at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in May 2015, and since June 2015, I have been working as a Case Manager in the Permanent Supportive Housing division at Virginia Supportive Housing, a role in which I serve adults with a history of chronic homelessness, mental illness, chronic physical ailments, and/or substance abuse. In a few weeks, I will be starting a position as a Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Worker on the Outpatient Team at Hanover Community Services Board in Ashland, VA. As a student at VCU, I had the opportunity to intern at Goochland-Powhatan Community Services Board in the Mental Health Skill-building Services Division, where I worked with adults with serious mental illness and helped them build skills for independent living and increase their community integration. I also led the first-ever Mindfulness, Meditation, and Wellness psychoeducational group at the psychosocial rehabilitation program at the agency. I also served as an intern domestic and sexual violence counselor at the YWCA of Richmond while a student at VCU. As an intern at the Y, I played a fundamental role in the planning and facilitation of the first-ever Richmond Women's Process Group, and I also conducted a study on factors that influenced suicidality for survivors of domestic violence using agency case data. My experience in the Sociology program at WM definitely prepared me for graduate school and my career in social work.(4/2016)
Elizabeth Miller '11 http://wmblogs.wm.edu/efmiller/ode-to-the-sociology-department/ I’m a Young Guarde Alum (Class of ‘11) and a W&M staff member in the Office of Community Engagement (OCE) which means I am brimming with Tribe Pride (but it turns out wearing a tri-cornered hat and W&M hoodie doesn’t really qualify as business casual).
After four years of undergraduate life at William and Mary full of adventures, friends, scholarship, some definite moments of struggling, a lot of moments of learning, and a deep sense of empowerment, I graduated from W&M with a B.A. in Women’s Studies in 2011. Every day I am grateful for my experience as a William and Mary student and those four years that taught me so much, especially so many reasons to love the College.
Unable to leave this campus and community behind, I spent my first post-graduate year serving as an Americorps VISTA in OCE, developing programs which used student capacity to address local poverty as well as deepening my own commitment to social justice and active citizenship. I’ve transitioned from an Americorps member to W&M staff as the Coordinator for Community Engagement. Meeting with faculty, staff, students, and community partners, I implement many of the programs which directly connect W&M students to Williamsburg and address local community need.
If you find your way to my blog posts you’ll find:
Undergraduate memories I plan to never forget Recaps of programs and adventures created by the Office of Community Engagement My challenges with being both an alumni who misses her undergraduate days and a staff member who loves her professional role Metaphors, pop-culture references, parentheticals, ramblings, and lots of lists—apparently that’s how I think one communicates in blog-form My love of this college.
Manon Murray '15 "As an Analyst in the Office of Presidential Correspondence, She helps facilitate a dialogue between the President and the American people. Our office's mission is to listen to and understand constituents' views, experiences, and ideas, and coordinate a response on behalf of the President. We also provide the President with a daily sample of 10 letters to help keep him in touch with the diverse narratives and opinions of people across the country". (10/2015)
Koji Ukai '10 After graduating in 2010, Koji did a brief microfinance internship in Ghana before joining the Peace Corps in El Salvador. In addition to his main project of building of a potable water system, his background as a Sociology major helped inform the direction and strategy behind his work, including the building of ecological stoves, training of teachers and development of a women's soccer team. After his service, he worked at WHEDco, helping to evaluate its literacy program, and as an intern for B Lab, learning about corporate social responsibility. He is currently a Master in Public Policy candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School.
