Current Fellows

Hannah Barbee (XU '27, BS Theatre Education)

Project Title: Theatre as a Vessel of Trauma Healing and It's Impact on our Understandings of Physical Consciousness

Proposed Immersion/Research Location: London, UK and Belfast, Northern Ireland

Project Description: 

Trauma healing is a new and ever-evolving conversation that challenges what we know about societal responsibility and community, consciousness, and the connection between a person and their body. Theatre, which uniquely demands both the presence of bodily reconnection and community, has the potential to provoke healing in previously unthought-of ways. Through my work in London and Belfast, I will be launching a comparative study of the ways theatre can be used as a vessel of healing for both personal and systemic trauma. Through studying the implementations of Dramatherapy, Survivor-Led Theatre, and Theatre of Witness, I hope to discover how Judith Herman's stages of trauma recovery (Safety and Stabilization, Remembrance and Mourning, and Reconnection) can be uniquely accessed in a theatrical context and how the ideals of panpsychist consciousness in relation to physical memory are either challenged or encouraged by these findings. 

Meg Calumpang (XU '26, BS Biomedical Sciences)

Project Title: Women's leadership in addressing healthcare inequality

Proposed Immersion/Research Location: Philippines

Project Description: 

 Leadership plays a critical role in shaping how healthcare systems prioritize values, goals, and decision making in healthcare. Women make up a majority of healthcare workers, yet they remain underrepresented in leadership roles leaving women’s health concerns at the sidelines of policy and practice. Looking at the Philippines where women’s health ranks below the global average on the Women’s Health Index, I hope to explore their prioritization of women’s health. By immersing myself in various healthcare setting, I hope to better understand these inequities and emphasize bring greater awareness to the critical role of leadership in transforming women’s health outcomes.

Allison Gorius (XY '28 , PPP+Political Science

Project Title: Expanding Legal Personhood for Non-Human Ecosystems: The Great Barrier Reef 

Proposed Immersion/Research Location: Great Barrier Reef, Cairns, Australia

Project Description: 

This project explores the growing global movement to recognize ecosystems as legal persons, focusing on how these frameworks could apply to marine environments like the Great Barrier Reef. Drawing on legal models such as New Zealand’s river personhood laws, I will research how rights-based approaches can strengthen environmental protection and advocacy.

Through fieldwork and collaboration with conservation organizations in Cairns, the project will examine the intersection of environmental law, nonprofit advocacy, and community engagement. Ultimately, this research aims to evaluate whether granting legal rights to ecosystems can provide more effective and ethical protections in the face of climate change and biodiversity loss.

Carolyn Isaly (XU '27, BS Accounting and BA PPP)

Project Title: The Correlation between tax rates and quality of life

Proposed Immersion/Research Location: Denmark

Project Description: 

 I want to explore the purpose of taxes and the positive effects of proper taxation on society. To me, taxes are a shared expense paid by individuals that allow a community to exist together. However, when certain groups are being taxed at unfair rates, or individuals do not trust where their money is going, taxes begin to only further divide society. Denmark has one of the highest individual income tax rates in the world and is consistently ranked as having a high quality of life. As a Brueggeman Fellow, I want to explore what it means to have a high quality of life, and how a willingness to pay taxes contributes to this. 

Molly Kantz (XU '26, BSW)

Project Title: Mindfulness in action:  Bridging poverty and sustainability through mindful practices

Proposed Immersion/Research Location: Thailand

Project Description: 

 In fourth grade, I chose to research Buddhism, mindfulness, and meditation—a spark that has since grown into a deep and evolving commitment. Mindfulness allows me to approach challenges with calm and clarity, and I practice it regularly through meditation, awe walks, and quiet reflection. For my Brueggeman Fellowship, I plan to explore how Buddhist monks in Thailand are addressing the interconnections between mindfulness, environmental sustainability, and poverty. Inspired by Catholic Social Teaching and Pope Francis’s Laudato Si', I seek to bridge the gap between religious leaders' calls to action and socially engaged Buddhism. I hope this Fellowship will deepen my understanding of spiritual activism and allow me to share meaningful insights with others—uniting faith, justice, and care for our shared Earth.

Izzy King (XU ’27, BS Nursing)

Project Title: The Philosophy of the Midwifery Model of Care

Proposed Immersion/Research Location: South Africa

Project Description: 

Models of care shape not only clinical outcomes, but also how patients experience dignity, autonomy, and trust within themselves. In many Western contexts, maternal care is highly medicalized and often reflects a broader cultural preference for control and certainty, positioning birth as a pathological process to be managed rather than a physiological process to be accompanied. This approach is often justified in the name of “safety”; however, maternal mortality rates in the United States remain high, while countries with stronger midwifery models of care continue to see improvements. This can shift authority away from the birthing person’s embodied knowledge toward institutional expertise. In contrast, the midwifery model of care emphasizes relational presence, continuity, empowerment, and trust in the birthing body. In South Africa, I will observe antenatal care and early childhood interventions within a midwife-led, community-based antenatal clinic. I aim to explore how trust is built through antenatal care and how relationships between caregivers and patients shape a community’s philosophy of birth. I will also attend to how histories of inequality and race linger within these encounters, and how trust is negotiated within them. Through written and visual reflection, I will examine how the midwifery model offers an alternative framework—one rooted in accompaniment and respect for the autonomy and humanity of those receiving care, alongside the philosophy of ubuntu—“I am because we are”—in which this midwife-run clinic is grounded.

Olga Klochkov

Project Title: Faith, Community, and Psychological Wellbeing:exploring Greek Orthodox approaches to mental health and resilience 

Proposed Immersion/Research Location: Greece

Project Description: 

Erik Polousky (XU '27, BA PPP and Public Relations)

Project Title: Exploring the parallels between socioeconomic divisions and sporting allegiances

Proposed Immersion/Research Location: Europe TBD

Project Description: 

 The mission of the Brueggeman Fellowship begins with the statement, “we stand at a moment in history where divisions between people and groups are especially pronounced,” nowhere could these divisions be more pronounced than on gameday where individuals wear their differences in bright colors and intricate badges. I will be traveling to a European city with two first division soccer teams to observe the parallel divisions across political ideology, socioeconomic distinction, and fan allegiance. The deep history of soccer in large European cities has caused sporting life to become heavily intertwined with political and social life as well. In many cases, one club and its fans will become associated with the working class while the other becomes associated with the upper class. This research project will recognize the history that has built these divisions and the healthy competition between differing ideologies, while also understanding that care for our neighbor transcends any social organization.

Brady Rodgers (XU '26, BA History)

Project Title: Alt-Right parties in Germany and Great Britain and their use of WWII-era propaganda in political campaigns

Proposed Immersion/Research Location: Germany and Great Britain

Project Description: 

 Across Europe, far-right parties are gaining popular support unseen since before the Second World War. Even though these parties publicly claim to be new-age entities, their political propaganda and election campaigning are eerily reminiscent of their 20th-century fascist counterparts. In London and Berlin, I am researching the continuity of Alternative für Deutschland and Reform UK and their Nazi German and British Union of Fascists counterparts. Through an analysis of propaganda techniques, political campaigning, and membership, I seek to figure out whether they truly are a new wave of right-wing populism or simply a reimagining of the fascist parties of the past.

Claire Wagner (XU '28, Philosophy, Politics, and the Public & Nonprofit Management)

Project Title: Modern Language Revival in Ireland and the Basque Country

Proposed Immersion/Research Location: Ireland and the Basque Country

Project Description: 

Examining contemporary youth led language revitalization movements in Ireland (Irish/Gaeilge) and the Basque Country (Euskara). This study aims to identify structural, cultural, and emotional conditions that contribute to sustainable language revival. Through a multi-media lens I will ask the question: How do minority and indigenous languages successfully transition from symbolic preservation to communal participation in the 21st century?

May Wallace

Project Title: Comparative Analysis of the Practice of Teaching Indigenous Histories

Proposed Immersion/Research Location: New Zealand

Project Description: