Tag: Resident

Meet Dr. Anna Avdiushchenko, who joined the International House community in March 2022 from Ukraine by way of Poland to conduct a short-term research project related to creating local development policies based on a circular economy in urban environments. A professor at Poland’s Jagiellonian University and a mother of two young children, Anna shares with us a little bit about her work in sustainable development and her experience living at I-House with her family. Tell us about yourself. Where are you from, and what are you studying?I am originally from Ukraine and have been...

Meet International House resident Alexandra “Sasha” Potter, who joins our community from Scotland. Sasha is a graduate student in the Climate and Society Masters Program at Columbia University, where she also holds a graduate research assistantship at the National Centre for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP) exploring the economic value of disaster resilience. Attendees of our recent event featuring sustainability experts Jeffrey D. Sachs and Andy Darrell will be familiar with Sasha already, as she served as the moderator of this very important discussion on sustainable...

Meet Advritu “Ritu” Thapa from Nepal, a lawyer and activist who joined the I-House community for the Spring 2022 semester while she attends the Human Rights Advocates Program (HRAP) of the Institute of the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University. She is a founding member and the treasurer of the Indigenous Women Legal Awareness Group (INWOLAG), an organization that provides free legal aid to Indigenous and other marginalized groups. Ritu earned her law degree from the University of Pune, India, and is the first LL.M. from her indigenous community. In Nepal, she worked...

From Tbilisi, Georgia, comes Mariam Antadze, who joined the I-House community in 2022. Mariam is a Project Coordinator at The Georgian Center for Psychosocial and Medical Rehabilitation of Torture Victims (GCRT), and is in New York City to attend the Human Rights Advocates Program (HRAP) of the Institute of the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University. We asked Mariam to share about her experience at I-House and its role in her professional development. Tell us about yourself. What are you working on?I work for the rights of individuals who have been subjected to difficult forms of...

Among our amazing residents this year is Elena Pulgar, a Fulbright scholar from Spain earning her Master of Public Health degree in Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. We asked her to share about her experience at I-House and its role in her professional development. Tell us about yourself. What are you working on? I’m passionate about mental health promotion, advocacy, and policy at a population level, both locally and globally. My main interests include gender-based violence prevention, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), forced...

Meet Aminatu Gambo, a Spring 2022 resident at International House from Cameroon who came to New York to attend the Human Rights Advocates Program (HRAP) of the Institute of the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University. A member of the Mbororo-Fulani Indigenous Peoples, Aminatu currently works as Program Coordinator for Political Participation and Advocacy with Foro Internacional de Mujeres Indígenas, also known as the International Indigenous Women’s Forum (FIMI/IIWF), a global network that brings together indigenous women from seven socio-cultural regions. FIMI/IIWF is focused...

This March, we’re thrilled to kick off Women’s History Month at International House with a spotlight on Farah Otero-Amad, an I-House resident from California who is at the start of an exciting career in journalism. We asked Farah to talk about her goals and I-House experience. Tell us about your work. What are you studying? I graduated with a Master’s degree in Journalism from Columbia University. Upon graduating, I wrote articles, shot videos, and produced short documentaries for NBC News. I’m currently working as an associate producer for “The Problem With Jon...