CLAS Graduate Students, 2011-2012

Katie Angell is from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington with a major in Political Science and minors in Spanish and International Studies. Katie has interned for the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies (ICCAS) at the University of Miami in Florida and has studied at the Universidad de Salamanca in Spain. She has also conducted research on the Indigenous Movement in Guatemala and has traveled extensively throughout Latin America. Katie intends to study the indigenous movements of Latin America.

Patrick Aucoin spent the past year serving as a Jesuit Volunteer in Yakima, Washington. He worked for the Northwest Justice Project, providing free civil legal aid to farm workers and other low income populations. In 2009, he earned his undergraduate degree from Spring Hill College, with majors in International Studies and Hispanic Studies. His main interests are political economy and history of Latin America. Patrick is a native of New Orleans, and in his free time, he enjoys distance running.

Elizabeth Eiland is from Midland, Texas and graduated from Vanderbilt in May 2011 with a degree in Latin American Studies and Honors English. During her undergraduate career, she volunteered in Guatemala and Nicaragua, and then spent a semester in Argentina living with a tango dancer and flautist. Excited to continue her academic career at Vanderbilt, she is interested in the relationship between the early Brazilian film industry and the Estado Novo and the manner in which they addressed women through propaganda and/or film.

Sarah Foss is from Normal, Illinois and completed her undergraduate degree at Indiana Wesleyan University, where she majored in International Relations and History, with a minor in Latin American Studies. Travel to Peru, an internship in Tecate, Mexico, and the Bribri reserve in southern Costa Rica inspired Sarah to continue studying this region, particularly focusing on community development within indigenous populations.

A Nashville native, Charlie Gilbert attended Eckerd College for undergraduate study, where he double majored in Spanish and International Relations and Global Affairs. He served as the Cultural Arts Director and tutored high school students from Cuba with the Refugee and Family program at the Florida Center for Survivors of Torture. For the past year, Charlie served as the Director of Youth and Latino programming at the Global Education Center in Nashville, organizing events, teaching language and percussion classes and working in the multicultural gift shop. While at Vanderbilt, Charlie hopes to work with migrants and other marginalized populations throughout the Western Hemisphere.

 Dustin Heumphreus grew up in various states across the country as well as in Germany and Panama. He earned his undergraduate degree in International Relations from the United States Military Academy at West Point. Dustin is currently a Major in the United States Army and is studying at Vanderbilt as a part of the Army’s Foreign Area Officer program. Before arriving to Vanderbilt, Dustin lived and worked in El Salvador for twelve months during which time he had the opportunity to travel extensively throughout Latin America. He intends to focus his graduate work on multi-lateral approaches to countering trans-national security threats. Dustin lives in Franklin with his wife and two young sons.

Jared Howard grew up in Idaho Falls, ID.  He attended the United States Military Academy and received his B.S. in economics in 2002.  He has worked in Chile, Korea, Iraq, Kuwait, Indonesia, and most recently in Brazil.  He is studying at Vanderbilt as part of his training to become a Foreign Area Officer that will help the Army enhance security cooperation among countries in the Western Hemisphere.  Jared is married to Fabiana, and has two daughters and two boxers.

Max Pendergraph, originally from Richmond, Virginia, graduated from Northwestern University in 2007 and has spent the last three years teaching. His first year after graduation, he taught English in a high school in southern Spain. He then returned to the US and taught Spanish at a charter middle school in Gary, Indiana. Last year, he was in France teaching English at both a high school and a middle school. He has also worked for three summers for the Breakthrough Collaborative, an educational non-profit.

Avi Richman is from Jacksonville, Florida, and graduated from University of Florida with degrees in Political Science and Psychology. After a year of international non-profit work in DC, Avi served in the Peace Corps for two and a half years in Nicaragua. As a Small Business Educator, he worked with the Ministry of Education to train teachers and teach 10th and 11th grade students how to start their own businesses. At Vanderbilt, Avi is studying International Education Policy and Management with a focus on Latin America. When he has some time off from trying to save the world, he is watching or playing sports, practicing languages, and meeting new people.

 Alyse Rooks grew up in Argentina, England, the Sultanate of Oman, the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. She pursued both her interest in Latin America and the Middle East in undergraduate studies, majoring in Latin American Studies and Jewish Islamic and Near Eastern Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. Her interest in Latin America grew after spending a summer abroad studying in Puebla, Mexico following her sophomore year of college. She spent several months investigating President Hugo Chávez’s Presidency in Venezuela and the rise of “twenty-first century socialism” in Latin America as she prepared her senior thesis.

Laura Sellers is from Kansas City, Missouri. Laura graduated from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee in 2008 with a major in Spanish and a bridge major in International Studies and Political Science. Upon graduation, she worked as a paralegal at the immigration law firm of Siskind Susser in Memphis on employment-based immigration processes. Laura hopes to focus her research and studies on immigration issues in the Western Hemisphere. After completing her MA, Laura plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Political Science.