Hometown: Arlington, MA

Bio: Ellie was born and raised outside of Boston, MA before attending Villanova University to complete an undergraduate degree in Spanish and Latin American Studies. During this time, she studied abroad in Valparaiso, Chile. Also during her undergraduate career, she completed an internship at the Inter American Foundation in DC, helping to revamp their Eastern Caribbean Initiative which focuses on disaster resilience in the region. Ellie’s undergraduate honors thesis explored disaster resilience on the Caribbean island of Barbuda. Upon completing her degree in 2019, she was selected as a Fulbright Scholar and spent over two years working at various higher education institutions in Tunja, Colombia. Throughout her time in Colombia, her interests grew to include peace processes, transitional justice, rural land rights, social movements, and representative democracy in multiethnic and multiracial societies. Ellie is also completing the certificate in gender, peace, and security and plans to bring a gendered lens to all her work at GU and beyond.

Concentration: Governance and Leadership

Certificate: Gender, Peace, and Security

Research Area – Substantive: Grassroots Development, Transitional Justice, Peace Building, Land Rights, Social Movements, Community Action, Disaster Resilience

Research Area – Regional: Colombia, Bolivia, Andes Region, Eastern Caribbean Region