The 2011-2012 Crowley Scholars are:
Zohra Ahmed received her Bachelors from the University of Pennsylvania in Anthropology. While an undergrad, she devised an AIDS education class in Nairobi, Kenya, taught it and evaluated it over the course of several summers. After graduation, she lived in Lahore, Pakistan for a year, where she worked at a human rights law firm. She spent a year at Cambridge, where she read for her masters in Social Anthropology, and wrote her dissertation on her experience in Pakistan with the Lawyer's Movement and its relationship to military law.
Zohra is interested in using litigation as a tool for movement support domestically and abroad. She is particularly concerned with executive abuses of power, violations of international humanitarian law, and the racism at the core of many post-9/11 national security policies. In her spare time, she works to advocate against drone strikes in Pakistan and other parts of the world. During her 1L summer she worked at the Center for Constitutional Rights where she conducted research on US targeted killings policy and on recidivism allegations against ex-Guantanamo detainees. She is a Stein Scholar, a board member of the National Lawyers Guild, the Immigration Advocacy Board, and the Muslim Law Student Association.
Jennifer Chiang graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 2008 with a dual degree in International Political Economy and Psychology. While in college, Jennifer worked extensively in the Asian-American community to form the Asian Pacific American Coalition, an umbrella council for the 25+ APA organizations present at the university that serves to unify the APA voice on campus. After graduating, she spent two years working as a Projects Coordinator for East Bay Housing Organizations, a non-profit affordable housing advocacy organization that strives to promote affordable housing opportunities and create a network of allies from all sectors of the affordable housing world. There, she helped to increase the membership base of support for EBHO’s affordable housing programs from 200 members to more than 350 members.
While a 1L at Fordham, Jennifer was involved with the Environmental Law Review, APALSA, and Universal Justice. This past summer, Jennifer worked in Kathmandu, Nepal with a non-governmental organization called Advocacy Forum. As an intern with Advocacy Forum, Jennifer conducted extensive international jurisprudence research on the relationship between criminal justice systems and transitional justice mechanisms in post-conflict countries.
Jerry Dickinson graduated with honors from the College of the Holy Cross in 2009, double majoring in Political Science and Sociology. His B.A. Honor’s thesis examined the Section 8 (S8) affordable housing program and its usefulness for poor black Americans upward social mobility. His thesis became the catalyst for his year as a Fulbright Scholar in 2009-2010 in Johannesburg, South Africa, during which time he completed his Master of Laws (LL.M) degree by dissertation, focusing his research on a comparative analysis of U.S. and South African housing policies and alternative accommodation for poor occupants facing imminent eviction from private property.
Jerry also worked full-time with the Litigation Unit at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) in Johannesburg during his Fulbright year. The Centre’s practice consisted of protecting poor families right to adequate housing in the inner city slums of Johannesburg and representing the families in arbitrary evictions proceedings. His objectives included consulting clients, writing affidavits for numerous eviction cases, and conducting qualitative interview projects. He recently completed his first law journal publication based on his work and studies overseas entitled, Blue Moonlight Rising: Evictions, Alternative Accommodation and A Comparative Perspective on Housing Solutions in Johannesburg.
He is a staff member for Fordham’s Environmental Law Review, a research assistant under Professor Russell Pearce, a Stein Scholar for Public Interest and Executive Member of the Housing Advocacy Project (HAP). He spent his first summer after 1L at the Law Department of the New York City Housing Authority.
Stephanie DiFazio graduated with honors from Washington University in St. Louis in 2009 with a dual degree in Political Science and International Area Studies (with a concentration in East Asia) and a minor in Chinese Language and Culture. During her junior year, Stephanie pursued her interest in international studies by studying at Capital Normal University in Beijing and the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. For her senior capstone project, Stephanie analyzed various forms of agency among Chinese Muslim women. After graduating, Stephanie taught second grade at Septima Clark Public Charter School, the first all-boys charter school in Washington, D.C.
During her first year at Fordham, Stephanie traveled to Kingston, Jamaica with the student group Universal Justice and conducted research for the Jamaica Environmental Trust. For her 1L summer, she interned with Legal Outreach, Inc., teaching incoming 9th graders from underserved NYC public schools criminal justice and criminal trial procedure. Stephanie is a staff member of the Urban Law Journal, a member of the Moot Court Board, a Legal Writing Teaching Assistant, and a board member of the Asia Law Society, the Lincoln Square Neighborhood Children’s Law Project, and the Catholic Law Student Association.
Zach Hudson is the New York representative for Handicap International and the coordinator of the United States Campaign to Ban Landmines & Cluster Bombs (USCBL), a coalition currently coordinated by Handicap International and consisting of U.S.-based non-governmental organizations and civil society dedicated to a total ban on antipersonnel landmines and cluster munitions. USCBL is one of 90 country campaigns that form the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), co-winner of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. Previously, Zach was deputy COO for the United Nations Association of the USA (UNA-USA) and program director for the Adopt-A-Minefield (AAM) and HERO programs, UNA-USA’s two humanitarian and development campaigns. As the AAM Program Director, Zach worked with the UN and other mine action partners to implement minefield clearance, survivor assistance, and mine risk education projects throughout the world. As the HERO Program Director, Zach coordinated and implemented development projects in sub-Saharan Africa aimed at assisting communities impacted by HIV/AIDS. Before joining UNA-USA, Zach also created and implemented a workforce reentry program in San Francisco designed to aid at-risk populations; worked for the International Red Cross in Bhuj, India, as a rescue worker in the aftermath of an 8.0 earthquake; and lived in Dublin, Ireland, where he was the acting International Business Development Manager for Tax Back International. Zach has a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Vassar College and a Master’s degree in International Peace Studies from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.
Leila Mokhtarzadeh graduated with honors from New York University in 2008, with a double major in Economics and Iberian Studies, and a minor in Business. While studying at NYU, Leila interned at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, where she drafted speeches and letters for Secretariat, including the President of the Department. She also assisted the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations. Leila later interned at the Global Justice Center, where she helped to train judges of the Iraq High Tribunal in the areas of gender-based crimes and international jurisprudence on gender. In addition to her internships, Leila spent two semesters studying abroad in Florence, Italy and Seville, Spain. As a result of her extensive travel and study abroad experience, Leila has gained familiarity with seven languages and plans to continue developing her language skills.
Upon graduating from NYU, Leila spent two years working as a paralegal at the employment law firm Outten &Golden, LLP. As the lead paralegal on several individual and class action cases, Leila developed her legal skills and promoted employee rights. While at Fordham Law School, Leila interned at the Virtue Foundation, where she worked to promote the role of women in the global judiciary and assisted with the launching of the Institute for Innovation and Philanthropy in Ghana. She returned to the Global Justice Center as a Leitner intern in the suummer of 2011, where she assisted in drafting a brief, which proposed that sexual abuse against civilians in armed conflict should be classified as an illegal weapon of war. Leila is also a staff member of the Fordham Urban Law Journal.
Jonathan David Park graduated from Vassar College in 2006 with a B.A. in Africana Studies. While at Vassar, he was heavily involved with the Vassar Prison Program, working with inmates at several prisons. Jonathan went on to study the effect of incarceration on the communities and families of prisoners, and interned with Dutchess County Criminal Justice Council.
At Fordham, Jonathan is a member of Prisoners' Rights Advocates and has led constitutional law workshops for juveniles incarcerated on Rikers Island. After his 1L year, he was a Leitner Summer Intern with the Resettlement Legal Aid Project at St. Andrew’s Refugee Services in Cairo, helping refugees from Iraq and Somalia to apply for resettlement in a safe third country.
Jeff Severson earned his B.A. in history from Carleton College. While there he spent a semester in Ireland and Northern Ireland focusing on Peace and Conflict Studies. After graduating he studied Spanish and taught English in Santiago, Chile. When he returned to the US he obtained a masters degree in International Relations and Comparative Politics from Columbia University, and subsequently worked for two years in the Africa division at Human Rights Watch.
At Fordham Jeff is a Stein Scholar for Public Interest, a staff member of the Fordham International Law Journal, and a member of Universal Justice and Amnesty International. Jeff spent his 1L summer as a Leitner Fellow at the Southern Africa Litigation Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa, which aids lawyers in conducting strategic human rights litigation and works to strengthen the rule of law in southern Africa.
