The Duke Human Rights Center at the Kenan Institute for Ethics offers summer internships with organizations looking to make business work for communities, not just bottom lines. As these organizations must be adaptive and responsive in this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, so must these students. They will work remotely this summer, exploring the compromises, contradictions, and trade-offs between business needs and human rights within and outside of the corporate world. In addition to working with the partner organizations, students will profile a leader in their organization via a “virtual coffee” and write “letters from home” contemplating the best ways to affect change in corporate human rights practices from their remote vantage points. Visit the Pathways of Change Blog.
Ryan Geitner
Ryan Geitner, placed with Business for Social Responsibility, is a rising Senior from Hickory, NC. She is majoring in Political Science and Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, while also pursuing a Certificate in Human Rights. She is spending her junior year in Amman, Jordan studying Arabic and the interplay between the nation-state model and international human rights regime. At Duke, Ryan is involved in Bass Connections research, the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy, the Duke Political Review, and works as a literacy tutor through the America Reads/America Counts program.
Bhamini Vellanki
Bhamini Vellanki, placed with SAS, is a sophomore from Cary, NC pursuing an Interdepartmental Major in Neuroscience and Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies, a Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Minor, and the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Certificate. She is passionate about the applications of intersectionality in human rights and the way in which corporate social responsibility can further women’s rights and women’s health advocacy. On campus, she is a Research Assistant at the Center for Research to Advance Health Equity, a part of the Penny Pilgrim George Women’s Leadership Initiative, a mentor in the Kenan Institute of Ethics Global Migration Program, and a member of the Student Founders Program.
Alice Wu
Alice Wu, placed with Business for Social Responsibility, is a rising junior from Cleveland, Ohio. She is studying Public Policy and pursuing a certificate in Markets and Management. Alice is passionate about advancing social good by promoting collaboration between businesses, NGOs, governments, and other organizations. She is a freshman small group leader for Asian InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, a council member for American Grand Strategy, and works remotely for a NYC-based startup.
Zac Johnson
Zac Johnson, placed with Accountability Counsel, is majoring in Public Policy and History and planning to earn the Human Rights Certificate. From Hillsborough, North Carolina, he attended school in Chapel Hill until coming to Duke. On campus, he sit on the Services and Sustainability Committee in Student Government and works at the FHI Human Rights Center. He is primarily interested in studying systems of power and their propagation through legal frameworks.
Originally posted on the Kenan Institute for Ethics website
