Brooke Burrows

As a double major in Human Rights and Psychology, Brooke has long been interested in how and why conflicts develop as well as how to identify sustainable interventions that can help break cycles of violence. During her undergraduate career at Columbia, Brooke served as a Lead Activist for the Columbia Democrats as well as a Policy Director for the Columbia University Students for Human Rights, advocating successfully for the group's official establishment. Her work at The Fortune Society as part of a Kenneth Cole Community Engagement Fellowship enabled her to examine critically the criminal justice system in the United States while an internship at Doctors Without Borders during the Ebola crisis gave her a inside perspective on the complexity of international humanitarian aid work. After studying abroad in Dharamsala, India, Brooke wrote her senior human rights seminar paper on how the Tibetan Exile community understands and employs human rights rhetoric in their political and social struggle. Following graduation, Brooke completed service as a Peace Corps Community and Youth Development Volunteer in Armenia before undertaking an AmeriCorps Project Conserve position in her hometown of Brevard, North Carolina. In fall of 2018, Brooke will enter UMass Amherst's Psychology of Peace and Violence Program in pursuit of a doctoral degree in Social Psychology.