357 GDH, Box 211
Doctoral Fellow
372 Grace Dodge Hall
Sara is a Hillary Rodham Clinton (HRC) Global Challenges Scholar from Venezuela. She recently completed with the highest distinction the Masters in "Global Challenges: Law, Policy and Practice" at the School of Law of Swansea University under the HRC scholarship program. Sara's research focuses on the impact of climate change-related displacement and migration on girls' access to education in Guatemala and Honduras. She will continue this research at TC, Columbia University. She has worked with UNICEF UK on this topic as well. In addition, she has been part of the legal team at Child Rights Connect in Geneva, Switzerland. Sara holds a Summa Cum Laude BA degree with a double major in "Social Research and Public Policy", and "Theatre" from New York University (Abu Dhabi campus). She has also worked on education projects in Venezuela, Canada, India, Italy, Lebanon, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates. Sara was elected Youth Mayor of the Chacao Municipality in Venezuela between 2010 and 2014. She studied at the United World College of India and is a Dalai Lama Fellow from the University of Virginia. She enjoys playing sports, the outdoors, and Latin dance.
Doctoral Fellow
372 Grace Dodge Hall
Arnela Colic holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master of Arts in International Education Policy Analysis from Stanford University, where she was a Graduate School of Education Dean's Fellow. Her service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kosovo shaped her scholarship, which examines the role of education in peacebuilding and nation-state (re)building, highlighting the reconciliation of national and international interests in this process, with the goal of informing policy development and reform. While broadly interested in multi-ethnic post-conflict contexts, her previous works centers primarily on Eastern Europe and her master's thesis explored conceptions of national identity in Kosovo's Albanian and Serbian history textbooks. In addition to her research, Arnela consults with the Global Partnership for Education on education finance and data systems, taught human rights education in a New York high school as a Zankel Fellow, and managed civic education and leadership programs for high school at a national non-profit
Doctoral Fellow
372 Grace Dodge Hall
Darren is interested studying the impacts of education and human well-being on climate change. Specifically, how are human behavior and activities, which are seen to be the main cause of climate change, influenced by education and an individual's well-being? I am interested in exploring how education can curtail human behaviors that contribute to climate change and, in turn, support countries' sustainable development efforts toward greener economies, political structures and societies.
Doctoral Fellow
372 Grace Dodge Hall
Prior to joining the program, Tomás earned a Master’s in Public Administration at Columbia University and an M.A. in Policy Studies in Education at UCL Institute of Education in England. Before moving to the US, Tomás served as an education policy advisor at the Municipality of La Matanza, the largest school district in Argentina. Later, he worked as a researcher for UNESCO-IIEP on a project about secondary education in Latin America and as a research consultant for different projects for NORRAG. Furthermore, during his time as a master’s student at Columbia, he worked as Teaching Assistant in the class “Structural Reform for Public Education”. Tomas’ research interests include educational privatization, public-private partnerships, school reform, education governance, and new philanthropy in Latin America.
Doctoral Fellow
372 Grace Dodge Hall
Camille grew up between Cameroon and France and worked in Asia, Africa, America and Europe. She developed her career around business entrepreneurship and strategy consulting, African development, and education. Her passion for education led her to pursue a MA in International Education at Stanford, during which she investigated the relationship between International Governmental Organizations and sub-Saharan education programs, through a three-country case study analysis of Cameroon, Nigeria, and Rwanda. As a scholar in International Educational Development, she intends to better understand and participate in improving access to learning in Africa while focusing her future research work on understanding how youth education has consequences on political and economic participation in Cameroon.
Doctoral Fellow
372 Grace Dodge Hall
Tiffany’s research interests focus on accelerated learning programs as interim solutions for out of school children in conflict contexts. She plans to examine student trajectory and experience in these programs as well as their applicability in other areas such as the Middle East. Prior to Columbia, she has worked as an Instructor at the American University of Iraq Baghdad. Her previous roles include Senior Education Consultant in Abu Dhabi for the KHDA, English Language Fellow at the Military Academy in Budapest, and a Senior Development Trainer for Afghan National Police in Afghanistan. She is also a former Peace Corps Volunteer in Jordan and Moldova. She holds an Ed.M. in International Education from Harvard University and an M.A. in Human Rights from University of Essex.