The 2024 AU & Beyond Expo will explore three areas of experiential learning: community engagement, research and scholarship, and career development through leadership.
We are pleased to introduce the panelists for the 2024 expo! This page will be continuously updated as the Expo approaches.
Opening Remarks
Calista Schloessmann in conversation with Associate Dean of Faculty and Inclusive Excellence, Priya Doshi.
Calista Schloessmann is a second-year student studying International Studies, and she has a deep passion for experiential learning and nonprofit work. In October 2022, she began volunteering as a civics class instructor for the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), facilitating courses for Spanish-speaking permanent residents who are studying to pass their citizenship test with United States Customs and Immigration Services. This volunteer position later evolved into an internship in both the citizenship office and now with the legal team at CARECEN. After graduation, Calista hopes to work in the nonprofit sector, focusing on immigrant rights and justice.
Research & Scholarship Panelists
Krithika Sambamurthy is freshman at American University, majoring in Legal Studies. She is very passionate about looking into human rights abuses, specifically in the United States but around the world as well. She has a background in grassroots campaigning for various nonprofits that supported the same general goal of wanting to make a change in our legal system. She traveled with her honors research class to Belgium and the Netherlands to help us better understand the context of human rights abuses and how to help combat them on an international scale.
Ava Barabasz is a graduate student in the Public History Department (’25). She is the current Outreach Fellow at the University Archives where she creates social media content and exhibits in collaboration with the University Library. Her research interests are in the relationship between Indigenous nations and the federal government during the early 20th century in the Pacific Northwest and civil rights activism.
Aiden McPhillips is a Sociology major (’25) and part of the 2022-2023 cohort of AU’s Community Based Research Scholars. As a first-year student, Aiden worked with Thrive DC, a local nonprofit providing free meals and other services for housing-insecure, disabled, and impoverished individuals, to conduct research with clients about their service needs and track demographic patterns to improve satisfaction and efficiency.
Abigail Sharkis is a senior in the School of Public Affairs majoring in Political Science with minors in the School of International Service and Economics. She has experience as an independent researcher in the Summer Scholars and Artists Program and as a research assistant through the Public Affairs and Policy Lab. Currently, she is working as an undergraduate fellow with the Peace and Violence Research Lab on a project involving international aid distribution and civilian casualty rates in Sub-Saharan Africa. Abby is also a member of the SPA Honors program and is completing her capstone research on the impact of demographic shifts on the language used by Republican Senators when discussing January 6th.
Community Engagement Panelists
Annie Berlin is a Senior at American University who was a part of the Community Based Research Scholars her sophomore year. She worked with the Latin American Youth Center during her sophomore year which catapulted her toward adding a second major in Environmental Studies where she focused on sustainable agriculture. She has also participated in various activities on campus such as the gardening club and her sorority. In her free time, she likes to read and play guitar.
Riya Bhalla is a student in the School of Public Affairs and Kogod School of Business double majoring in Justice, Law, and Criminology and Business Administration. Passionate about philanthropy and making a positive impact, her experience in experiential learning at AU helped her foster creativity, critical thinking, and real-world problem-solving skills. Riya brings a unique perspective shaped by her time volunteering with Horton’s Kids as a part of her CORE-105 course. She believes that by embracing experiential learning opportunities, students can unlock their full potential and make meaningful contributions to their communities and beyond.
Georgia Calimeres is an International Development master’s student at the School of International Service, with a concentration in community development. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from Eckerd College. Her community engagement interests lie in advocating for Puerto Rico’s autonomy and is the co-leader of the 2023 Alternative Break trip, Building Community Initiatives for Autonomy and Sustainable Development.
Madison Shomaker is a second-year Public Anthropology master’s student at American University. Through ethnography and the archive, her research explores global health, ecology, activism, militarization, biopolitics, memory, and communication. Her current research is on environmental activism related to radioactive waste in St. Louis, Missouri. Madison graduated with a BA in anthropology and journalism from the University of Missouri in 2021 before teaching English in Prague, Czech Republic, serving as the Adult Education Coordinator at the Vietnamese Association of Illinois in Chicago, IL, and eventually moving to Washington, DC to pursue an MA in Public Anthropology at American University. Her professional and academic experience spans disciplinary boundaries covering journalism, international relations, and anthropology. She presently works for AU’s Center for Latin American and Latino Studies and serves as the President of the Arts and Sciences Graduate Student Council.
Career Development & Leadership Panelists
Mina Allen is a multimedia journalist and student library worker from Osaka, Japan. She speaks and writes in both Japanese and English fluently. Mina is a Journalism and Legal Studies double major at American University where she will be graduating in may. Mina is currently the Co President of American University’s Asian American Journalism Association where she works to create events to connect the Asian American journalist community at American University with journalists all over the country. Her work has ranged from covering American University’s staff strikes to recently covering the New Hampshire primaries. She has worked in the past as an intern for Voice of America Press Freedom unit, The Durango Herald as a Capitol Hill news reporting intern, Current as an editorial intern and most recently as a newsgathering intern for Fuji TV. Mina hopes to report on politics and legal topics and continue to report on underrepresented communities such as her own. Outside of news and reporting, Mina dances for her school’s K-pop dance team K-District and loves to bake.
Sarah Holston is a senior at AU, majoring in International Relations and Arabic Language. This year, Sarah served as the education chair for AU Alternative Break, where she co-led and planned a trip to Accra, Ghana to learn about cultural legacies in higher education. She currently works at AU library and is a member of the Library Student Advisor Committee. She is also the vice president of AU NAISA and volunteers at Carpe Librum Book sales. In 2022, she received the SALAM scholarship from the Omani embassy to study Arabic in Manah, Oman for the summer. In addition to her on campus work, her hobbies include cooking, traveling, and reading.
