Last Wednesday, April 17, three undergraduate students were recognized by the Center for Peace and Justice as finalists for outstanding research papers in a panel hosted at Falvey Library. These students wrote the top three submissions for the St. Catherine of Siena Award, which is given out annually “for a research project relevant to peace and justice issues,” according to the Peace and Justice website.
Dr. Billie Murray, the Assistant Director of Academics for Peace and Justice, kicked off the panel by introducing the award and its significance. Named after St. Catherine of Siena, the award was inspired by the fourteenth-century nun, who was the second woman declared doctor of the Catholic Church for her great influence over church teaching and her native Italy. Her commitment to learning and pursuing peace throughout her life is why she is the award’s namesake.
Senior Katie Jordan, a double major in political science and economics, was named the 2024 recipient of the award after a process of anonymous review. Her paper was titled “Land and Integrated Settlements: Evaluating Uganda’s Self-Reliance Model of Refugee Resettlement.” Melding her economics background with a theme of peace and justice, her paper explored developments and analytics surrounding the issue of refugee resettlement in Uganda, where 1.5 million refugees currently reside. Under the Ugandan model, Jordan said, refugees have “freedom of movement” and live under a “self-reliance” policy that contrasts with refugee settlements in other nations. Jordan’s analysis was thorough and precise, wowing the room with metrics and formulas devised to answer hypotheses surrounding Uganda’s policy.
Senior Natalie Schirmacher, the 2023 recipient of the award, was among the other two recognized, this time for her paper titled “A Eudaimonistic Critique of the United States Immigration System.” Using an ethics perspective, she criticizes what she dubs the current deontological mindset of America when approaching immigration, one overly focused on processes and execution of duty without consideration for human consequence.
Junior Tricia Colaprete was the third honoree, selected for her research linking the Stanley Milgrim obedience experiments to the Rwandan genocide. She concluded that there were too many complexities to the genocide in Rwanda to use any one method of analysis to explain it, but that Milgrim’s findings demonstrated the lengths humans might be willing to go in obeying authority.
After the three finalists completed their presentations, a short panel discussion followed, during which they answered questions and expanded on their research. All seemed enthusiastic and passionate about their issues of peace and justice. No doubt, St. Catherine of Siena would be proud of these Villanovan scholars.
