The Department of Anthropology congratulates faculty and graduate students recognized in the Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute’s 2026 funding awards.

Sarah Willen, Professor of Anthropology and Co-Director of the Global Health and Human Rights Program, received a Faculty Seed Grant for her project, “Public Health in Crisis: Tracing the Multi-level Impact and Human Rights Implications of Gender-Based Violence Prevention Program Closures at CDC.”

Madeline Baird, Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology, was awarded a 2026–27 Dissertation Writing Fellowship for “Embodied Borders: Navigating Transit Migration and U.S. Asylum Access.”

Elyse Smith, Ph.D. Student in Anthropology, received a 2026 Graduate Student Research Grant for “Collaborative Ethnography on the Native American Political Ecologies of Peyote.”

These awards recognize the important contributions of Anthropology faculty and students to human rights research, addressing issues of public health, migration and asylum, Indigenous communities, and social justice.

Congratulations to Sarah, Madeline, and Elyse on these well-deserved achievements.