Congressional Progressive Caucus Fellowship

In 2007, AUNE's Advocacy for Social Justice and Sustainability concentration launched a first-of-its-kind fellowship in cooperation with the 80-plus member US Congressional Progressive Caucus. Antioch University New England's Fellowship allows at least one EAOP student or alumni to work in Washington, DC for the Caucus and its members every summer. “This is the start of a great, mutually beneficial collaboration between the CPC and AUNE students and faculty,” CPC Co-Chair U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) noted. “AUNE's Environmental Advocacy and Organizing Program graduate students will help CPC Members address a wide variety of environmental challenges from global warming to environmental justice.” AUNE is the only academic institution in the country to host this type of learning and professional development opportunity with the CPC.

Fellowship Recipients

Wendy Stott - 2010
Wendy hails from Cape Girardeau, Missouri. She is a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University, where she studied anthropology and philosophy. After graduating in 2005 she worked as a case manager for Child Protective Services in Phoenix where she managed an independent case load of children in out-of-home care. She left Phoenix to come to AUNE to study environmental advocacy and organizing. During her graduate studies at AUNE, Wendy has led projects to appeal human rights violations resulting from hardrock mining in Nevada to the United Nations and to document the impact on biodiversity of major hardrock mining operations worldwide. She has also served as the project point person for the Antioch New England Institute Cool Monadnock, Neighbors Helping Neighbors project, in partnership with Clean Air-Cool Planet. Wendy will graduate in May 2010 and plans to work in the field of environmental justice with indigenous communities.

Read Wendy's Hill journal entries.

Christeallia Amorosi - 2009
Christeallia is the third Antioch Congressional Progressive Caucus Fellow to work with Representative Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ,), who has taken on co-chairmanship of the Caucus and also chairs the U.S. House of Representatives' Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands. On behalf of the Caucus, Rep. Grijalva noted that, "We welcome the continuation of this partnership as it enters its third year. Antioch University New England’s Advocacy for Social Justice and Sustainability concentration graduate students are helping address a wide variety of urgent public policy challenges from the local to the international levels."

With parents in the military, Christeallia attended three high schools and graduated from Calhoun County High School in West Virginia. While there, she took every math and most of the science classes offered. She graduated in May 2001 with high honors, a member of Mu Alpha Theta, and the National Honors Society. Christeallia left the small town of Grantsville, West Virginia, to attend Pennsylvania State University to pursue a career in chemistry. Her focus changed from research in chemistry labs to the environmental sciences, and she graduated with a major in science, with a concentration in environmental courses. Through Antioch University New England’s Environmental Advocacy and Organizing program, she has been able to draw on her chemistry background and apply it to her ambition of policy change. While at Antioch, Christeallia strengthened her knowledge and experience with public policy through practicums with Advocates for Community Empowerment and in the Keene office of U. S. Representative Paul Hodes (D-NH).

"I am excited to receive this opportunity to further my future in advocacy and public policy. I hope to create networks and develop key relationships that will be vital in my work for environmental and social justice change. I look forward to working in Representative Grijalva’s office where I hope to make a meaningful contribution while pursuing my interest in public policy."

Read Christeallia's Hill journal entries.

Morey Burnham - 2008
Morey worked with Representative Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ,), who chaired the house subcommittee on national parks, forests, and public lands. Congressman Grijalva also served as vice chair of the progressive caucus and heads its environment task force and has been recognized as a leader in environmental conservation by the Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife.

Morey hails from West Hartford, Connecticut. After graduating from the University of Connecticut with a degree in English literature, Morey worked on an organic coffee farm in Hawaii, was a volunteer English teacher for Literacy Volunteers of Greater Hartford and in China with WorldTeach. He spent last summer in Belize, working with Sustainable Harvest International on sustainable agriculture and community development projects. During his studies at Antioch University New England, Morey also worked on advocacy projects for the Western Shoshone Defense Project and the New Hampshire Rivers Council.

Read Morey's journal entries.

Crissy Heide - 2007
The first Environmental Advocacy and Organizing Program student to be selected by the US Congressional Caucus to serve as a Fellow was Crissy Heide, who worked with Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ, 7th Congressional District), who chairs the House Committee on Natural Resources's Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands. Rep. Grijalva also heads the Progressive Caucus's Environment Task Force and has been recognized as a leader in environmental conservation by the Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife. As he said of Crissy, “I am honored to participate with the Congressional Progressive Caucus in Antioch University's Environmental Advocacy and Organizing Program's Fellowship, and I welcome this year's Fellow, Crissy Heide.”

Crissy came to Antioch's EAOP after two years of working in the field of environmental education in rural New Jersey. During her graduate studies, she organized Keene's Earth Day Festival, the Step It Up Congress Rally in Keene, worked on Sierra Club's Cool Cities Campaign, chaired Antioch's Student Alliance, and has worked with Rhode Island's Valley Alliance for Smart Growth to ensure wetlands protection on lands slated for big-box-store development. Crissy was raised in Indiana, where she graduated from Lafayette Jefferson High School and received a BS in Wildlife Science from Purdue University.

Read Crissy's journal entries.

Last Updated: 7/19/10