CHA Graduate Student Fellows

CHA Graduate Fellows 2025-2026

Sean Bray

Dissertation Completion Fellow鈥 Germanic & Slavic Languages & Literatures

Sean Bray is a PhD candidate in German Studies, focusing on film, visual media, and critical theory. His dissertation examines the period after fascism (1960s-80) as a moment of racial formation in East and West Germany. His research uses film as a vehicle for understanding how race is being conceptualized and spoken about 鈥 or perhaps, tellingly, not spoken about 鈥 at this time. Operating across...

Dissertation Fellow鈥 Communication 鈥 Media Studies

JEDI Fellow鈥 Communication 鈥 Media Studies

M. Hadassah Ward (they/she) is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication at the 麻豆免费版下载. Their dissertation project, 鈥淭RANScending Family,鈥 explores how transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people manage tensions between gender identity and religious morality with talk. By holding a series of focus groups designed to feel like queer brunch events.

John Newton

Eaton Fellow鈥 Religious Studies

Originally from Northeast England, John has lived in Amsterdam for nearly a decade. He holds an undergraduate degree in Psychology & Society, specializing in Transpersonal Psychology and critical approached to dominant psychological and psychiatric practices. He has applied this work in the field by providing emergency drug harm鈥憆eduction services at music festivals.

John previously worked as a facilitator for legal psychedelic retreats and has co鈥慼osted residencies at the Life Itself Institute focused on contemplative practice and community dialogue. He has trained extensively in the Buddhist insight meditation tradition and recently completed a foundation training in Psychotherapy & Counseling at Regent鈥檚 University London.

As an artist and promoter of the public humanities, John is especially passionate about community cinema as a means of creating para鈥慳cademic spaces where public scholarship can thrive. He is currently a graduate student in the Religious Studies department at 麻豆免费版下载Boulder and the Eaton Fellow of the Center for Humanities & the Arts (CHA).

Past CHA Graduate Student Fellows

2024鈥2025

  • Emma Piper-Burket* 鈥 Critical Media Practices
    Dissertation Fellow
  • Allan Tellis 鈥 Political Science
    Dissertation Fellow
  • Claire Hwayeon Lee 鈥 Anthropology
    Dissertation Fellow

2023鈥2024

  • Sharmin Afroz, PhD Candidate 鈥 Religious Studies
    Incoming Graduate Student Fellow
  • Scarlett Engle 鈥 Anthropology
    Dissertation Fellow
  • Denise Fernades 鈥 Environmental Studies
    Dissertation Fellow
  • Ashlyn King Barnett 鈥 Theatre & Dance
    Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Fellow

2022鈥2023

  • Alana Adams, PhD Candidate 鈥 Ethnic Studies
    Incoming Graduate Student Fellow
  • Page McClean, PhD Candidate 鈥 Anthropology
    Dissertation Fellow
  • Candace Nunag Tard铆o, MFA Candidate 鈥 English
    JEDI Completion Fellow
  • Dawa T. Lokyitsang, PhD Candidate 鈥 Anthropology
    JEDI Completion Fellow

2021鈥2022

Student Quotes

"I will be forever grateful for the time and space that the听fellowship year supported me to write and think deeply about my research." - K. Clement, PhD Candidate History

"As most (if not all) of my fellow graduate students will tell you, imposter syndrome is something that hits us hard in our frst year; confdence in my research, writing, and studies is something I have regrettably lacked. This fellowship really has made me feel that someone believes in me and that I belong at this university." Incoming CHA Fellow