Alumni Directory Display

Frances Kim Walters 2002-2003 Fellow with University of Cape Town Quantitative Literacy Project, South Africa Princeton University Class of 2001

Alumni Update:

After her fellowship, Frances traveled around the globe. On her return to the US, Frances took an AmeriCorps position in an inner-city high school in Boston, and then taught for 2 years in a San Diego middle school. Frances then returned home to Ann Arbor, MI to attend law school. She moved to Washington after graduation and worked for a law firm for 3 years before landing her dream job with the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, where she investigates claims of innocence and litigates them if she finds them credible and legally viable.

Tiffany King 2010-2011 Fellow with Plan International, Uganda University of Virginia Class of 2010

Fellow Bio:

Tiffany ’09 was an Anthropology and French double-major at the University of Virginia. She is a Liberian-American who lived throughout Africa during her childhood. At the University of Virginia, Tiffany was an active member of the organization of African Students and her fourth year participated in a year-long academic internship program in which she worked for a local nonprofit organization. In her free time, she enjoys playing tennis, reading, and cooking dishes from all around the world. UVA alum, Tiffany spent the past year working for two NGOs: Africare (in Washington, DC) and the American Jewish World Service (in New York City). While in Uganda, next year, Tiffany looks forward to getting acquainted with the local culture and food, and learning a lot about herself in the process.

Hilary Kinka website photoHilary Kinka 2014-2015 Fellow with Population Services International, Kenya Johns Hopkins University Class of 2010

Hilary recently finished her Master’s Degree at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where she studied International Development. She spent the first year of her MA on the SAIS campus in Bologna, Italy, and then worked in Paris last summer as a consultant for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Interested in global health, Hilary was an Emergency Health and Nutrition intern for Save the Children in DC this past fall, and looks forward to gaining more experience with PSI in Nairobi next year. Hilary also received her BA from Johns Hopkins, where she pursued a double major in International Studies and Spanish, and a minor in Entrepreneurship & Management. She loves traveling, biking, and running, and is hoping to explore East Africa and learn Swahili while in Kenya.

Ruby Kirby 2017-2018 Fellow with Indigenous Education Foundation of Tanzania, Tanzania University of Michigan Class of 2017

Alumni Update:

Ruby is currently the Internship Coordinator at Generations Ahead, an organization that empowers young parents, in Traverse City, Michigan.

Fellow Bio:

Ruby graduated from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan in 2017, focusing in African Development and Policy. At the University of Michigan, Ruby was the co-president of the Roosevelt Institute, a student-run policy think tank. Through Roosevelt, she led an initiative to increase the university’s procurement from local women- and minority-owned businesses and published a policy on reforming regulations for Michigan charter schools in the national 10 Ideas Journal. She was also president of the Advisory Council for the Global Scholars Program (GSP), a living community focused on global social justice. Ruby has interned with the Niger Delta Partnership Initiative in Washington, D.C., the Department of State at the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania, and local political campaigns in her hometown of Traverse City, Michigan. While working at the Embassy, Ruby loved traveling to speak with students about higher education and testing out her Swahili on her very patient co-workers. She is extremely excited to return to Tanzania and work with IEFT. Ruby loves reading by the lake (any lake), her dog, Rosie, and hosting game nights with friends.

Ryan Kirlin 2013-2014 Fellow with UN World Food Programme, Senegal Johns Hopkins University Class of 2013

Alumni Update:

Ryan currently works as a Program Officer with FHI 360.

Fellow Bio:

Ryan is from Holland, Pennsylvania and graduated with a degree in Anthropology. Interested in the intersections between public health, culture and food, Ryan conducted senior thesis research on neighborhood food access in Baltimore city and worked for a year as a research assistant at the Center for a Livable Future. At Hopkins, he participated in the Baltimore Collegetown Leadershape Program and organized food justice volunteer initiatives through the Center for Social Concern. Abroad, Ryan interned for a summer with the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health and Population Services International in Kigali, Rwanda, spent a semester studying abroad across Kenya, and pursued an independent study of the street food industry in Kisumu, Kenya. Ryan looks forward to picking up some Wolof, traveling through West Africa and exploring Senegalese culture this upcoming year.

Koenen_Liselot_WebsiteLiselot Koenen 2016-2017 Fellow with mothers2mothers, South Africa Georgetown University Class of 2016

While originally from the Netherlands, Liselot spent majority of her life living in different cities across America and now calls Baton Rouge, Louisiana, home. She graduated in May 2016 from Georgetown University, where she majored in International Health. While at Georgetown, she was a volunteer and community outreach intern for DC SCORES, a health-policy research intern at the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), and a volunteer in the DC community as a tutor and teaching assistant. During her senior fall semester, Liselot was a researcher at the National Institute of Medical Research in Dar es Salaam, completing her senior thesis on anemia and its risk factors in children under the age of two in rural Tanzania. Throughout college, Liselot was also a member of the varsity tennis team. When not playing tennis, her summer experiences included being an ambassador and a high school teacher in Zanzibar for America’s Unofficial Ambassadors, a fitness fundraising intern at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and a neurology nursing assistant at a hospital in Amsterdam. She is looking forward to discovering a new part of Africa, continuing to work in the public health sphere, meeting new people, and hopefully using her fluency in Dutch to learn some Afrikaans.

Julie Kornfeld 2011-2012 Fellow with Lutheran World Federation, Uganda Northwestern University Class of 2011

Alumni Update:

Julie is continuing to work as a Staff Attorney at the International Refugee Assistance Project where she represents forced migrants in the legal processes to safety.

Fellow Bio:

Julie (Northwestern ‘11) is from West Bloomfield, Michigan and studied Social Policy, Political Science and Global Health in college. During her time at Northwestern, she co-directed the Northwestern University Conference on Human Rights, the largest-undergraduate student-run, student-attended conference on human rights in the country. She wrote her honor’s thesis on the effects of overseas cultural orientation programs on refugees’ perceptions of America and studied the traditional and modern health fields in Kampala, Uganda. Julie has worked for both Heartland Alliance and Refugee One doing advocacy and resettlement work with refugees. Julie is thrilled to be returning to Uganda next year to work with the Lutheran World Federation. She is excited to eat matooke, practice her Ugandan dance moves and meet inspiring people.

Emily Kossow 2011-2012 Fellow with Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative, Botswana Wesleyan Class of 2011

Fellow Bio:

Emily (Wesleyan ‘11) is from Princeton, NJ. She majored in Psychology and French Studies and received the Writing Certificate. At Wesleyan, Emily was a member of the club ski team, the Ebony Singers gospel choir, and she led a community service group that taught elementary school children about disabilities through puppet theater. While in Botswana next year, Emily looks forward to learning more about pediatric HIV/AIDS care before she heads off to medical school.

Malika Kounkourou 2022-2023 Fellow with Population Services International, Côte d’Ivoire Boston University Class of 2022

Malika Kounkourou graduated from Boston University (BU) with a degree in International Relations concentrating on Environment and Development in Africa and the Middle East. She completed her senior honors thesis on rethinking sustainable environmental peacebuilding through a case study of uranium mining governance in Niger. Her research highlights necessary contextual factors to consider for the sustainability of a prospective environmental peacebuilding process with the aim of targeting root causes of development and security issues facing indigenous populations and fostering sustainable livelihoods. As a proud daughter of Nigerien immigrants, Malika is passionate about preserving her heritage through her cultural revival brand, Tchidite. Beyond a business, her brand is geared towards reclaiming Tuareg culture through an educational platform as well as combating unemployment by collaborating with Tuareg artisans. Working with Ihsan Foundation and FIPSO Niger, she fundraises, budgets, and manages projects providing humanitarian relief to vulnerable populations facing public health crises. She strives to work with NGOs, IGOs, and governments to find long-term research-based solutions targeting development issues on an institutional level. Driven by her aspiration to advance sustainable development on the African continent, Malika is honored to join Population Services International as a Regional Health Fellow and contribute to the data-driven work they do to shape markets and shift policy to better support consumer empowered healthcare.

Nduulwa Kowa 2021-2022 Fellow with , Ghana University of Nebraska at Omaha Class of 2016

A native of Zambia, Nduulwa has been driven by her curiosity to discover innovative solutions to some of the most pressing issues we face. Over the last five years, she has worked to push projects and marketing campaigns forward at a number of nonprofits and startups. Previously, she worked as a marketing and program management consultant for the UMKC Innovation Center’s Technology Venture Studio. As a consultant, she evaluated potential program participants and implemented the studio’s marketing and communications strategy. Nduulwa was also a part of the founding team at WeJapa, a startup connecting companies to tech talent in Africa. She served as chief marketing officer and led the company’s inbound and outbound marketing strategy, resulting in the on boarding of fifteen hiring partners across Africa and Europe. At the Women’s Fund of Omaha, she worked to implement innovative marketing strategies for the fund’s Adolescent Health Project. While at the fund, she managed a social media influencer program, the 2019 summer internship program, and served as project manager and liaison for I Be Black Girl, an initiative that funds grassroots organizations led by Black women and girls. After earning her MBA in 2019, she began to wonder what role business and entrepreneurship can play in Africa’s growth and development and went on to launch Dear Diaspora, a podcast spotlighting African entrepreneurs transforming Africa’s challenges into business opportunities. Recognizing the public sector’s role in creating an enabling environment for business and beyond, she looks forward to gaining a more holistic perspective as a program fellow with Emerging Public Leaders in Ghana.

Our History

In 1999, a group of Princeton alumni, faculty, and staff launched Princeton in Africa as an independent affiliate of Princeton University inspired by the University’s informal motto, “Princeton in the Nation’s Service and in the Service of All Nations.” In 2010, the program opened up to include graduates of any US accredited university in order to meet the growing demand from host organizations and allow more young professionals access to the unique opportunities afforded by PiAf. During the past 20 years, we have placed over 600 Fellows with more than 100 organizations in 36 countries, while developing more strategic partnerships across Africa and creating more opportunities for our alumni community to engage with the continent and with one another.

Testimonials

The International Rescue Committee has been so fortunate to have had a longstanding relationship with Princeton in Africa since our very first Fellows landed in Rwanda in 1999.  Whether it was Emily or Renee in 1999 or the 110 Fellows across 14 IRC countries over the years, we have been blessed by the relationship, the quality of the Fellows and the impact on what IRC does on the ground every single day.

Brian Johnson
Chief Human Resources Officer
International Rescue Committee

My fellowship has been the most impactful personal and professional development opportunity of my life. I wanted a post-college experience that would push my limits, expand my comfort zone, and help me discern the next steps in my career journey. And this has been the case.

Ryan Elliott
2014-15 Fellow
Baylor Pediatric AIDS Initiative in Lesotho

I can honestly say that this year has changed my life and my view of what’s possible for the future. Princeton in Africa isn’t just a one-year fellowship, it’s an introduction to a particular way of life and a new way of thinking about the world. I feel like so many doors are open now that I never would have considered before.

Katie Fackler
2010-11 Fellow
UN World Food Programme

My Princeton in Africa fellowship was everything I could have hoped for and much more. The myriad of experiences makes my head swim, and it has strengthened my desire to help underserved populations worldwide.

David Bartels
2006-2007 Fellow
Baylor Pediatric AIDS Initiative

Princeton in Africa was an invaluable experience for me. I learned an infinite amount through my work and through living in Uganda. I also realized that I want to continue working on African issues as long as I can.

Alexis Okeowo
2006-2007 Fellow
The New Vision

The International Rescue Committee’s experience with Princeton in Africa has been exceptional. Each Fellow brings excellent writing and analytical skills as well as unique interests and passions that enrich the program and the field office environment. We were so pleased we expanded the program to more field offices.

Susan Riehl
Human Resources, IRC

The Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation has been working in Africa for over 11 years through its Secure the Future program.  One common theme in all aspects of program implementation is having passionate, energetic individuals on the ground who can think outside the box and then transfer the skills for sustainability.  The Princeton In Africa Fellows have been a huge asset in this regard and our programs and patients have been better for it.

John Damonti
President, Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation