Working Group on Refugees, Europe, and Service Learning

Now in its sixth year, WRESL – the Working Group on Refugees, Europe, and Service Learning – provides an informal space in which some of the Center for European Studies’ undergraduates, Excel EURO-TAM students, can discuss the circumstances of refugees in Europe and the US. This group actively seeks out opportunities to learn about the immigrant experience on both sides of the Atlantic and to engage with those involved in integration processes. Thus far, we have focused attention on the efforts of refugee assistance programs (Church World Service), community partnerships (Transplanting Traditions), student volunteer tutors, as well as international photographers and film makers. As the name suggests, we are interested in wrestling with the challenges and successes of migrants and the ways in which non-migrants contribute to the immigrant experience.

WRESL event: Friday, April 21, 2023 at 5pm

Please join us in GEC 2008! We will hear from one of the Global Studies MA students who will discuss her work with refugees in Greece.

Eleni Econopouly is a second-year master’s student in the department of Global Studies. Her current research focuses on adaptation and social transformation during periods of crisis. Her master’s capstone examined the anarchist neighborhood of Exarchia, in Athens, Greece, and explored the adaptations strategies employed by the neighborhood’s residents, including Greek activists and refugees, throughout the Greek debt disaster and the refugee crisis. Eleni’s broader research interests include practices of bordering and othering, migration, abolition, and storytelling. She will be starting a doctoral program in Geography at the University of South Carolina this coming August.

WRESL event: Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022 at 10am

Please join our zoom chat on February 19th at 10am. We will talk to two individuals, one German and one American, who work with refugees in Berlin. This will be an informal chance to hear from two people who have fascinating, meaningful, and creative jobs overseas. Please email tam@unc.edu to get the zoom link.

Lauren Gaillard ’17

Lauren is a TransAtlantic Masters (TAM) graduate. She now serves as the Program Coordinator for Techstart at CODE University of Applied Sciences where she supports people with a forced migration or migrant background to find an entry-level position in the field of digital product development. She manages the academic structure and curriculum development of the program and is responsible for all aspects of the program from admissions to integrating migrants into the tech scene in Berlin.

In addition to this, she chairs the research commission where she wrote and published the research concept and ethical research policy for the university. Due to her passion for cultural development and exchange, she also sits on the diversity, equity, and inclusion committee and speaks at conferences and universities on topics related to identity politics, migration and integration, and Blackness in Europe.

She holds an M.A. in Transatlantic relations in political science and a B.A. in sports administration with a minor in music from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Christian Wilhelm

Christian received his Diplom (M.A. equivalent) from Humboldt University (HU) in 2007. He worked as a Postgraduate Intern with Roland Berger Strategy Consultants (2007-2008). He then took on the role of Program Manager with the German-Turkish Master’s Program in the Office of International MA Programs at Humboldt. Last year, he became part of the international department at Humboldt University, where he is working for the Circle U. project. This project aims to build a European university with the participation of nine first-class universities from all over Europe.

On Friday, March 26 we heard from Sam Barber, a TAM grad from the class of 2020. Excel @ Carolina student, Mackenzie Hansen, moderated the discussion.

Sam Barber grew up in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. As an undergraduate he obtained Bachelor’s degrees in Arab Cultures and Global Studies, as well as a minor in French, at UNC-CH. During his time at Chapel Hill he studied abroad in Morocco for a semester and completed a Senior Honors Thesis that analyzed a collective of contemporary Syrian filmmakers. He also dedicated much of his time during his undergraduate career to working with the Syrian refugee population in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area. Sam volunteered with Duke student organization INJAZ, which strives to achieve a partnership that creates an exciting environment for cultural and Arabic/English language exchange. He was partnered with a recently resettled refugee and began weekly visits to help him improve his English language skills. For the TAM program he studied in Berlin where he investigated how mass migration has affected the German government and its political relationships. As a TAM student, Sam also interned with a TAM graduate at World Church Service in Durham and had a FLAS award for Arabic. He now works for the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants at their Raleigh office. In addition, he is a passionate surfer, painter, and board gamer.

WRESL recently hosted a zoom event! Two TransAtlantic Masters (TAM) graduates, one in the US and one in Greece, spoke about their work with immigrants and refugees on Saturday, February 6th at noon ET. WRESL member, Tracy Ridley, moderated the discussion.

Transatlantic Perspectives on Migration

On Saturday, February 2nd at noon ET, we heard from two TAM graduates working on behalf of immigrants and refugees in the US and Europe. Mario is in California, and Stylianos in Greece.

Stylianos Kelaiditis ’10 studied overseas in Amsterdam and was in the first cohort of European Governance Track students. He holds an MA in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill TransAtlantic Master’s program and an MA in War Studies from King’s College London. After TAM, he worked for the Michael and Kitty Dukakis Center for Public and Humanitarian Service at the American College of Thessaloniki as a Teaching and Research Assistant. Over the past years Stylianos has gained experience working in the Refugee and Migration Crisis field, with the then Ministry of Migration Policy and UNHCR, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Northern Greece.  He is now a Project Assistant for IOM in Thessaloniki – Greece. (He will be speaking in his personal capacity, not representing IOM, although some of the experiences that he will refer to come from his work with IOM among others.)

On October 2, 2020 one of our TransAtlantic Masters (TAM) Students joined an alumni panel and discussed her work with refugees.

WRESL Fellows 2020

Allison Carpenter

Lizzie Kunesh

Desiree Lockhart

Xander Magevney

Tracy Ridley

Lizzie Russler

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