Seeking to be a resource for the civic community and the Church at an international level, the Murphy Institute, in collaboration with the School of Law and the Center for Catholic Studies, established a new United Nations Fellowship Program last spring. The fellowships are open to graduates of either the St. Thomas School of Law’s Juris Doctor program or Catholic Studies’ Master of Arts program (or both). One fellowship is with the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York City, the other is in Geneva, Switzerland, with the Caritas in Veritate Foundation.
Through a competitive process, the inaugural fellowships were awarded to Rachana Chhin (shown in photo, right), a graduate of the joint CSMA/JD program, and Sarah Lippert CSMA ’15 (in photo, left) who will leave this fall for New York City and Geneva, respectively.
Both fellows expressed a strong calling to serve God and the Church in the area of public policy and international affairs.
“The Holy See is conducting extremely important work. Wherever such international conversations are taking place, it is imperative that the Church’s humanizing voice is also present,” Lippert said.
For Chhin, his passion for international law and human rights goes back to his parents, who were refugees from the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. “My own family’s experience first inspired me to consider work in this area and my Catholic faith also inspires me to promote human dignity and integral human development wherever it may be threatened,” Chhin said.
Murphy Institute Scholar Receives Prestigious Bioethics Fellowship
Morgan Fuller
Morgan Fuller, a St. Thomas dual-degree (law and Catholic Studies) student and a scholar at the Terrence J. Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law and Public Policy, was selected by the Paul Ramsey Institute in California for a bioethics fellowship. The PRI encourages emerging leaders to advance biotechnology and bioethical research that is grounded in moral responsibility.
“It is an honor to have the opportunity to work with some of the nation’s most brilliant minds in the bioethics field,” Fuller said. “My studies as a law student have furthered my interest with the moral and ethical perspectives surrounding our nation’s laws. This fellowship allows me to take the next step in my goal of having a career in law and bioethics.”
Fuller was highly recommended to the PRI by St. Thomas law professor and Murphy Institute co-director Elizabeth Schiltz, who praised Fuller for being an unusually focused and mature student. Schiltz advocated Fuller based on his “laser-beam” intensity to acquire the necessary experience for a successful bioethics career.
In addition to pursuing a dual degree at St. Thomas, Fuller also participates in the St. Thomas Law Mentor Internship program and plans to pursue a master’s degree and Ph.D. in bioethics.