Cayla Bleoaja is reading for the MSc in Sociology at Jesus College, Oxford. She graduated magna cum laude from George Fox University, where she studied Psychology, Organizational Communication, and Philosophy. Her past work includes foreign policy research for a think tank in Washington D.C., legislative research in the Oregon State Senate, and clinical psychology research at Randall Children Hospital’s child abuse resource centre. At Oxford, Cayla is studying the interactions between cultural history, social context, and collective identity in the current Romanian diaspora. In the future, she hopes to inform public policy, engage the public in cross-cultural collaborations, and facilitate mutual understanding and empowering relationships between communities. She is a classical pianist and a recording performing artist.

Aaron Chen is reading for the MPhil in Islamic Studies and History at St. Antony’s College, Oxford. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with bachelor’s in International Relations, Religious Studies, and Modern Middle Eastern Studies, and a minor in Arabic and Islamic Studies. He is interested in studying the roots of religious sectarianism in the Middle East in Christian literature. With his academic work, he hopes to expand the fields of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies in East Asia. In his free time, Aaron translates poetry and plays classical guitar.

Romi Ferder is reading for the MPhil in Politics (Political Theory) at Wolfson College, Oxford. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Claremont McKenna College with a BA in PPE (Philosophy, Politics, and Economics) and Psychology. Romi’s past work has considered questions of access to justice, Supreme Court term limits, racially biased jury selection, and other applications of democratic and constitutional principles. Her thesis established a pattern in recent Supreme Court case law, arguing that the Court has purported to extend speech rights by expanding protections for commercial entities while actually undermining the vested rights of the democratic citizen. During her time at Oxford, Romi hopes to consider these issues more broadly by examining philosophical approaches to free speech and government intervention.

David Frisch is reading for the MPhil in Politics (Political Theory) at St Cross College, Oxford. He graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Duke University, with a BA in Political Science and minors in History and Religion; he was also named an Angier B. Duke Scholar. He also completed coursework in political theory at New College, Oxford, and in the history of political thought at Pembroke College, Cambridge. David’s core research interests lie at the intersection of religion, history, and politics. He has treated child protection and family law as his primary case study for the critical importance of religious and cultural tolerance. He volunteered both as a courthouse childcare specialist and for three years as a court advocate for survivors of domestic violence. Thanks to two grants from Duke University, he has done work on this topic in U.S. courthouses, at historical archives in Spain, and as an invited Visiting Researcher at the Monash University Law Faculty in Melbourne, Australia. Beyond academics, David is grateful to the rivers in his hometown of Pittsburgh but is glad to be rowing once again on British waters.

Connor Grubaugh is reading for the DPhil in Politics at Oriel College, Oxford. Before coming to Oxford, Connor received a BA in History from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MA in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame. His research ranges widely across themes in political theory and the history of political thought, with a focus on the modern reception of ancient historiography and Christian theology. His primary interest is in the philosophy of history and the importance of the concept of hope for the development of the liberal political tradition. He has presented papers on Hannah Arendt’s appropriation of St. Augustine and on the political implications of John Locke’s Christian apologetics.

Megan Maher is reading for the MPhil in Evidence-Based Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation at St Hilda’s College, Oxford. She graduated summa cum laude from Williams College, where she studied Sociology, Psychology, and Public Health.  Her senior thesis explored secularization and religiosity at Western universities by taking the Williams College Haystack Prayer Meeting of 1806, and events commemorating it at fifty-year intervals since then, as a case study of the phenomenon. After graduating from Williams, she worked at a local church at Purdue University and later began theological study at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Megan is particularly interested in integrating public health and theological approaches to suffering, poverty, and healing. She hopes her time at Oxford will help her in this endeavor to serve impoverished communities in multi-faceted and effective ways.

Will Nolan is reading for the BPhil in Philosophy at Exeter College, Oxford. He received an AB in Philosophy from Princeton University, graduating with honors. His undergraduate thesis analysed Aquinas’s reinterpretation of Aristotelian akrasia in human moral psychology, for which he was awarded the Joseph Strayer Prize in Medieval Studies. After graduation he spent a year teaching literature and philosophy at a classical high school outside of New York City. He is interested in the entire philosophical tradition, but his research focuses on the period from the first Greeks through the flourishing of medieval scholasticism, with particular emphasis on questions of human freedom and the nature of the soul. When not pursuing these academic interests, Will also enjoys a good novel, a long conversation, and a competitive tennis match.

Jim Pennell is reading for the MSt in Theology (Christian Ethics) at Christ Church, Oxford, and plans to read the MSc in Political Theory for the second year of his scholarship. He graduated with first-class honors from the University of St. Andrews with a joint MA (Hons.) in Theology and Modern History. While at St. Andrews, he wrote his honors thesis on how a Christian philosophical anthropology might engage with modern debates concerning the relation between human dignity and euthanasia, and was awarded the N.H.G. Robinson Prize in Divinity. Jim’s intellectual interests lie primarily at the intersection of political theory, theology, and the history of political thought. He is especially concerned with, first,  how theological concepts interacted with the legal, political, and ethical ideas of thinkers of the medieval and early modern periods; and second, how this history colors the way we think about ethics and public life today. Before coming to Oxford, Jim spent two years working for a law and public policy non-profit in Washington, D.C. In his spare time, Jim enjoys reading novels, playing sports (especially tennis), and exploring the outdoors.

Corbin Witt is reading for the BA in History at Pembroke College, Oxford. He graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Arizona State University with a degree in Human Communication and a minor in Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership. His thesis for Barrett, the Honors College, involved visual rhetoric used by mass media when discussing criminal defendants. His other research has involved studies on public memory and the War on Terror, and the intersection of positive law and ethical theory. His current studies in History are motivated by an interest in the development of the criminal justice system. After Oxford, Corbin hopes to pursue a legal career and ultimately to serve as a judge. He enjoys Arabic calligraphy and writing short fiction.

Melia Wong is reading for the MPhil in Music (Musicology) at Christ Church, Oxford. She graduated from Claremont McKenna College with degrees in Music and Government. Her primary research interests lie at the intersection of music, politics, and the accessibility of classical music. Melia’s previous research has focused on American Civil War songs, specifically those with melodies shared by both Union and Confederate forces, but with altered lyrics. At Claremont, she received the Brian Walkenbach Award for Outstanding Resident Assistant, the Library Undergraduate Research Award (LURA) in Music, and the award for the best thesis from the Government Department. Most recently, Melia spent a year in Hong Kong as a Luce Scholar, working for the West Kowloon Cultural District, the largest in-development arts district in the world.