College of Arts and Letters senior Brittany Ebeling has been named the recipient of the Kroc Institute’s 2018 Yarrow Award. The award is given annually to undergraduate students who demonstrate academic excellence and commitment to service in peace studies. The Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies is an integral part of the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame.
Ebeling, an international economics major with a concentration in French and a supplementary major in peace studies, received the award during the Kroc Institute’s class of 2018 undergraduate ceremony on May 18.
“Brittany has distinguished herself through her impressive academic accomplishments and her commitment to advance peace and justice,” says Ernesto Verdeja, associate professor of political science and peace studies and Kroc’s director of undergraduate studies. “Her exemplary peace research and advocacy in both the local community and around the world is a testament to what our students can accomplish. Brittany is a natural choice for the Yarrow Award.”
Ebeling was initially drawn to peace studies as a “holistic, radical approach to the study of social justice issues, conflict, environmental degradation, inequality, and a wide array of injustices.” She credits peace studies faculty across Notre Dame with helping to deepen her convictions about peacebuilding and her understanding of strategies to address injustice.
Ebeling describes receiving the Yarrow Award as “an incredible honor.”
“Receiving this honor charges me with holding the principles of peacebuilding in the forefront of my mind and work as I begin graduate school next year, as well as throughout my life following graduate school,” she says.
During her time at Notre Dame, Ebeling, originally from Lakeville, Minnesota, pursued a wide variety of internships and research grants in both the United States and abroad.
She interned with the International Organization for Migration in Geneva, Switzerland, and Dakar, Senegal; the International Program of the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.; and Asylum Access, a legal assistance and strategic litigation nonprofit that advocates for the rights of refugees.
She conducted research in Spain and Denmark through grants from the Nanovic Institute for European Studies; in Ecuador through a grant from the Kellogg Institute for International Studies; and in Kolda, Senegal, through a grant from the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program sponsored by the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts.
On campus, she has worked as a research assistant to Verdeja; for the Center for Civil and Human Rights; and for the Kellogg Institute, where she serves as a member of the Student Advisory Board.
Earlier this year, Ebeling was named the 2018 Michel David-Weill Laureate, allowing her to pursue a fully funded two-year master’s degree program at the prestigious Paris Institute of Political Studies, or “Sciences Po.” She was the first Notre Dame student to receive this honor.
Originally published at kroc.nd.edu.
