Dr Shirley Graham is the Director of the Gender Equality Initiative in International Affairs (GEIA) which convenes the Elliott School’s curriculum and engagement in the policy and practice of promoting and achieving gender equality globally. She teaches two graduate courses on Global Gender Policy and Gender, War and Peace; and an undergraduate course on Women in Global Politics. She is currently conducting research on Military Gender Advisors.

Shirley is a member of the U.S. Civil Society Working Group on Women, Peace & Security (CSWG) a coalition of experts serving to inform and educate U.S. Congress, the Administration and civil society on Women, Peace & Security (WPS) thematic areas. She is the founder of the D.C. Student Consortium on Women, Peace & Security, launched March 2021, which brings together students from a number of D.C. universities to critically analyze gaps in the WPS policy agenda, develop new research projects, and advocate for gender equality in all decision-making processes.

As a practitioner, Shirley has conducted evaluations and facilitated the drafting of strategic plans working as a consultant with NGOs such as the Irish Consortium on Gender Based Violence, the Glencree Centre for Peace & Reconciliation and Women for Election. She drafted the civil society consultation report for Ireland’s first National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325 and served on the Department of Foreign Affairs Women, Peace & Security National Action Plan Monitoring Group, representing the National Women’s Council of Ireland.

Shirley received her PhD on Gender & International Peacekeeping from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth in 2013. She has an MA in International Affairs from Dublin City University where she is a research fellow at the Institute for International Conflict Resolution & Reconstruction (IICRR).

Nick Zuroski was the Founding President of the D.C. Student Consortium on Women, Peace and Security and currently serves as Senior Associate for Communications, Campaigns, and Policy at the Alliance for Peacebuilding. In his current position, Nick bridges and conveys the work of AfP’s different programs to the wider public and its membership-based community of peacebuilders. His interests lie at the intersection of peace and stability, gender equality, and grassroots-oriented understandings of human security. He has professional experience in strategic communications, investment research, political economy analysis, and international development. Nick received his M.A. in International Affairs — concentrating in Global Gender Policy and International Law & Organizations — from The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs in 2021, and his B.A. in Mandarin Chinese and World Politics from Hamilton College in 2017.

Noelle Cohn is a second year graduate at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. She is currently pursuing an MA in International Affairs with concentrations in International Security Studies and Global Gender Policy. Prior to pursuing her masters degree, Noelle worked as an account management specialist at Gartner. Alongside other students across D.C. universities, Noelle supported the founding of the Consortium. During the summer of 2021, Noelle interned with the International Development Group(IDG) on the Project and Proposals Team. She currently serves as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Elliott School supporting the Masculinities in International Affairs course. She received her undergraduate degree in International Relations with minors in Italian and European Studies from the James Madison College at Michigan State University. Go Spartans!

Leidy Londoño (she/her) is currently pursuing her Masters’s in Latin America Hemispheric studies with a focus on Gender and Global Public Health at George Washington University. Her academic career has centered in Latin America and analyzing policies that have an impact on global health issues and how they impact women and LGBTQ+ communities in the region.

Professionally, Leidy is the bilingual program manager for Chat/Text and Chatea/Textea at Planned Parenthood. In this role, she leads the product and program management of the SMS and chat tools aimed at connecting people, and young people in particular to sexual health information and care.

​She has experience leveraging digital tools to support young people to access the resources they need. Leidy brings her experience in trauma-informed care, gender analysis and interventions to digital tools and programs from a public health perspective. Leidy has a background in comprehensive sexual health education and interventions, prevention work, reproductive health care, and gender-based violence.

​Alexis Eshleman was the founding Director of Outreach and Recruitment for the D.C. Student Consortium on Women, Peace and Security. Alexis has worked at the Naval Research Laboratory for two years and currently serves as an Administrative Officer for the Military Operations Division. Alexis recently received her M.A. in Security Policy Studies with a concentration in U.S. National Security from George Washington University. In 2019, she received her B.S. in International Affairs and B.A. in English from Florida State University.

Rachel Yakobashvili (she/her) received her BA in International Affairs from GW's Elliott School of International Affairs and is currently pursuing her Master of Public Administration at GW's Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration. Rachel grew up in the Eastern European-Jewish community of northeast Philadelphia and is fluent in Russian. She is passionate about gender-based violence prevention and has worked in the field of domestic violence for over 4 years, including being a Housing Intern at the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Assistant Program Director at Dinah, Inc. As part of the GW's chapter of the DC Student Consortium on WPS, Rachel has coordinated research efforts including mapping gender-related courses across DC universities and policy briefs on various topics related to the WPS agenda.​

Alice Schyllander is the Assistant Communications and Program Manager of the Public Leadership Education Network (PLEN), where she is responsible for marketing, communications, social media outreach, and seminar planning and logistics. Through this position, Alice is working to mentor, inspire, and train the next generation of women, trans and nonbinary public policy decision-makers. She is experienced in international relations, nonprofit management, program management, communications, research, and policy analysis. Alice has worked and interned in various capacities for a wide range of social justice organizations, including Micro Rainbow International Foundation, Vital Voices Global Partnership, the Tahirih Justice Center, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, and the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, among others. Alice holds a Master of Arts in International Affairs with concentrations in Global Gender Policy and International Law & Organizations from the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University. They also received a B.S. in International Affairs from Eastern Michigan University, minoring in Nonprofit Administration. During Alice’s time in graduate school, they served as a Founding Executive Board Member of both the DC Student Consortium on Women, Peace and Security and OUT in International Affairs. As the Social Media Director of the DC Student Consortium on Women, Peace and Security, Alice managed the organization’s social media pages, served on the planning committee of the organization’s launch event, facilitated a workshop on Global LGBTQ+ rights, served as the Planning Committee Chair and managed the planning process for an event at the UN NGO Commission on the Status of Women, and served as the Co-Director of a student research team to develop a policy brief on LGBTQ+ inclusion in Gender, Peace and Security Frameworks. ​

Christina is a fourth year undergraduate student at George Washington University, majoring in International Affairs with a double concentration in Conflict Resolution and Comparative Economic, Political and Cultural Systems at the Elliott School. In 2020 she won the Elliott School Shapiro Essay Contest with her writings on the implementation of the United States WPS Strategy. In March 2021 she was a panelist on Role of Higher Education in Shaping the Women, Peace and Security Agenda at the NGO CSW65 Forum.​

Madeline Elliott has a B. A. in Global Studies with minors in History, Public Service, Political Science, and Business Administration. She is in her final year of pursuing a Masters in International Affairs at George Washington University concentrating in Global Gender Policy. Madeline has been working in consulting since 2019 at Accenture Federal Services on projects at the Department of Defense and Department of Justice. In the past, she has worked for Title IX on prevention of gender-based violence, managed philanthropic relations at 2 different non-profits in Texas, and she currently co-leads the brief on Increasing LGBTQ+ inclusion at the UN through GW’s chapter of the Consortium on Women, Peace, and Security.​

Asmik Arutyunyan is a first year second semester MIPP student at the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University. Her studies concentrate on the intersection of Gender Policy, International Development and Security. Asmik’s diverse immigrant background and her life experiences in a conflict zone are the driving forces behind her curiosity, work ethic and research interests. Asmik currently works at the United States Institute of Peace. Outside work and school Asmik enjoys playing volleyball, reading, photography and of course, taking her five-year-old Jack Russell Mix Lilly for long walks. Fluent in Armenian, Russian and Spanish, Asmik is currently learning French and Italian.

She joined the DC Student Consortium on WPS in December of 2020 and was elected to be the Director of Policy and Research in January of 2021. In this role Asmik in collaboration with the leadership and other members of the Consortium is leading efforts on creating the first Strategic Plan for the Consortium’s Policy and Research that will allow students to engage with practitioners and the CSWG on WPS and co-produce policy briefs and other research papers. As the next generation of practitioners, researchers and policymakers who are preparing to continue the advancement of the WPS agenda, the Consortium members offer a new perspective, as well as creative approach to closing gaps in research areas previously left untapped.

Bejanchong Foretia graduated from GWU University Elliott School of International Affairs with a certificate in Global Gender Policy. She has also completed a Bachelors in psychology from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, and a Masters in Public Health (maternal and child health) from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She has worked in a variety of areas including democracy building at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and health disparities concerning maternal mortality at the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs or AMCHP. She will soon join USAID in the Bureau of Humanitarian Affairs assisting with humanitarian reporting. She hopes to build and shape her career focusing on improving the sexual and reproductive health issues of women and girls in conflict zones using peace advocacy, democracy, and gender equity programming. ​

Austyn Smith is a recent graduate from the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. In May, she graduated with an MA in International Affairs with concentrations in International Development and Conflict Resolution. Soon after her graduation, Austyn landed on the Hill to work as a Legislative Aide for Senator Patty Murray. In her role, she works on policy related to Immigration, Transportation and Infrastructure, Tribes, Taxes, Financial Services/Banking, Animal Welfare, and so much more with the negotiated stipulation that her work would intersect with Gender Policy to bring an intersectional lens to the domestic policy space. Before her time at the Senate, Austyn worked in a variety of roles – from working as a canvasser for the D.C-based environmental advocacy organization Clean Water Action to the Middle East Institute as a development intern helping jumpstart an education equity program to provide free Arabic instruction for underserved high school students in the greater Washington DC area. She also spent time in Vietnam learning and practicing sustainable strategies for development through the asset-based community (ABCD) approach, which led to the planning and organization of a community school for children and teens to attend in a fishing village off the coast of the South China Sea. Austyn is also a degree-holder of a Bachelors in Political Science, a Bachelors in Spanish, and an Associates in German from Western Washington University and still plans to pursue further education in the future. Austyn is a daughter of Mexican immigrants and owes much of her success and passion for knowledge and opportunity to her parents, abuelos y bisabuelos."