Human Rights in War and the Climate Crisis

Gretchen Brockway '27 Law

Gretchen is a 2L at the University of Oregon School of Law. Growing up in Michigan along the Great Lakes sparked a passion for environmental protection. After receiving a degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation and working for the State of Michigan studying wildlife and promulgating wildlife regulations, she came to UO to pursue environmental law. Gretchen worked as a judicial extern in federal court and at two Portland firms, focusing on local government and energy law. She also took Human Rights and the Environment and brought an intersectional perspective to the Oxford Consortium.

Beatrice Kahn '26 English | History

A proud product of Oregon’s public schools, Beatrice is double majoring in History and English at the University of Oregon Robert D. Clark Honors College. This spring, she will defend her undergraduate thesis, “The Making of Better Persons,” an examination of Project Newgate (1967–1974), a prison education program sponsored by the University of Oregon and piloted in the Oregon State Penitentiary. Her thesis research is rooted in her three years of work advancing higher education opportunities in Oregon prisons with UO’s Prison Education Program. Beatrice analyzed immigration detention facility standards as an Analyst for the US Government Accountability Office’s Homeland Security and Justice Team in Washington, D.C. She plans to attend law school with a focus on criminal law, an interest sharpened by her investigative work with Metropolitan Public Defender.

Monica J. Parra '26 Law

Monica is a third-year law student at the University of Oregon. Originally from Colombia, she earned a B.A. in Language Teaching from Universidad Industrial de Santander and a B.S. in Environmental Policy from The Ohio State University, where she worked as an environmental behavior research assistant. She also conducted ecological research in Southern Costa Rica examining forest growth and arthropod biodiversity. Her passion for human rights stems from her lived experiences growing up in Colombia, where she witnessed systemic inequities and government abuses.

Melissa Piceno '27 Law

Melissa is a second-year law student at the University of Oregon. Last summer, she worked with a nonprofit immigration organization, gaining hands-on experience supporting individuals navigating immigration proceedings. She serves as a class representative for the Immigration Law Student Association and is a Minoru Yasui Fellow, working on a scholarly paper examining the intersection of law, race, human rights and power in the United States.

Grace Pearl '27 Law

Grace is a 2L at the University of Oregon School of Law. She earned her undergraduate degree in International Relations from UC Davis, where her studies sparked a strong interest in human rights and a desire to pursue a career in advocacy. Growing up among the redwoods on the Northern California coast fostered a deep commitment to environmental protection. Last summer, Grace interned with the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) in Arcata, California, where she supported forest conservation and endangered species protection efforts in the Pacific Northwest.

Eddy Stoddard '27 Law

Edward is studying law at the University of Oregon. He is currently working land use and natural resources law with the Western Environmental Law Center. Last year, Edward held a court externship and interned at an immigration firm where he gained valuable experience in both criminal and federal immigration proceedings. His passion for the environment and human rights in conflict came from his experiences fighting wildland fire and overseas deployments as an officer in the US Army.

Nate Travis '28 Philosophy, Phd

Nathan is a philosophy Ph.D. student at the University of Oregon and an alumnus of the University of Chicago’s M.Div. program. His main interests are food, animal, and religious ethics as they intersect with issues of racial and sexual oppression. He interned with MANNA FoodBank in Asheville, North Carolina, to advocate for universal free school meals. More recently, he led a project for Pilot Light, a Chicago-based nonprofit, collaborating with educators to revise Pilot Light’s Food Education Standards and support the integration of food education into schools.

Matt Tuten '26 Philosophy, Phd

Matthew Miyagi Tuten is a PhD candidate in philosophy at the University of Oregon, specializing in political philosophy and pragmatism. His work explores the nature of political normativity from a pragmatist perspective, with particular attention to the role of power and conflict in shaping democratic practices. Tuten served as a union steward and Vice President for Organizing for the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation (American Federation of Teachers 3544), and was a founding member of Grads for Palestine at the University of Oregon. He is originally from the island of Okinawa and spent his formative years in the mountains of Western North Carolina.

2026 University of Oregon OCHR March Contingent