Andrea Gagne: Vernon, Connecticut, USA
Psychological/Anthropological backgrounds
Andrea's path
Andrea Gagne came to the program with a BA in socio-cultural anthropology after having lived in Ghana doing anthropological research. Before joining the program, she came to Israel to work in nonprofit program coordination, working with Darfur refugees. The courses she took in Socio-Psychological Aspects of Conflict, Israeli Society, Humanitarian Aid, and Practicum: Understanding the World of NGOs helped her immensely while she simultaneously interned with Amnesty International in Israel. Additionally, Andrea studied in two courses outside the program: Advancing Community Based Interventions and Religion and Coping Mechanisms. After graduating, Andrea worked for a few years at the Eritrean Women's Community Center in Tel Aviv, working with Eritrean women who have survived torture and human trafficking. Currently Andrea is the Public Affairs Assistant at HIAS in Washington DC. HIAS is an international organization that works to help refugees.