Rennebohm Fellowship

Kelsey Rennebohm Fellowship

Kelsey Rennebohm

On the evening of June 1, 2012, Boston College Lynch School of Education graduate student Kelsey Rennebohm was killed in an accident while riding her bicycle on Huntington Ave. in Boston.

Kelsey was affiliated with the Center, working on its Migration and Human Rights Project in Zacualpa, Guatemala, and was to travel to Guatemala for the project. In 2020, an article, "Maya K’iche’ Families and Intergenerational Migration Within and Across Borders: An Exploratory Mixed-Methods Study," which made use her work was published in the journalÌýCommunity Psychology in Global Perspective.Ìý The article may be read here.

Beloved by her friends, classmates and professors, Kelsey was remembered on the ¾«¶«Ó°Òµ campus in a Walk for Kelsey on June 4 and in a Memorial Service held on campus at St William's Chapel on Thursday, June 28, 2012. A ghost bike was installed on Huntington Avenue and a ride organized in her memory on June 7, 2012.

In her memory, the Center has established the Kelsey A. Rennebohm Memorial Fellowship.Ìý This fellowship is awarded to a Boston College student (undergraduate or graduate) whose proposed research or activist scholarship is at the interface of psychology, mental health, gender, social justice, and human rights.Ìý The fellow subsequently gives a presentation at the universityÌýabout their work and findings in the following academic year.

To donate to the fellowship fund, please send a check made out to Boston College, and in the memo "CHRIJ/Honoring Kelsey Rennebohm," to:

Timothy Karcz/CHRIJ
Stokes Hall N413
Boston College
140 Commonwealth Ave
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467

For more information on the fellowship, contact Prof. Brinton Lykes at lykes@bc.edu or Timothy Karcz at timothy.karcz@bc.edu.

Fellowship Applications

Applications for the fellowship will be made in conjunction with our annualÌýSummer Research Grants application process that can be found here.

Application information

Rennebohm Fellowship Recipients

The following are past recipients of the Rennebohm Fellowship and their topics of investigation:

2022

Catherine Brewer

Political and Public Sentiments Towards Immigration Crises Within Germany

2021

Laurel Marshall Potter

Liturgical Variation among Ecclesial Base Communities in El Salvador

2020

Alisha Nguyen

Disruptive Storytime: Teaching for Social Justice with Anti-Bias Picture Books

2019

Dale Maglalang

Experiences of Asian American Immigrant Women Home Care Workers in New England

2018

María Emilia Bianco GalíndezÌý

Mothering across Borders: The stories of Central American mothers who crossed the US-Mexico border with their children and are seeking asylum in the US


2017

Matthew DelSesto and Megan DonovanÌý

Roots of resistance and resilience: Agroecology tactics for resettlementÌý(conducted in El Salvador)


2016

Maya Perlmann

Sudanese Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Jordan: An Assessment of Needs and Resources


2015

Rose Miola

Remembering with Music: An Exploration for Maintaining Historical Memory in El Salvador


2014

Gabriela Távara Vásquez

Indigenous Women’s Understandings about Mental Health, Wellbeing and Reparation (conducted in Guatemala)


2013

Rocío Sánchez Ares

Building a liberatory pedagogy: Guatemalan schools meeting the emotional and educational needs of youth at the interface of immigration

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