Humanitarian Studies Undergraduate Student Spotlight: Michela Fahy, c/o ‘23

Michela Fahy is a rising senior with a double major in Humanitarian Studies and English and a minor in Italian. She is a New Jersey native and heavily involved throughout campus. She is a copy editor for the Fordham Undergraduate Research Journal, on the Pedro Arrupe Volunteer Council, a Retreat Team leader, this summer’s Urban Plunge Senior Captain, and will be the president of Fordham’s Students for Fair Trade club for this upcoming school year.

Michela’s favorite humanitarian studies class was Catholic Social Teaching with Father Massaro. She took the course to “learn more about the Jesuit approach to human rights. We had a lot of great discussions about how the Catholic Church has presented the responsibilities of their faith to its followers throughout history.” She enjoys the breadth of different courses offered within the major and looks forward to enrolling in more rigorous classes within the program.

She was initially drawn to Fordham because of its Humanitarian Studies department. She notes “despite it being a relatively small program and a relatively new field of study for undergraduates, I have been able to take so many interdisciplinary courses because the work of the major is so vital to most other disciplines.” She is looking forward to exploring more courses related to the effects of climate change on immigration as “these two crises are becoming increasingly intertwined the more climate change is dismissed by world leaders.”

Michela was inspired to pursue a career in humanitarian affairs by her passion for social justice and making a difference. Reflecting on her past experiences, she says “I most fondly remembered how I felt after engaging with different New York City community members during a week-long service and outreach program I did in high school. I really wanted to find a way to incorporate that kind of social justice and community engagement into my life in the future, which prompted me to think about how I could make that work.”

In the future, Michela hopes to continue with higher education or take part in a service program such as Americorps or FEMA. “I would love to spend some time on the ground understanding humanitarian crises and doing what I can to respond to them. Working for a national or international aid organization would be something I would be interested in long-term.”