Courtney Kirkland

Courtney is a graduating senior originally from Colfax, CA double majoring in Sociology and Society and Environment with a concentration in Global Policy. While studying abroad at the University of Ghana, she was inspired by the country’s resilience and passion for liberation and has become fascinated with how foreign policy has the power to both preserve geopolitical oppression and institutionalize peace and prosperity. Wanting to learn how policies are made and who makes them, Courtney has conducted research at Berkeley’s Center for African Studies, interned at the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs, and will intern at USAID’s Bureau for Africa this spring and at a US Embassy abroad in East Africa this summer. After graduation, Courtney would like to spend more time abroad, pursue a graduate program, uplift and fight for the voices, power, and human rights of the most vulnerable people around the world, and be a good human while encouraging others to be and do good, too. Courtney loves football(go niners), basketball, Serena Williams, romance movies, cooking/baking, her friends, family, and traveling. She would like to express her deepest gratitude and appreciation to those at the Matsui Center for believing in her and supporting her journey.