CEHV is very pleased to announce our undergraduate Civil Discourse Fellows for 2023. Working with CEHV faculty, our fellows plan and moderate our Civil Discourse Forums and serve as ambassadors for civil discourse on campus. Each Civil Discourse Fellow receives a $500 fellowship award and serves from Spring semester into the Autumn semester of the following year.

Our eight fellows represent a wide range of majors including Criminology, Data Analytics, English, French, Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE), Political Science, Public Management, Leadership, and Policy, Security & Intelligence, and Sociology. See below to meet our new fellows.

Visit our website for more information on CEHV's Civil Discourse for Citizenship program and on past student-moderated Civil Discourse Forums featuring contrasting speakers on controversial topics.
 

2023 Undergraduate Civil Discourse Fellows

Joe Bjorkman

Joe is a third-year transfer student majoring in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) with a minor in public policy. He is involved in OSU College Democrats and PPE Society, as well as a proud member of the Sons of the American Legion. He is currently working at The Library Bar and most recently worked at the United States Senate as a Congressional Intern.

Cydney Carter

Cydney is a second year Sociology major on the Pre-Law track with a Human Rights minor. She is a Law and Society Scholar and a Morrill Scholar and is currently working as a recruiting admin assistant for the Ohio State Football Program. She serves on the Executive Board for the Law and Society Scholars as a member of the Social Committee. She is an active member of the Undergraduate Black Law Student Association (UBLSA) and the Minority Community Outreach Support Team (MCOST) on the Fundraising Committee. 

Aditya Desai

Adi is a freshman at tOSU. Currently, he is studying data analytics with a minor in economics, in the College of Arts and Sciences. In his short time at OSU so far, he has been involved in the Big Data Analytics Association where he serves as a Special Project Coordinator, and he is also part of the Eminence Fellows Program. 

Ellamarie Jones

Ellamarie is a first-year student double majoring in Security & Intelligence and French. She sits on the board of the Alexander Hamilton Society’s OSU chapter, and mentors students in the TEDxYouth Dayton program. She is also a member of the Stadium Scholarship Program.

Trevor Jones

Trevor will graduate in 2024 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. He is a member of the Ohio State Ultimate Frisbee club. He is also an Eagle Scout and continues to be involved in the Boy Scouts of America as an adult leader and role model to youth. He is involved in activism in the Columbus area concerning the rights of transgender youth, abortion access, and labor organizing.

Elyse Reed

Elyse is a sophomore double majoring in English and PPE in the Honors Program of the College of Arts and Science. She is the vice president of the PPE Society where she founded the first PPE Book Club for Independent Study. She is also the social media coordinator of Ohio State's branch of Amnesty International and a Senate Page for the Ohio Senate. 

Julia Rizzo

Julia is a second-year majoring in Public Management, Leadership, and Policy and minoring in Science and Engineering in the Public Interest through the John Glenn College of Public Affairs. She is an International Affairs Scholar, Vice President of the Collegiate Council on World Affairs, and an OSU Votes Ambassador. She also works as an RA on-campus and as a Senate Page at the Ohio Statehouse.  

Saed Yousuf

Saed is a third-year Criminology and Criminal Justice major with a minor in Judicial Politics. On campus, Saed is a member of Ohio State's Ohio Innocence Project chapter and the Undergraduate Black Law Student Association. Additionally,  he is currently in his second-year interning at the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas with Judge Sheryl Munson. Saed is also a graduate of the Ohio Prison Education Exchange Project and a member of the Philosophy for Humans learning community at Southeastern Correctional Institution (a community made up of Ohio State students, teachers, and incarcerated individuals focused on supporting higher education in prison).