By Peggy McInerny, Director of Communications

The Activist Award of the International Development Studies Program is conferred annually on one or two seniors for outstanding commitment to making a difference on issues significant to international development through activism, service and leadership.

UCLA International Institute, June 11, 2025 — Two graduating International Institute seniors have won the International Development Studies Activist Award for 2025. Their studies, internships and community engagement offer a window onto the students who pursue an IDS major.

“I have spent the last seven years of my life engaged in advocacy work for human rights, genocide and mass atrocities,” recounted Grace Harris, one of two winners of the Activist Award this year.

“This began in high school, when I joined my school’s chapter of the Student-Led Movement to End Mass Atrocities (STAND), a national all-youth organization focused on mobilizing young people for awareness and action in the face of global atrocities like genocide, war crimes, and human rights abuses.”

Harris continued her work with STAND throughout her UCLA years, serving as a member of its national managing committee. In summer 2024, she did an internship with the nonprofit organization Genocide Watch, after which she became leader of its African Great Lakes Task Force.

For this Bruin, academic studies, research and activism are intertwined. “Inspired by my passion for this cause and experience across these two internships, I sought to explore the links between genocide and development in my ongoing departmental honors thesis ‘Responsibility to Prevent: Envisioning Genocide Prevention for International Development,’” she related.

She presented her research on Sudan’s experience of genocide in 2003 and 2023 at Undergraduate Research Week this past May. “I took on the case study… to explore the developmental implications of genocide, how it can be understood as a process rather than an event and how early warning signs can be recognized to prevent escalation,” she explained.

Reflecting on her time in the IDS program, Harris said, “I have enjoyed taking a wide variety of classes that have given me a well-informed perspective on global issues and their root causes. Despite an often-disheartening focus, IDS inspires me to believe that change is possible.” 

Among the many valued professors with whom she studied at UCLA, the Bruin senior singled out two: sociologist Jennifer Chun, professor of Asian American and labor studies and chair of the IDS program, and the late Rev. James Lawson (1928–2024), a longtime member of the UCLA labor studies faculty.

“Professor Chun served as my faculty advisor for my departmental honors thesis and I loved having the chance to work extensively with her on this research project, as well as in my IDS 191 capstone class, Protest, Social Movements and Development,” added Harris.

“Being able to learn from Civil Rights Movement hero Rev. Lawson in his class ‘Nonviolence and Social Movements’ was an incredible experience as well,” she continued.

“He brought a truly personal touch to this class, passing on wisdom from one generation of organizers to the next with stories of his experiences leading the Nashville sit-ins and developing his own personal philosophy of nonviolence. I carry these lessons with me throughout my work.”

Harris begins a master’s program in international studies at Columbia University in New York City his fall. Looking forward, she said, “I know I want to do something where I can make a difference in the world.”

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“I’ve enjoyed so many parts of the IDS major, as they have made my experience at UCLA so fulfilling,” said Maggie Messer, the second winner of the 2025 IDS Activist Award.

Over the past four years, Messer has done sustained volunteer work for two nonprofit student organizations at UCLA, Water Hands Hope and GlobeMed; studied abroad in South Korea; and volunteered regularly for the International Institute on Bruin Day. Not to mention holding a job at the Charles E. Young Library for three academic years!

“One of my favorite experiences was learning alongside other IDS seniors in my senior seminar class, taught by Professor [Jennifer] Chun,” she said. “My favorite professor in the major is, hands down, Professor Chun. I took her IDS 110 [Culture, Power and Development] class, and she taught me so much that I knew I had to take her seminar class.

“I particularly want to thank Professor Jennifer Chun and my two academic advisors, Elizabeth Alvarez and Sandy Valdivieso, for without them, navigating and completing this major would have been impossible.”

Studying in South Korea for two quarters had a big impact on Messer, who said, “[I]t helped me conceptualize a lot of what I learned in my IDS classes. I’ve been studying Korean as my foreign language, and being there helped me immerse myself in a completely different world.”

Her volunteer experiences have been equally significant. “Through [Water Hands Hope], I have been able to build upon my studies and explore real-world scenarios relating to development,” said Messer, who volunteered for the organization in Papua New Guinea for the past three summers. “It’s been incredible to participate in building WASH (Water Access Sanitation Hygiene) programs and filter trainings for communities and learn the importance of cross-cultural connections.”

This past year, Messer been working with the UCLA-affiliated chapter of GlobeMed on community outreach programs with a local partner in Uganda. “This club has taught me so much about global health and how even small impacts make a difference,” she reflected.

“I would fundraise on Bruinwalk weekly, join Zoom meetings with the Ugandan team and make quarterly presentations that all strengthened my understanding of what goes into maintaining a successful cross-cultural partnership.”

Messer soon heads to both Uganda and Papua New Guinea to volunteer with the two organizations with which she has worked at UCLA. “In the winter of 2026, I am excited to be returning to South Korea to live and teach English for a year before getting a master's in public health with a concentration related to global health,” she adds.

“Eventually, I hope to enter a physician’s assistant program and be an emergency medicine PA in addition to volunteering at NGOs, traveling the world!”

Published: Wednesday, June 11, 2025