Emma Appleby is a senior political science major with a human rights studies minor at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. She serves as the journal’s Production Editor. Her interest in human rights began when she started working on the Societal Violence Scale, and was inspired by the importance and impact of human rights research. Emma is specifically interested in researching the human rights abuses that take place in prisons across the globe, and hopes to bring awareness and compassion to a group of people who are often overlooked.
Hannah Goldfarb is a junior at UNC Asheville with double majors in Management and International Studies and minors in Political Science, Spanish, and Human Rights Studies. She is currently serving as the Communications Coordinator for Dignity. Her interest in human rights started in middle school when she read Elie Wiesel’s Night. Inspired to make a difference, Hannah became an intern at the Holocaust Museum & Cohen Education Center of Southwest Florida. Hannah recognizes not only the power in telling history but also the need to address ongoing human rights violations. She has worked in Argentina focusing on the issue of the Tarifazo and homelessness under Mauricio Macri’s government. After returning to the US, she worked for a number of political campaigns with the hopes of advancing policy that works for everyone. Hannah was also a Rotary Youth Exchange Student in Brazil. Hannah is especially interested in human rights issues in South and Central America. Hannah believes in the power of the individual to make a difference in the world and seeks to help others, however that may look.
Jessie Frank is a senior at UNC Asheville majoring in Political Science and minoring in Human Rights and Legal Studies. She is the journal’s Associate Editor. Jessie’s interest in human rights began in high school when she started to work on various volunteering projects within her community which inspired her to make a difference in the world around her. Jessie is specifically interested in the partnership between Human Rights and Businesses.
Addison Wright is a junior at the University of North Carolina at Asheville double majoring in political science and mass communications with a certificate in sustainability. Currently serving as Dignity’s website manager, she also works on campus as the student environmental center outreach coordinator and as the student government association sustainability committee chair and legislative librarian. Her research on food apartheids in high school and environmental justice in college sparked her interest in human rights. She is most passionate about the deeply rooted role of human rights within sustainability.
Grace Adams is a sophomore at UNC Asheville double majoring in Political Science and Sociology. She is currently serving as the Website Manager for Dignity. Grace’s interest in human rights began early on in high school when she read Matthew Desmond’s Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. She is most interested in the rights of the imprisoned, which are often neglected.
David Gingold is a junior at UNC Asheville with a major in Political Science. He has an interest in Human Rights as they pertain to the mentally ill across the globe, with an emphasis on those who are institutionalized. He is currently serving as the Outreach Manager for the Dignity Journal.
Joe Knox is a senior at UNCA working on his major in Political Science. Previously a Computer Science major, he is interested in human rights as it intersects with technology, as well as the ways that modern advances can improve quality of life domestically as well as abroad. He is also interested in electoral politics and the ways in which it can both improve and restrict human rights. He is currently serving as Website Manager.
Aidan Tepfer is a junior at UNC Asheville majoring in political science and is currently serving as one of the journal’s production editors. He is specifically interested in Queer rights within the United States and the connections between their violation and the material conditions of those affected.
Mars Denyer is a senior at UNC Asheville majoring in History. Her passions are uncovering and understanding the past through historical empathy combined with an interest in identifying and protecting Human Rights. Mars’ interest in Human Rights encompasses her focus on social history, global revolutions, radical resistance, colonialism and race, and women in history. She is currently writing her senior capstone on Rote Zora, a radical feminist guerilla organization in West Germany from 1974-1995. As of Fall 2022, she serves on the Outreach committee and editorial board.
Miah Goldsborough is a senior majoring in Environmental Science with a minor in history at UNC Asheville. She is part of the outreach team that specializes in outreach programs and social media. She is interested in an array of human rights such as lack of health care, reproductive rights, and environmental injustices.
Miracle Okoro is a third year Mass communications major, also minoring in Africana Studies at the University of North Carolina Asheville. As a poet, educational activist, and spoken word artist, most interested in advocating for Black and Brown children, Miracle’s interest in human rights comes from the stories she collects.
Paolo Xela Phillips is a senior International Studies major with a minor in Political Science at UNC Asheville, currently working as a Production Editor on Dignity. Having descended from a Jewish survivor of Auschwitz, the project of human rights has always been the foundation of their approach to critical inquiry. Years of participation in Quaker advocacy groups across the East Coast has since sharpened their understanding of how human rights can inform policy and legislation. Their interests in human rights are particularly focused on the study of nationalism, citizenship, and the myth-making behind personhood and identity in the modern world.
Percy Pinnix is a sophomore English Literature major at University of North Carolina at Asheville. Their interest in Human Rights center around LGBT+ rights and access to medical care. They are currently serving as one of the production editors for the Dignity Journal.
Tori Rigsby is a senior History major with a minor in Ancient Mediterranean studies. Throughout my educational career, I have encountered many areas in history with human rights issues that have significantly shaped how we view our past and research those areas. I am currently concentrating on Public History, which entails curating history for the public. Recent forms of Public History concerning Human Rights include the removal of Confederate Monuments throughout the south and a changing narrative in how we as a modern society view the implications of human rights violations in our past concerning race, gender, and ethnicity, specifically in the U.S. and Europe.
Benson Hughes is a junior History major at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. Concentrating on United States history in general, he is particularly interested in the National Park Service and its role in presenting history and culture to the American public while, historically, marginalizing indigenous peoples, women, African Americans, and others.
Raign Biddix is a senior and a history major at the University of North Carolina Asheville. Her devotion to human rights begins at home where she raises her eight year old daughter with hope for a better future by teaching her the basic principles of equality, compassion, and community as foundational to a functional home and society. Raign’s special interests lie at the intersection of modern day human rights issues and the historical injustices that produced them. Such injustices as the declination of women’s rights as well as the systematic structures of racism which are still in place in many government institutions hold a special place in her heart and remain at the forefront of her mind during her studies.
Past Dignity Editorial Boards: