Morgan Barney graduated as a Maclellan Scholar from Covenant College in May 2018 with her Bachelor’s degree in International Studies. Prior to her time at Covenant, she co-founded the nonprofit Save Our Sisters (SOS). Her experience with Save Our Sisters allowed her to raise over $45,000 to assist trafficking victims, travel to Moldova six times, speak for audiences such as members of the N.C. Supreme Court, and co-author the book Save Our Sisters.
During her time at Covenant, she continued to develop her demonstrated interest in human rights and vulnerable populations through various internships and research opportunities. She served as a juvenile justice fellow in 2017 for the Center for Public Justice after co-authoring the policy report in 2016, What Justice Requires: Closing Youth Prisons. Her time researching as a juvenile justice fellow allowed for her to interview experts in the field and write monthly contributions on behalf of CPJ.
After studying abroad in the spring of 2017 in Granada, Spain, Morgan studied as a research assistant to Dr. Cale Horne for her final two years at Covenant. She assisted the department through various research projects such as coding for PKAT, the Peacekeeper Attribute Project. She continues to remain involved with PKAT as she recently co-authored an article published in the academic journal International Migration with Dr. Horne.
Since attending the University of Georgia, Morgan has joined the Human Rights Measurement Initiative on the Civil and Political Rights Metric Team. She worked alongside her colleagues at UGA, including HRMI co-founder Dr. Chad Clay, on the annual survey HRMI administers amongst human rights experts around the world.
In the summer of 2019, Morgan Jane Barney worked in Washington D.C. as the Internal Learning and Evaluation intern for the international NGO, International Justice Mission. This opportunity allowed her to engage with both the academic and policy world, provide solutions, and suggest questions for further consideration in the assigned project. This experience also familiarized her with IJM’s theory of change and organizational approach to ending human rights abuses globally.
Morgan further sharpened her professional skills in summer 2020 through a virtual internship with the University of Georgia’s Office of Research in the department of Defense and Security Collaborations. In her role as a research development associate, I created two databases: one to organize UGA faculty and their respective specializations and a second focused funding opportunities related to my assigned portfolio.
She is currently working under the supervision of Dr. Amanda Murdie as she collects the necessary data for completing her dissertation. Through this project, she has co-conducted numerous semi-structured interviews and assisted in crafting the survey instrument for her dissertation project and other publications. This fall she will also serve as the Instructor of Record for two undergraduate courses: Introduction to Comparative Politics and Democratic Erosion.
Outside of the classroom, you can find Morgan running, drinking coffee at one of her favorite Athens coffee shops, or listening to live music at one of Athens many unique venues. She is thankful for the opportunity to continue her graduate career at the University of Georgia alongside such talented faculty and colleagues.
human rights, international non-governmental organizations, discourse shift, issue framing, women’s rights, human trafficking
