International Development Studies major Grace Harris (UCLA 2025) reflects on a transformative UCLA experience defined by grassroots activism, rigorous research and a deep commitment to genocide prevention and justice.

By Victoria Salcedo

UCLA International Institute, May 2, 2025 — For Grace Harris, a graduating senior majoring in international development studies (IDS) with a minor in geography, UCLA has been more than an academic home — it has been a launching pad for a lifelong commitment to justice. 

Raised in Tampa, Florida, Harris first became politically engaged in high school, reacting to book bans, criminalized protests and an increasingly repressive political climate. “They’re making a new category to criminalize protests because of Black Lives Matter — that’s crazy,” she recalled. This feeling of injustice carried her across the country to UCLA, where she found a university community that aligned with her values.

Drawn initially by the university’s reputation and California’s cultural scene, Harris quickly discovered that the IDS program offered something distinct: an interdisciplinary framework that explored not just international systems, but the roots of injustice. “Other programs just asked who has power,” she said. “IDS seemed like (it was) asking why people have power and how we can challenge that.”

How IDS shaped her academic vision

Her passion for social analysis deepened through courses in feminist and cultural geography, which she first took because they were cross-listed with IDS. “I thought it brought a really interesting perspective on how we view people and their relation to the world,” remarked Harris. The combination of disciplines sharpened her focus on human geography and development policy. 

Harris’ interest in genocide prevention was first sparked during her freshman year of high school, when she joined a chapter of STAND: The Student-Led Movement to End Mass Atrocities. Initially drawn in by the leadership of a teacher she admired, Harris quickly realized how urgent and underrepresented the issue of genocide was. “It seemed like an important issue,” she said, and her involvement deepened. 

Beginning in August 2020, she served on the National Managing Committee of STAND as co-outreach and co-education lead. Harris conducted advocacy campaigns, including successful efforts supporting the Global Fragility Act and the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, creating educational toolkits and mobilizing student networks nationwide. These resources are still used by chapter organizations even after STAND’s national operations ceased in 2025.

In 2024 Harris started as a summer intern at Genocide Watch, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the prediction, prevention and prosecution of genocide and other forms of mass atrocity. In October of that year, she was invited back to lead a task force on the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. As an early warning analyst, she monitors human rights developments in conflict zones, writes country reports and collaborates with peers across the globe. 

“I [attended a] dinner with Gregory Stanton in Washington, DC — he’s a legend,” she said, referring to the founder of Genocide Watch and inventor of the 10 Stages of Genocide framework. Working with Stanton has been especially meaningful for Harris, who first encountered his work as a student and now collaborates with him in a professional capacity through Genocide Watch.

Linking development policy and genocide prevention

Her intellectual interest in genocide and justice will culminate in her departmental honors thesis, in which she explores the developmental conditions that contributed to violence during the genocide in Sudan that began in the early 2000s and resurged in 2023. Specifically, her research delves into famine, healthcare access and the international community’s slow response to humanitarian crises. “There were warning signs for years. How can we better recognize and respond to them?” she asks.

Beyond her academic and activism, Harris treasures the community she has built at UCLA. “I love my friends, I love my roommates,” she said. Her apartment has become a gathering place for potlucks and movie nights, a grounding contrast to her rigorous workload. 

One of her most memorable classes at UCLA was Nonviolence and Social Movements, taught by Reverend James Lawson.* “He would casually mention, ‘Me and Martin were talking one day’, as in Martin Luther King,” Harris chuckled. “It was just so cool and inspirational.”

Now preparing to pursue a master’s in international affairs, Harris is keeping her options open. Whether it’s through research, NGO work or grassroots advocacy, she’s focused on impact. “I never wanted a government job necessarily,” she said. “But I know I want to make a difference.”

Her advice for incoming IDS students is practical and heartfelt. “Take a variety of classes, do the readings, go to office hours and talk to your professors about their research. They’re doing incredible things,” she emphasized. She also recommends making use of the UCLA Library research guides and applying for opportunities such as the Keck Fellowship. “Make the most of the time you have,” said Harris in closing. “It will fly by.”

Published: Friday, May 2, 2025