Photo by Victor M. Inzunza
Arancha Garcia del Soto, Ph.D., has been appointed the Helen Hamlyn Senior Fellow at Fordham University’s International Institute for Humanitarian Affairs (IIHA).
Garcia Del Soto, who assumed her new role in October, had been the director of refugee initiatives at the Solomon Asch Center for the Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research and development work, which has focused on psychosocial interventions involving survivors of violence, spans four continents, from Europe and Africa to Latin America and Asia.
“As the senior fellow, Arancha will be continuing our outreach efforts outside of the University, as well as within Fordham’s academic community as it regards humanitarian issues,” said Brendan Cahill, administrative director of IIHA. “The position requires someone who can create those links and partnerships, as well as teach.
“Arancha is ideally suited to bridge the two worlds: that of the practical and theoretical.”
Over the years, Garcia del Soto has collaborated with local, international and community-based organizations on formulating and implementing programs for survivors of violence in the Balkans, West Africa, Latin America, Iraq and Sri Lanka.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in social psychology from the University Pontificia of Salamanca, a master’s degree in social sciences from the Instituto Juan March de Estudios e Investigaciones in Madrid, and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Salamanca.
IIHA was established in 2001 to forge partnerships with relief organizations, publish books, create training programs and host symposia relating to humanitarian affairs. It also offers an academic base for the study and development of international health, human rights and other humanitarian issues, especially those that occur in periods of conflict.
By Victor M. Inzunza
