On April 19, 2023, the Office of Public Interest/Public Service Law and Careers celebrated Columbia Law School students who have shown exceptional dedication to public interest or public service law. We also honored 2023 Distinguished Columbia Law School Graduate Anurima Bhargava ’02, founder and director of Anthem of Us, a strategic advisory and consulting firm that centers dignity, justice, and belonging in workplaces, schools, and communities. Anurima was introduced by Susan Sturm, George M. Jaffin Professor of Law and Social Responsibility, and Kendall Thomas, Nash Professor of Law. Full Program
All-Star Honorees
Honored in three or more categories
| Terresa Adams Isabel Alexiades Natasha Almanzar- Sanchez Christopher Alter Andrea Ashburn Tal Avrhami Hunter Baehren Jonah Baskin Madhuri Belkale Molly Bodurtha Likhitha Butchireddygari Grace Coleman Kathrina Dabdoub Allie Doyle Nkechi Erondu Ashley Fleck |
Noah Foster Fatima Hasanain Chakshu Hurria Emily Katz Kathryn Kobriger Tanner Larkin William Leo Eileen Li Olivia Martinez Laura McFeely Anna Belle Newport Cristine Oh Austin Owen Madison Pagel Abbe Petuchowski Haley Rea |
Tyler Ritchie Eric Rolston Payoshi Roy Anna Scheibmeir Christina Schiciano Emma Shumway Julianna Simms P. Elizabeth Stewart Elena Syman Roger Antonio Tejada Sahana Thirumazhusai Tia Thomas Imani Thornton Alex VanRooyen Katherine Wilkin |
Honorees
Honored in one or more categories
|
Nausherwan Ahmed Aamir |
Heidy L. Gonzalez Alexander Gosanko Abigail Greene Stephen Groh Stephanie M. Gusching Sophia Han AJ Handler Edward Harrington Fatima Hasanain Arjan S. Heir Alexander Herkert Abigail R. Hodonicky Alexander Hohl Hayley Hopkins Natsuki Hosoya Yixin Huang Chakshu Hurria Kayla Jahangiri Catie Jennetta Alexandra Jimenez John Jody Chabely Jorge Urena Veronica Naa Okaikor Josiah-Aryeh Tara Kade Emily Katz Tamar Katz Stephany Kim Kathryn Kobriger Luke Koekkoek Tanner Larkin Claudia-Skye Lee William Leo Angel Li Eileen Li Emma Li Henry Litwhiler Cailin Liu Olivia Lu Jerelyn Luther Olivia Martinez Laura McFeely Erin McKissick John McReynolds Alexandra Meek Emilio Mendez Aaron Milevsky Caleb Monaghan Ridge Montes Caito Moore Yessenia Moreno Jen Morton Shruti Narayan Christabel Narh Natia Navrouzov Anna Belle Newport |
Anna Norman Chioma Nwaodike Lars Odland Cristine Oh Mayowa Olujohungbe Wisdom Onwuchekwa-Banogu Nicholas Opiyo Austin Owen Madison Pagel Beatriz Pais Alderete Taylor Perez Abbe Petuchowski Jules Pierre Shahab Pournaghshband Laura Quijano Ortiz David Ratnoff Haley Rea Conor Regan Nancy Marie Rich Lauren Richardson Tyler Ritchie Eric Rolston Jacob Rosenberg Payoshi Roy Ido Sadeh Josceline Sanchez Anna Scheibmeir Cosima Schelfhout Emma Scheuer Christina Schiciano Corey Shapiro John Sherrick Blair Shi Emma Shumway Julianna Simms Ethan Singer P. Elizabeth Stewart Shahar Syed Elena Syman Roger Antonio Tejada Sahana Thirumazhusai Tia Thomas Imani Thornton Simeon Toronto Joshua Tupler Shannon Leigh VanDenburgh Hardy Alex VanRooyen Cameron Wallace Karen Wang Elliott Werner Logan A. Wilke Katherine Wilkin Camille Wrightson |
2023 Distinguished Graduate
Anurima Bhargava ’02 is the founder and director of Anthem of Us, a strategic advisory and consulting firm that centers dignity, justice, and belonging in workplaces, schools, and communities. Clients include leading financial institutions, corporations, foundations, schools, and media, arts, and nonprofit organizations.
From 2018 to 2022, Bhargava served as chair and commissioner of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which documents and makes recommendations on religious persecution and violence abroad. She made diplomatic visits to Burma, the Rohingya camps in Bangladesh, Iraq, Sudan, and Vietnam. Her engagement on the commission was recently profiled in the New York Times. From 2010 to 2016, Bhargava led federal civil rights enforcement and policy in schools and higher education institutions across the nation at the U.S. Department of Justice, where she spearheaded landmark guidance and litigation on school discipline, sexual harassment and violence, English Learners, and students with disabilities. She served on several administration-wide and White House task forces to address harassment, discrimination, and violence.
Bhargava previously served as director of the education practice and associate counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund from 2004 to 2010, where she litigated cases on diversity and segregation in schools and higher education institutions, including in the federal appellate courts and U.S. Supreme Court. From 2016 to 2018, she was a fellow at the Institute of Politics and the Carr Center for Human Rights at Harvard and a Leadership in Government Fellow at Open Society Foundations, where she focused on trauma experienced after incidents of communal racial violence.
Bhargava’s commitment to advancing dignity and justice through narrative and storytelling led her to produce and advise numerous documentary films and projects. She chairs the U.S. board of Doc Society, a leading incubator and supporter of documentary film globally. Her recent projects include the Oscar-nominated documentary Writing with Fire (co-executive producer), Barefoot Empress (executive producer); and the docuseries The Vow (consulting producer/legal advisor).
She co-chairs the National Advisory Board on Public Service at Harvard and serves on the board of the National Women’s Law Center Action Fund and Big Thought. She also serves as an advisor to GSV Ventures, Unbound Philanthropy, and the Broadway Advocacy Coalition. She was a 2017 Presidential Leadership Scholar.
Bhargava advises numerous political campaigns and was appointed to the 2020 Democratic National Committee’s Platform Committee. She founded Take Back Tuesdays and Anthem of America to provide information and ways to take action around elections, and a multiracial PAC, American Anthem.
Bhargava earned her law degree from Columbia Law School and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College. She was recently elected chief marshal of her Harvard class. She was born and raised on the south side of Chicago.