SMU Alumni Discuss Careers In Human Rights On February 18

Six SMU alumni returned to the Hilltop on February 18 to share their stories and discuss the many career paths open to students studying human rights at a career forum sponsored by the Embrey Human Rights Program in Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences.
>Read coverage of the career forum in The Daily Campus
Speakers included:
Maillil Acosta ’11
Teach For America, Manager of Teacher Leadership Development (Dallas)
Dallas-native Maillil Acosta has dedicated her life to fighting for educational equity in the city she loves most. While pursuing a human rights minor at SMU, she participated in the Civil Rights pilgrimage. After earning a bachelor’s degree in political science, she joined Teach For America and taught fifth- grade math at Herbert Marcus Elementary, the Dallas elementary school she had attended as a youngster. While she initially believed she had joined TFA to change the lives of students, she quickly realized how working with students was changing her life. After completing her two-year commitment in the classroom, she became a full-time Teach for America staff member. She is now in her third year of supporting and managing teachers toward achieving ambitious learning and leadership goals that provide students with the education they deserve. She believes to her core that educational inequity is the most urgent civil rights issue of our time and is committed to pursuing justice through education for the rest of her life.
Rachel Ball-Phillips ’06
Adjunct Lecturer, History and Indian Studies, SMU Department of History
Rachel Ball-Phillips took a deep dive into human rights issues as the president and vice president of Amnesty International at SMU. After receiving her bachelor’s degree in history, she completed a Ph.D. in Indian History at Boston Colleg. She joined the faculty of SMU in 2014, and has since taught classes that address human rights in modern South Asia.
Laura Buck ’13
Compass Professional Health Services, Business Development Manager (Minneapolis)
As a human rights major at SMU, Laura Buck deepened her belief that adequate health care is a human right. She began her career as a patient advocate at Compass Professional Health Services, and two years later, shifted her focus to health care business development. She now resides in Minneapolis, where she volunteers though the Junior League.
Philip Haigh ’12
Dallas Regional Chamber, Director of Public Policy
Philip Haigh advocates for regional economic growth to improve the quality of life for all in Dallas. He has worked on living-wage legislation, prison justice reform, immigration and DACA/DAPA enrollment, and government accountability/transparency. He holds dual master’s degrees from SMU in global studies and human rights and social justice.
Amanda Koons ’12
Northwestern University School of Law Student (Chicago)
Amanda Koons graduated from SMU in 2012 and is now in her final semester at Northwestern University School of Law, where she will receive a joint JD/LLM in international human rights law in May. At Northwestern she has participated in criminal defense, death penalty and human rights advocacy clinics. She has worked on teams representing people facing homicide charges and the death penalty at every stage of the criminal process in Texas and Louisiana, as well as Malawi. She also has served as a law clerk on trial teams at the Cook County Public Defender’s office in Chicago and the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center in New Orleans. She is spending her last semester in a full-time externship with the Government Misconduct and Racial Justice division of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York City. Her exposure to the failings of the American criminal justice system have led her to pursue a career as a public defender, which she will begin in the fall in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Samantha Matthews ’12
K-3 Special Education Teacher (New York)
At SMU Samantha worked with newly arrived refugee children and families in Vickery Meadow. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in human rights, she joined Teach For America in New York City and continued her work with young children. For two years she taught some of Brooklyn’s youngest learners – 2- and 3-year-olds – before completing her master’s in early childhood special education in 2015. She is now a K-3 special education teacher in Harlem.