Lucienne Pulliam’s educational experience at Widener looks a bit like an international route map from the back of an airline magazine. In 2007, she completed a study abroad with Widener’s School of Human Service Professions in Amsterdam. She completed a judicial externship at the County Court of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia in 2008, and in 2009, she completed a DuPont Public Interest Fellowship with the Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI) in Monrovia, Liberia.
On track to earn both a law degree and a doctorate in clinical psychology in 2012, Pulliam has been a globetrotter of experiential learning in her five years at Widener. “As a student in the joint-degree program, I want to pursue a career that is a true integration of law and psychology,” she says. “International relations presents the opportunity for me to use my interdisciplinary training to resolve sociocultural problems that involve a variety of legal questions. I’ve tried to fit in as many international experiences as possible, since they allow me to gain practical knowledge of some of the issues I’m likely to face after graduation.”
A member of Widener Law’s
International Law Society, Pulliam has used Widener as her springboard to the world. “On both campuses, I’ve been able to meet a wide variety of people who have helped me make connections in the international theatre,” she says.
Pulliam is just one of many Widener students who benefit from Widener’s commitment to global awareness, which has fostered the growth of many programs reaching all over the world. Widener has helped students explore exotic places like Argentina and China, as well as many locations in Europe. “With the technological advances of the information age, the world is becoming more within our reach every day,” Pulliam says. “All of us need to be prepared to become citizens of the global community.”
Pulliam’s most recent international excursion occurred in the summer of2009, when she worked as an intern for LEITI, a non-governmental organization that promotes the sound, ethical use of natural resources in collaboration with government, civil society, and private entities in Liberia. Within Monrovia’s delicate political environment, Pulliam practiced some of her legal skills and was given the opportunity to meet with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first female head of state.
“I truly value my opportunities to work abroad,” says Pulliam, who is currently working on a dissertation that examines the implementation of international law to resolve ethnic conflicts in Afghanistan. “The best way to understand the challenges, attitudes, and ideals of any given culture is to experience them first hand.”