Interviews by Decade: 2020s

Annalisa Heppner, staff

In this interview, Annalisa Heppner, Project Manager for the Circumpolar Laboratory Inventory Project at the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Brown University, shares her experiences working, maintaining a relationship, and protesting racial injustice, during the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Christina Smith, staff

In this interview, Christina Smith, Associate Director for Undergraduate STEM Development at the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning at Brown University, shares her experiences as a scholar and member of Navajo Nation during the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Feven Teklu, Staff

In this interview, Feven Teklu, Senior Leadership Giving Officer in the Office of Advancement at Brown University, discusses her experiences as a woman of color and mother during the COVID-19 global pandemic and in the wake of the death of George Floyd.

Teklu begins by sharing her personal background and talking about her childhood in Ukraine and Ethiopia; her education at Milton Hershey School in Pennsylvania; and her dream to live and work in New York City.

Finch Collins, class of 2021

In this interview, Finch Collins, class of 2021, describes his early memories of his time at Brown University and explains how COVID-19 has impacted his undergraduate experience.

Gail Cohee, staff

In this two-part interview, Gail Cohee, former Associate Dean of Students and Director of the Sarah Doyle Center for Women and Gender, discusses her life in academia, women’s center work, changing circumstances at Brown during the late 2010s, and retirement during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Heidi Sasseville, staff

In this interview, Heidi Sasseville, Senior Sales Clerk at the Brown University Bookstore, discusses her experiences living through the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Jennifer Currier, staff


In this interview,  Jennifer Currier, former Publications and Programs Coordinator for the Portuguese and Brazilian Studies Department at Brown University, discusses her experiences leading up to and participating in one of the Black Lives Matter protests in Providence, Rhode Island, following the murder of George Floyd.

Karina Wang, class of 2021

In this interview, Karina Wang, Brown University class of 2021, discusses the COVID-19 global pandemic, her participation in a protest for racial justice following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minnesota police, and the University’s decision to transition multiple varsity athletic teams to club teams.

Katherine Goldman, Staff

In this interview, Katherine Goldman, Center Manager of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) at Brown University, discusses her experience during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as its impact on her work with immigration detention centers.

Lydia Curliss, Staff

In this interview, Lydia Curliss, Physical Sciences, and Native American and Indigenous Studies, Librarian at Brown University and member of Nipmuc Nation of Massachusetts, shares her thoughts on the COVID-19 global pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the fight for Indigenous rights.

Lynn Nottage, class of 1986, and Ruby Aiyo Gerber, class of 2020

In this interview, Lynn Nottage, Pulitzer-prize winning playwright and Brown University class of 1986, and her daughter, Ruby Aiyo Gerber, Brown University class of 2020, discuss their experiences at Brown, living through the COVID-19 global pandemic, and processing the death of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

Mitchell Foster, staff

In this interview, Mitchell Foster, a Residential Area Coordinator at Brown University, shares their experiences becoming a Brown staff member during the COVID-19 global pandemic and guiding students through increased racism against the Asian and Asian-American communities.

Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve, Faculty

In this interview, Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve, Associate Professor of Sociology at Brown University, discusses her experiences as a professor and academic navigating the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rachel Cassidy, faculty

In this interview, Rachel Cassidy, Associate Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Brown University, discusses her experiences leading up to and participating in one of the Black Lives Matter protests in Providence, Rhode Island, following the murder of George Floyd.

Rae Gould, Staff

In this interview, Rae Gould, Associate Director of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative at Brown University and member of Nipmuc Nation of Massachusetts, shares her experiences living with the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Sebastián Castro Niculescu, class of 2020


In this interview, then Brown and RISD Dual-Degree student Sebastián Castro Niculescu discusses her experience growing up in and around Queens, New York, her childhood education, admittance to Brown-RISD, and social life around the turn of the Trump Administration. 

Shibei Guo, class of 2020

In this interview, Shibei Guo, Brown University class of 2020, shares her experiences as an international student from Wuhan, China, during the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Shuyan Wang, class of 2020

In this interview, Shuyan Wang, class of 2020, discusses life on campus, her experience as an applied math concentrator, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on her home in China and her life in the United States.

Wang begins by talking about her family and early education in Nanjing, China, where she explains why she decided to move to the United States to attend Brown University. She notes the flexibility of higher education in the United States compared to China, the liberal education of Brown, and prior trips to the States.

Virginia Thomas, class of 2020

In this interview, Virginia Thomas, Brown University class of 2020, discusses her experience as an academic during the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Yukti Agarwal, class of 2024

In this interview, Yukti Agarwal, Brown University class of 2024, shares her experiences as a Brown | RISD dual degree student and international student during the COVID-19 global pandemic.