Kether Hayden ’08 chose Oxy because she knew she could pursue her interest in social justice through the College’s unique Urban and Environmental Policy (UEP) program. What she didn’t know was that the College would lead her halfway across the globe.

“I’ve always wanted to work in social justice,” she says. “But being at Oxy has really expanded and reshaped some of my career ideas and focus.” The UEP and French double major hails from Portland, Ore.

The summer after her freshman year, Hayden took advantage of Oxy’s Los Angeles location to study the housing needs of underrepresented parts of the city as an intern for the Southern California Assn. of Non-Profit Housing.

Her next project took her a little farther afield. In the summer of 2006, she accompanied physics professor Adrian Hightower to Mali in West Africa to install solar panels and do research on gender issues of development projects.

That experience led her to participate in Oxy’s study abroad program by spending the second semester of her junior year in Senegal. That summer she returned to Mali on her own to study women’s associations after being awarded a Richter research grant.

While in Africa, Hayden was able to indulge another passion: Dance. “Dance has always been a huge part of my life,” she says. She is taking ballet classes at Oxy and continues to perform with the Marshall Dance Co., a Los Angeles-based troupe. In Senegal she learned a new “really physically demanding” dance called the saaba.

Currently the senior is busy applying for fellowships. The Rhodes or Marshall would allow her to attend master’s programs in the UK. The Fulbright would enable her to do independent research on high-density housing projects inhabited by African immigrants  in Parisian suburbs.

Hayden’s ultimate goal is to work in a nongovernmental agency focusing on urban issues of underrepresented populations, either in the U.S. or West Africa.

Of her experience at Oxy, Hayden concludes: “I have been able to be involved in social justice issues that I really care about, and I’ve also expanded my understanding of what social justice means and how I can be involved.”