Sela Cowger ’17 is a student at Temple University Beasley School of Law, where she is a Beasley Scholar, a Rubin-Presser Public Interest Scholar, and a Law & Public Policy Scholar. She serves as a fellow with the Institute for International Law and Public Policy and is the Vice-President of International Law Society and Co-Chair of the Immigration & Human Rights Committee of the Temple Law Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.
Ms. Cowger earned her B.A. with departmental distinction and University honors from the University of Chicago with a major in political science. She was awarded the 2011 Ignacio Martin-Barro award for writing the best undergraduate paper related to human rights. She was also selected as a Public and Social Service Scholar for her dedication to public service and was awarded a Jeff Metcalf Fellowship with the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, where she served as a guardian ad litem for unaccompanied immigrant children. Prior to law school, Ms. Cowger worked as an English language instructor in Fukushima, Japan with the Japan Education Teaching Program (JET).
As a Law & Public Policy Scholar, she is a policy and advocacy intern at the National Immigration Forum. Her work includes conducting research and tracking legislation on immigration topics such as border security, enforcement of immigration laws in the interior, detention of immigrants, and related appropriations. In her spare time, Ms. Cowger is passionate about ending family detention and volunteers her time assisting attorneys representing immigrant families in Berks County, Pennsylvania.