The career of Catherine Davis '90 is proof positive that hard work on a senior
thesis can pay off after graduation.
Davis recently spent two years in Bosnia and Herzegovina with Oxfam, a British
non-governmental organization, and the Office of the High Representative, the
international organization established to oversee the implementation of the Dayton Peace
Agreement. There, she applied her thesis research skills as she interviewed displaced
Bosniacs (Muslims), Croatians, and Serbs.
A Latin American studies major at Union, Davis studied the urbanization of Brazil for
her senior thesis. Combining a term abroad in Brazil and a grant from the College's
Internal Education Fund — and encouraged by Teresa Meade, associate professor of history,
and other faculty members — Davis did extensive field interviews with migrants from the
Brazilian countryside.
After graduating, Davis went to work for the family business, a company that
manufactured medical diagnostic kits. But she never lost her desire for international
work, traveling to Cambodia for six months to test whether or not working overseas was
just a “romantic notion I had developed as an undergraduate.” She landed a job
with the United Nations, and her experiences confirmed her desire to work abroad.
After returning to the United States to complete graduate school (the Yale School of
Management) and work for the United Nations Development Program in New York, she decided
it was time to take up international fieldwork again. The war had just ended in Bosnia and
Herzegovina, and she decided to go to Gorazde, one of the areas hardest hit by the war.
At first, she managed a major relief distribution project for Oxfam and helped the
people of Gorazde rebuild their town and their lives. Six months later, she moved to
another position, evaluating Oxfam's programs throughout the country. Much of her work
consisted of interviewing displaced people to determine what kinds of problems they were
facing and what kind of assistance from Oxfam would be appropriate.
Davis admits that the work could be depressing.
“No matter what their experiences had been during the war, the displaced people I
spoke with couldn't see what the future would hold for them — where they would live,, how
they would find work, how they would put their lives back together.”
Davis then joined the Office of the High Representative. She worked in Brcko, a city at
the northern edge of Bosnia that is under international supervision. There she coordinated
a $60 million reconstruction program that included rebuilding homes, schools, health
facilities, and water systems. “My job was to coordinate the efforts of thirty
organizations, avoid duplication, and make sure that the reconstruction program was in
support of our goals for the return of displaced people and refugees, for freedom of
movement, and for a multiethnic and democratic government,” she explains.
“Part of my job was to understand the politics of the situation, but I was
primarily responsible for concrete projects that improved people's lives, and that to me
is the most exciting mix.”
Davis has returned to the United States to work closer to home, but she says that she
still loves international work. “You are constantly learning something new. You just
walk out onto the street and you will encounter things that you have never seen
before.”