MASTER OF ARTS IN
GLOBAL & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
Candidate Profiles
Yenly
Thach
Yenly was born in a refugee camp in Thailand where she lived until she was eight years old and immigrated to America. Life was challenging yet rewarding growing up in America. Yenly completed her undergraduate studies at U.C. Santa Cruz, graduating with honors in Community Studies with an emphasis in refugees, immigrants and social justice. Yenly drew on knowledge and personal experiences gained during her internships with the Cambodian Association of America in Long Beach, CA and Immigrants and Refugee Service at St. Rita in Bronx, NY, to inform her undergraduate thesis on Cambodian Immigrants in America.
Next, Yenly volunteered with the Peace Corps in a rural Costa Rican village. Her Peace Corps work focused on children and families. She also has worked with two different non-profit organizations in San Diego, CA as a life skills facilitator for foster youth and as a program specialist and case manager for at-risk youth.
For her UCSB graduate studies internship, Yenly interned at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva, Switzerland with the Private Sector Fund Raising department under the Ninemillion.org Campaign. At the United Nations, Yenly focused on the rights of child refugees in regards to education and sports. In the fall and winter of 09-10, Yenly conducted research on former Cambodian refugees who returned to their home country. She analyzed the effectiveness of government and NGOs during the past 25 years in assisting Cambodian refugees. Yenly’s Khmer language skills enable her to conduct personal interviews with former refugees as research for her master’s thesis. In addition, Yenly studied at the Royal University of Phnom Penh in order to improve her reading and writing skills in Khmer as well as learning about the culture and history of Cambodia and its people.
Yenly is a recipient of the David L. Boren Fellowship for International Study in Cambodia and the Kendra Chiota-Payne fellowship. In her leisure time, Yenly loves to go to the beach, practice yoga and do Pilates. She is passionate about learning new cultures, languages, traveling to developing countries and helping those who truly need it.
