Two USC Students Will Share the 2023 Beth and Arthur Lev Student Research Fellowship

Two USC scholars – undergraduate student Sydney Crowley and graduate student Faye Zhang – will share the Beth and Arthur Lev Student Research Fellowship for Summer 2023.

The Beth and Arthur Lev Student Research Fellowship provides support for USC students at any academic level and from any discipline to conduct a month of research in residence at the USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research focusing on testimonies of the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive (VHA) and related USC resources and collections. Both research fellows will give public talks about their summer research during the 2023-2024 academic year.

Sydney Crowley is a rising senior at the University of Southern California. She is pursuing two Bachelor of Arts degrees — one in International Studies and one in Non-Governmental Organizations and Social Change — as well as minoring in Russian. During her residency at the Center, Crowley plans to explore the Sinti and Romani testimonies in the VHA to trace the shifts and continuities in religious belief before, during and after the Holocaust.

Crowley has worked at the USC Center for Languages and Cultures since her second year at USC. She works as an English language instructor for ENGin, designing and delivering English language courses to meet the needs of Ukrainian students impacted by war and forced displacement, including refugees and internally displaced persons. She is an Editorial Fellow at the USC Global Policy Institute where she focuses on researching and writing articles about the post-Soviet space, mass violence, and human rights. At the Library of Congress, Crowley served as an intern for the Creative Digital Publications program and as Research Intern. She has participated in a variety of other projects and initiatives, notably conducting a research project investigating water resource management, climate-related economic instability, and inter-ethnic conflict in Kyrgyzstan.

Faye Zhang is a PhD student in the Media Arts and Practice program of the USC School of Cinematic Arts. As a visual artist and ethnographic filmmaker working in video, comics, and animation, she is developing a creative research practice that melds the art of animation with the discipline of anthropology. In her past work she has frequently explored topics within China studies such as healthcare reform in the early days of the People’s Republic of China, footbinding as women’s cultural practice, and grassroots environmental activists in modern China during the COVID-19 era. At the Center, building on her interests in China studies, she plans to explore VHA testimonies by Nanjing Massacre survivors and ultimately create an animated film based on what she discovers.

Zhang earned her BA in English and a secondary degree in Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University. She earned an MA in Visual Anthropology at the University of Manchester and a second MA in China Studies, with focus on Law and Society, from Peking University. She has many published works of poetry, nonfiction, and humor, as well as publications of her artwork, and exhibitions of her art and films. Her written work has been published in The Harvard Lampoon, The Harvard Advocate, the Harvard Medieval Studies Journal, as well as the literary journals and magazines Harpur Palate, Marathon Literary Review, and American Chordata. Her art and films have appeared at/in City Weekend Beijing, The Harvard Lampoon, for which she served as editor of the art issue, the Carpenter Center for Visual Arts, the Harvard Fogg Art Museum, the Asian American Writers Workshop, the Southampton Review, and Black Warrior Review. View some of her work at her portfolio website here.