About the Office of the Student Ombudsperson

Alexis Howard is a full-time doctoral student in the Department of Comparative Human Development. Before completing her master’s degree at the University of Chicago, Alexis received a bachelor of science in neuroscience and a bachelor of arts in Spanish from Indiana University Bloomington, where she also worked in the Office of Overseas Study after having lived and studied in Santiago, Chile. Her current dissertation research employs both qualitative and quantitative methods to explore the relationships between age at immigration, measures of physical and mental health, and choices about retirement and healthcare among the elderly population of Latino immigrants in the United States. She is also an Affiliate in the Specialized Training Program on the Demography and Economics of Aging, sponsored by NORC at UChicago and the NIA. In her free time, Alexis enjoys Latin dancing, jogging, and cooking.

Jon Bullock is a PhD student in ethnomusicology at the University of Chicago. He holds a B.A. in religion (2011), an M.A. in ethnomusicology (2015), and an M.A. in music (2018). Jon’s research interests include constructions of time and place in contemporary Kurdish music (particularly in Iraqi Kurdistan), with a focus on the interstices of music and nationalism, modernity, and global migration/diaspora. He has also written about music and religion, including music censorship within the Christian church, and various sonic phenomena within Islamic performative and theological traditions. Before entering the PhD program, Jon spent two years working full time with adolescent boys at a mental healthcare facillity in his home state of Virginia. These days, when he has spare time, Jon enjoys traveling, baking, and binge-watching Netflix.