Josie Soehnge Cohen is a socio-cultural anthropologist with a background in political geography. She holds an M.S. in Geography and Environmental Studies and a B.A.I.S. in International Relations from Texas State University, where she pursued a concentration in Latin American politics. Josie brings four years of non-profit experience and is committed to producing knowledge that contributes to the reimagining of migration policy in ways that protect and promote the dignity of the human person.
Soehnge Cohen's master thesis examined Catholic actors’ responses to the humanitarian impacts of U.S. immigration policies—including Migrant Protection Protocols and Title 42—in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Drawing on care ethics and Catholic social thought, she explored how Catholic-led state–civil society care networks have emerged to address refugee–migrant needs in contexts of strategic neglect. And in organizing a humanitarian response, Josie shows how the Catholic Church stepped into considerable roles of immigration and asylum governance in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
At Notre Dame, her research continues to investigate religiously motivated refugee–migrant care practices and political interventions, with an emphasis on the role of the Catholic Church—and religion more broadly—in shaping contemporary politics across local, national, and transnational scales.
Josie is a Fellow at the Institute for Latino Studies, a Sorin Fellow with the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, and an alumna of the Rome Summer Seminars on Religion and Global Politics (cohort of 2025). She serves as Vice President of the Anthropology Graduate Student Association and as Lead Coordinator for Notre Dame’s Interdisciplinary Graduate Migration Working Group for 2025–2026.