FOR RELEASE: June 18, 2012

CONTACT:
Caryl McFarlane | Public Policy/International Affairs | (609) 452-7007 x135
Beverly Sanford | Vice President for Communications | (609) 452-7007 x181

WOODROW WILSON FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES PICKERING FELLOWS FOR 2012

U.S. State Department program supports preparation of future Foreign Service Officers

PRINCETON, NJ—Forty exceptional students aspiring to enter the United States’ diplomatic corps—20 undergraduate and 20 just entering master’s degree programs—have been awarded Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowships to support their training, beginning this upcoming academic year. All have demonstrated the dedication, initiative, integrity, cultural adaptability, communication skills, and thorough intellectual background that it takes to become a United States Foreign Service Officer. (See full lists of the 2012 Undergraduate and Graduate Fellows below.)

This fall, the members of this diverse new class will begin their journey to represent America in world affairs. The Pickering Fellowships, administered by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation for the U.S. Department of State, develop a source of well-prepared men and women whose academic backgrounds fulfill the skill needs of the United States Department of State and who are dedicated to representing America’s interests abroad.

Among the new Fellows: a campus chapter president of Free Tibet who traveled throughout India to collect oral histories of Tibetan refugees, a Hudson Institute intern who researched projects for the Center for Political-Military Analysis, a Fulbright scholar in Venezuela who taught English to university students, and a Social Entrepreneurs Corps intern who helped pilot a Social Entrepreneurship and Economic Development Program in South Africa.

The 20 Pickering Undergraduate Fellows are the 19th class of Fellows named at the undergraduate level. Selected in their junior year, these Fellows will receive financial support towards tuition and other expenses during the senior year and during the first year of graduate study.

The 16th class of 20 Pickering Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellows will receive financial support towards a two-year, full-time master’s degree program in a related field such as public policy, international affairs, public administration, or other academic fields such as business, economics, political science, sociology or foreign languages.

Fellows in both programs participate in one domestic and one overseas internship. They commit to three years of service as a Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. Department of State, contingent on their passing the Foreign Service requirements. The Foreign Service, a corps of working professionals who support the President of the United States and the Secretary of the United States Department of State in pursuit of the goals and objectives of American foreign policy, are “front-line” personnel who can be sent anywhere in the world, at any time, in service to the diplomatic needs of the United States.

The Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship Program is named in honor of one of the most distinguished and capable American diplomats of the latter half of the 20th century. Ambassador Pickering holds the rank of Career Ambassador, the highest rank in the U.S. Foreign Service. He served as Ambassador to Nigeria, El Salvador, Israel, India, and the Russian Federation, finishing his career in the Foreign Service as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.

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Founded in 1945, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation prepares the nation’s best minds to meet its most important challenges, working through education. The Foundation supports its Fellows as the next generation of leaders shaping American society.

Alaina Brown   •   Swarthmore College

Jessica Carrillo   •   St. Mary’s University

Khatijah Corey   •   University of the Pacific

Rajani Ghosh   •   Boston University

Hermes Grullon   •   DePauw University

Donna Hernandez   •   Georgetown University

Brittney Johnson   •   Vanderbilt University

Samantha Jordan   •   Lafayette College

Taryn Kaili   •   University of Hawaii

Ethan Lynch   •   Washington University in St. Louis

Mawusi Malik   •   Northern Arizona University

Amaury Munoz   •   State University of New York

Azline Nelson   •   Spelman College

Autumn Patterson   •   University of Pennsylvania

Malcolm Phillips   •   University of Central Florida

Ashton Robison   •   St. Edward’s University

Melissa Sandoval   •   Franklin & Marshall College

Clint Shoemake   •   University of Arkansas

Trae Watson   •   Morehouse College

Ema Woodward   •   Carnegie Mellon University

Marvin Alfaro   •   New York University

Ernesto Alfonso   •   Columbia University

Allison Carragher   •   Johns Hopkins University

Jeung Hwa Choe   •   Syracuse University

Nardos Ghebregziabher   •   George Washington University

Shirley Green   •   University of Texas

Joyce Hahn   •   Harvard University

Kali Harper   •   Georgetown University

Rosanne Izzo   •   Northeastern University

Lance Jackson   •   University of Southern California

Jake Nelson   •   Yale University

Miranda Patterson   •   American University

Ayesha Quirke   •   Monterey Institute

Jesse Shaw   •   Columbia University

Stephanie Sobek   •   Harvard University

Andrew Stephens   •   University of Denver

Esther Tetruashvily   •   Harvard University

Michael Vasiloff   •   George Washington University

Maribel Vasquez   •   American University

Emily Yu   •   Columbia University

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