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Pickering Fellows for 2011 Named by Woodrow Wilson Foundation
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FOR RELEASE: June 13, 2011
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Caryl McFarlane | Public Policy/International Affairs | (609) 452-7007 x135
Beverly Sanford | Vice President for Communications | (609) 452-7007 x181
PICKERING FELLOWS FOR 2011 NAMED BY WOODROW WILSON FOUNDATION
U.S. State Department program supports preparation of future Foreign Service Officers
PRINCETON, NJ—The United States’ international representatives must have dedication, initiative, integrity, cultural adaptability, ability to communicate well, and a thorough intellectual background. The 40 new Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellows named this summer have demonstrated promise across this range of areas crucial to United States Foreign Service Officers. (See full lists of the 2011 Undergraduate and Graduate Fellows below.)
This fall, this diverse new class—20 Pickering Undergraduate Fellows and 20 Pickering Graduate Fellows—will begin their journey to represent America in world affairs. Administered by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation for the U.S. Department of State, the Pickering Fellowships 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 them: a former director of village development projects in Cambodia, a missionary to the Czech Republic, a criminal justice major who helps HIV-positive individuals transition out of the corrections system, an erstwhile reporter who covered sensitive interethnic issues, a co-founder of a peace building organization in northern Uganda, and several multilinguists.
The 20 Pickering Undergraduate Fellows are the 18th 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 15th 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 examinations. 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. Mr. Pickering held 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 as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.
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Founded in 1945, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation identifies and develops leaders and institutions to address the critical challenges in education. It supports its Fellows as the next generation of leaders shaping American institutions, and also supports innovation in the institutions they will lead.
Michelle Angulo • University of Chicago
Frederick Bolageer, Jr. • George Washington University
Nora Brito • American University
Evan Davis • The Ohio State University
Yuzzy Dubuisson • American University
Kimberly Everett • University of Alabama at Birmingham
Sarah Geisler • University of Pittsburgh
Neil Gundavda • University of Florida
Kalisha Holmes • George Washington University
Tetyana Ivanishena • Drexel University
Audrey Keranen • Cornell University
Jake Miner • George Washington University
Jonathan Nwosu • Syracuse University
Abigail Olvera • University of Richmond
Stephanie Oviedo • Harvard College
Brandon Peart • University of Utah
Stephanie Petersen • Georgetown University
Brittney Stewart • University of Southern California
Darryl Turner, Jr. • Northwestern University
Rebecca Yang • Georgetown University
Andrew Abordonado • University of California – Berkeley
Azizou Atte-oudeyi • Brandeis University
Gloria Chou • TBD
Jullion Cooper • Johns Hopkins University
Bernardo Diaz • Tufts University
Soribel Feliz • Syracuse University
Melissa Fisher • George Washington University
Charles Hall • Boston University
Ariel Jahner • New York University
Esther Joe • Emory University
Adam Levy • Harvard University
Angelo Maestas • University of Washington, Seattle
Shiva Marvasti • Georgetown University
Mary Nameth • Columbia University
Stephanie Parenti, Sr. • Seton Hall University
Samara Simmons • Seton Hall University
Tabitha Snowbarger • Columbia University
Jacob Surface • Indiana University
Anissa Talatikite • Tufts University
Lila Wade • Columbia University