Office of Fellowships

Senior of the Year

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

Office of Fellowships announces 2022-23 award winners

Colleen Rich — Thu, 11 May 2023 13:21:32 +0000

Office of Fellowships announces 2022-23 award winners Colleen Rich Thu, 05/11/2023 - 09:21

��ӽ紫ý’s Office of Fellowships works with students and alumni to help them find and apply to nationally competitive awards that support their academic, professional, and personal goals. Director Megan Bruening calls the office a “one-stop shop” for students seeking fellowships.

“We are here to guide them through the entire process and meet students wherever they are at in their academic journeys,” she said.

That includes 1:1 advising, feedback on students’ application essays, interview coaching, and coordinating faculty and administrative committees to review and endorse student applications. The team also works with recommenders on reference letters and helps currently enrolled students with their post-award paperwork.

The number of fellowship applicants and recipients at Mason has increased by 15% each year since summer 2021, Bruening said.

The office is pleased to announce the following student fellowships awarded for the 2022-23 academic year.

American Association of University Women Grant
With a mission of gender equity and economic security, the aim of the American Association of University Women Grant is to support female researchers at all stages of their careers. The grant is designed to enable female researchers to gain more visibility, expand a network, or build more expertise.

Ingrid Guillen Marquina (College of Science [COS], Chemistry MS)

Boren Awards
Boren Scholarships (for undergraduate students) and Fellowships (for graduate students) provide unique funding opportunities for U.S. students to study less commonly taught languages in world regions critical to U.S. interests and underrepresented in study abroad.

Scholars: Sannai James (College of Humanities and Social Sciences [CHSS], Global Affairs BA), Connor Brunson (CHSS, Global Affairs BA)
Fellows: Danyale Kellogg (Schar School of Policy and Government, Biodefense PhD), Jacob Davis (School of Business, Management BS)

Center for Disease Control Undergraduate Public Health Scholar
The CDC John R. Lewis Undergraduate Public Health Scholars (Lewis Scholars; formerly CDC Undergraduate Public Health Scholars [CUPS]) Program provides students, particularly those from populations that are underrepresented in public health professions, with career-building public health experiences.

Kristen Alleyne (College of Public Health [CPH], Community Health BS, Honors College)

Cosmos Scholars Grant
Awarded by the Cosmos Club Foundation, Cosmos Scholar grants cover the costs of travel, special supplies, and other expenses that would enhance the scholarship for recipients in various academic fields, including literature, biomedical sciences, regional studies, and engineering.

Melissa DeLury (College of Education and Human Development [CEHD], Education PhD)
Anne Dobberteen (also received the Neilom Foundation Meritorious Award in Technology and Society from Cosmos; CHSS, Art History PhD)
Laura Fretwell (CHSS, History PhD)
Alena James (COS, Biosciences PhD)
Dylan Scarton (COS, Neuroscience PhD)

Critical Language Scholarship
The Critical Language Scholarship Program is an immersive summer opportunity for American college and university students to learn languages in regions that are critical to U.S. national security and economic prosperity.

Carma Elharazi (CHSS, Foreign Languages BA)
Aleah Johnson (CHSS, Foreign Languages BA, Honors College)
Ninamarie Avedissian (CEHD, Curriculum and Instruction MEd)
Gisselle Contreras (COS, Neuroscience)
- Alternates: Dulguun Gantumur (CHSS, Global Affairs BA, Honors College), Kanwal Ahmad (College of Engineering and Computing (CEC), Electrical Engineering BS), Sara Michels (Schar, International Security MA)

Foreign Affairs Information Technology Fellowship
The two-year Foreign Affairs Information Technology Fellowship from the U.S. Department of State aims to attract top technology talent that represents the ethnic, racial, gender, social, and geographic diversity of the United States. The two-year fellowship is a path to a career in the Foreign Service and provides academic funding for an IT-related degree, internships, professional development and mentorship—culminating in an appointment in the Foreign Service as an Information Management Specialist.

Iyouel Endashaw (CEC Cybersecurity, BS)

Fulbright U.S. Student Program
The Fulbright U.S. Student Program aims to promote mutual understanding and peace between the United States and other nations through educational and cultural exchange. Students and college graduates apply for grants to study, conduct research, or teach English conversation and U.S. culture abroad while serving as citizen diplomats in the host country.

Morgan Swindall (ETA, Taiwan) (CHSS, Global Affairs MA)
- Semifinalists: Ashagrie Abdi (Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, Conflict Analysis and Resolution PhD), Medhini Sosale (CEC, Bioengineering BA, Honors College), Logan Lehman (Schar, Government and Politics BA, Honors College)

Gates-Cambridge Scholarship
The Gates Cambridge Scholarship is a fully funded international postgraduate award for students to study any subject at the University of Cambridge with the aim of building a global network of future leaders who are committed to improving the lives of others.

- Semifinalist (first since 2015): Jasmine Okidi (CHSS, English BA, Honors College)

GEM Fellowship
The GEM Fellowship provides MS- and PhD-level students both financial support and internship opportunities to highly qualified, underrepresented students who wish to pursue graduate study in engineering or science.

Brenda Henriquez (CEC, Computer Science MS)

Goldwater Scholarship
Named after the former senator and presidential candidate, the Barry Goldwater Scholarship is a highly competitive national award for American undergraduate students in science, math and engineering who are committed to pursuing advanced degrees and research-oriented careers in STEM fields.

Lina Alkarmi (CEC, Electrical Engineering BS, Honors College)

Insight Collaborative Fellowship
The Insight Collaborative Fellowship Program helps individuals develop their own conflict management skills by working within local or international nonprofits of their choice. Each year-long Fellowship begins with a period of training and development before the fellow begins three global placements through which they share the best in conflict management theory and skills.

- Semifinalist: Naomi Davis (awaiting final results, Carter, Conflict Analysis and Resolution MA)

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program
The National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program supports outstanding students who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees in STEM, STEM education, and social science fields at accredited U.S. institutions.

Samuel Schmidgall (CEC, Comp Sci BS)

Pickering Fellowship
The Thomas R. Pickering Graduate Fellowship is a U.S. Department of State program that seeks to attract and prepare outstanding young people, who represent ethnic, gender, social, and geographic diversity and have an interest in pursuing a Foreign Service career in the U.S. Department of State.

Quan Crawford (CHSS, Global Affairs BA)

Point Foundation Flagship Scholarship
The Point Flagship Scholarship empowers LGBTQ students who are earning their undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees at accredited institutions in the Unites States. Flagship scholarship recipients receive financial support, access to multiple leadership development programs, mentorship or coaching, and the support of a community of scholars and alumni.

- Semifinalist: CJ Mandell (awaiting final results, CPH, Public Health MA)

Presidential Management Fellowship
The Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Program is a two-year training and leadership development program at a United States government agency, administered by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, for advanced degree holders. After completing the program, agencies may convert PMFs to permanent federal civilian employees.

Adil Sailau (Scalia Law School, JD)
Nathan Danielson (Carter, Conflict Analysis and Resolution MS)
Nicholas Sherwood (Carter, Conflict Analysis and Resolution PhD)
Trinidee Baker (CEHD, Education Leaders MEd)
Isaac Gibbons (CEC, Cybersecurity MS)
Patrick Mason (CPH, Nutrition MS)
Joseph Pencak (CHSS, Economics MA)
Lindsey Schmidt (CHSS, Global Affairs MA)
Rose Kemmel (CHSS, IO Psychology MPS)
William Snyder (Schar, Transportation MA)
Sara Leming (Schar, Public Management CERG)
Michael Lodico (Schar, MPA)
Bianca Nelson (Schar, MPA)
Sylkin Barksdale (Schar, MPA)
Brandon Bryan (Schar, MPA)
Zachary Huebschman (Schar, MPA)
Whitney Guilford (Schar, MPA)
Tianwei Na (Business, MBA)

Rangel Fellowship
The Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Program is a State Department fellowship program that supports outstanding American students from diverse backgrounds in pursuing master’s degrees to prepare for diplomatic careers in the U.S. Foreign Service.

Natasha Taliferro (CHSS, Global Affairs BA)

Smithsonian Institute Guggenheim Grant
Guggenheim Fellowships are intended for men and women who have already demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts.

Anne Dobberteen (CHSS, Art History PhD)

Schwarzman Scholarship
Schwarzman Scholarship is a one-year, fully funded master's degree in Global Affairs at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. The program selects 100 to 200 Scholars per year based on their leadership ability, academic achievement, and commitment to advancing mutual cultural understanding and global progress.

Seminfinalist: Neuteyshe Felizor (CHSS, Government and Politics BA)

Topics

Fellowships

Provost Newsletter

Mason’s first Beinecke scholar is never done learning

Colleen Rich — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 14:43:12 +0000

Mason’s first Beinecke scholar is never done learning Colleen Rich Mon, 04/18/2022 - 10:43

In This Story

Louise I. Shelley

LaNitra M. Berger, PhD

Jasmine Okidi. Photo by DeRon Rockingham/Creative Services

Jasmine Okidi did not view last summer as a time to regroup and relax. She saw it as a time to improve—her writing, specifically.

So the ��ӽ紫ý English major, who was entering her junior year, contacted one of her professors, Keith Clark.

Clark, a professor of English and African and African American Studies at Mason, said students rarely seek him out after classes much less over the summer. But he said the request was a perfect indicator of Okidi’s seriousness as a scholar.

“Though Jasmine is clearly brilliant and accomplished, she always understands there is more to learn and ways to improve,” Clark said. “Her teachability makes her an outstanding role model of a student.”

Okidi’s dedication and accomplishments were rewarded recently with a Beinecke Scholarship, which supports exceptional students committed to research careers in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

A member of Mason’s Honors College and a University Scholar, she was one of just 16 recipients among nominees from as many as 135 institutions.

“Getting this scholarship was really reaffirming,” Okidi said. “Just to be able to gain greater confidence in being able to do the things I want to do in my academic career and in the humanities.”

The scholarship immediately awards $4,000 to recipients and makes $30,000 available for graduate school.

It is a selective award. Institutions must be invited to participate and are allowed just one nominee each.

Mason, a participant the past three years, earned inclusion with the assistance of University Professor Louise Shelley, who helped make the scholarship foundation aware of Mason’s diverse and accomplished student body.

LaNitra Berger, senior director of Mason’s Office of Fellowships, promotes the scholarship on campus and looks for students who could be nominees. She also does the heavy lifting of preparing the nominees to get through the rigorous selection process.

“This funding is so critical to students,” Shelley said. “It is a significant amount of money. The Beinecke funding can therefore be transformational in a student’s intellectual development and make it possible to continue their education without going into debt.”

Being included in Beinecke’s process also speaks highly of the university, said Berger, who noted that other winners this year are from institutions such as Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, the University of Chicago, and Brown.

“So for ��ӽ紫ý and our office to have put a student at that same level, it really shows the upward trajectory of the university and the Office of Fellowships,” Berger said.

“And,” she added, “for anybody questioning what inclusive excellence looks like at Mason, there’s nothing more inclusive and excellent about a Ugandan American student being our first-ever Beinecke scholar.”

Okidi, originally from Gaithersburg, Maryland, relocated with her mother to her native Kampala, Uganda, when she was 9 years old. She returned to the United States to attend college.

Okidi said she chose Mason because the Honors College would allow her to develop a smaller community among the larger community at the university. She also was intrigued by the English Department’s Visiting Writers Series.

In her first-semester research class in the Honors College, Okidi was inspired to begin her exploration into the rhetoric of ecology and wetlands management in Uganda. She continued the research through Mason’s Office of Student Scholarship, Creative Activities, and Research (OSCAR).

“I was reminded of radio messaging, TV messaging about how the lower income stakeholders were degrading the wetland and encroaching on it. Yet at the same time government permitted encroachment by private stakeholders,” Okidi said. “As a teenager, I didn’t make much sense of this contradiction. But when I came to Mason and took that class, I wanted to explore it. My first-semester project inspired me to explore that contradiction.”

It is that sense of purpose Okidi hopes will eventually put her in academia.

“I love academic research,” she said. “Being able to do research about my people, my ethnic group, is really important to me. I come from a marginalized ethnic group [the Acholi of northern Uganda and South Sudan], and would love to highlight issues and things to celebrate my people for through research and represent them that way.”

“She just has a deft critical mind,” Clark said. “Really sharp, always insightful. That’s what makes her stand out.”

Topics

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

English Department

Expanding the promise of international education

Melanie Balog — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 19:35:26 +0000

Expanding the promise of international education Melanie Balog Fri, 01/14/2022 - 14:35

LaNitra Berger. Photo provided.

LaNitra Berger, associate director of ��ӽ紫ý’s African and African American Studies program and senior director of the Office of Fellowships in the Office of Undergraduate Education, has been named the president of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, and the chair of its board of directors.

NAFSA is the world's largest nonprofit association dedicated to international education and exchange, serving the needs of more than 10,000 members and international educators worldwide at more than 3,500 institutions, in more than 150 countries. NAFSA advances the field of international education through campus internationalization, global learning, and leadership.

Berger said she was honored to have been elected to this leadership role, noting that NAFSA’S members and educators have an opportunity to demonstrate leadership in areas such as social justice, environmental sustainability, peace and conflict resolution, entrepreneurship, STEM, and global health.

“I anticipate the challenges and opportunities of leading the organization as we work to navigate COVID’s seismic effects as well as a global racial reckoning,” she said. “International education empowers and inspires students, scholars, and professionals to be open-minded, critical thinkers who are willing to address global challenges by viewing them from multiple perspectives. 2022 will be an exciting year of change and renewal.”

Alongside her work for the AAAS program, Berger has successfully led the fellowships office since 2010, helping students secure more than $2 million in prestigious, externally funded fellowships, including the Fulbright, Boren, Gilman, Truman, Udall, and Critical Language Scholarship awards. Inclusive excellence has been the core focus of her leadership; a majority of Mason’s nationally competitive fellowship recipients have been first-generation, minority, and/or low-income students.

Berger has a strong commitment to internationalization, which she fosters through student advising, university service, and research. In 2015, she received the Spirit of King Award for diversifying study abroad, and in 2018, she received the Margaret C. Howell Award Outstanding Achievement Award for her work to promote respect, diversity, and dignity for students, and for developing programs that promote cross-cultural understanding and cooperation.

Berger is an active member of the Diversity Abroad Network and volunteers with Globalize DC. She previously served as NAFSA’s vice president for Public Policy and Practice, and is the author of the NAFSA guide, Exploring Education Abroad: A Guide for Racial and Ethnic Minority Participants (NAFSA, 2016). She is also the editor of Social Justice and International Education: Research, Practice, Perspectives (NAFSA, 2020), which has been NAFSA’s best-selling book for over a year. Her first monograph, Irma Stern and the Racial Paradox of South African Modern Art: Audacities of Color, was published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2020.

Berger said she particularly appreciates how her new role in NAFSA will spotlight Mason’s programs in international education. The position offers a platform for interaction with government agencies as well as other institutions that are committed to internationalization and inclusive excellence. “It’s an exciting opportunity for Mason and for our AAAS program to be positioned in both international education and social justice,” she said.

This article first appeared on the College of Humanities and Social Sciences website.

Topics

international students

Scholarships

Campus News

Donation to Fellowships Office supports underrepresented students in international affairs and diplomacy

Colleen Rich — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 15:16:21 +0000

Donation to Fellowships Office supports underrepresented students in international affairs and diplomacy Colleen Rich Thu, 04/15/2021 - 11:16

��ӽ紫ý’s Office of Fellowships is one step closer to making a pipeline to diplomacy jobs a reality for underrepresented students.

In the first-ever donation of its kind, McLarty Associates is donating $15,000 to the office to help develop a course and programming to support students seeking to pursue careers in international affairs and public service.

LaNitra Berger. Photo by Ron Aira/Creative Services

“McLarty’s support has been crucial in helping my office address some critical needs this year,” said LaNitra Berger, senior director. “Their donation was unexpected but so needed, allowing us the ability to use the resources to focus on underrepresented students for diplomacy careers.”

Berger said the donation will provide the infrastructure to build programs with international and world affairs courses for minority students. The funds will pay for books, class materials and honorariums for guest speakers, as well as allow students to be in meetings and at events, giving them direct contact with diplomats and future mentors.

“Building a pipeline for students in international affairs takes time and requires the development of good relationships. My hope is that the work we are able to achieve through this donation eventually helps attract people to Mason and into international as well as public policy,” she said.

Berger and McLarty Associates’ president, Nelson Cunningham, met several years ago working on the Board of NAFSA: Association of International Educators. The two stayed in touch, and Cunningham continued to track the work Berger was doing at Mason related to developing diverse student interest in the field of international affairs.

“I have been and continue to be impressed with Berger’s dedication to promoting diversity in the world of foreign affairs and to promote international education and understanding more broadly,” Cunningham said. “It is our hope that this donation helps Mason attract more students into international public policy positions. “

McLarty Associates is an international strategic advisory firm comprising nearly 100 people representing 21 countries. McLarty works at the nexus of business and policy to helps clients navigate the complexities of global strategic and operational challenges. Due to the global nature of the firm’s work, it frequently draws its employees from international establishments, such as the U.S. State Department and think tanks, who are adept and savvy in dealing with governments worldwide.

Spurred by social justice movements and the lack of diversity in the international affairs and diplomatic field, Cunningham and his staff wanted to support diversity both within the firm and in the field.

“America is the most diverse country in the world—it’s our strength—and if our diplomats don’t look like the people they represent, we are not as strong and not representing America as well,” Cunningham said.

“Dr. Berger’s push to get a diverse representation of students interested in international affairs is something we see as a worthy investment,” said Ariele Yaffee, director of operations and legal for McLarty. She added that Mason has bright future in that area and McLarty looks forward to bringing Mason students on as interns and associates.

Topics

Faculty and Staff News

Breaking down barriers and making connections through networking

rlebreto@gmu.edu — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 22:29:00 +0000

Breaking down barriers and making connections through networking rlebreto@gmu.edu Wed, 04/07/2021 - 18:29

From left, Soraya Ngarnim, Chanel Grice and LaNitra Berger meeting on campus in 2019. Photo provided

The number of Black women entering the foreign service and STEM PhD programs is low. A GAO report said just 3% percent of State Department workers were Black women in 2018, and the National Center for Education Statistics reported that just 10.9% of doctoral degrees awarded in the 2018-19 went to Black women.

But current ��ӽ紫ý student Soraya Ngarnim and alumna Chanel Grice were determined to overcome those barriers.

With the guidance of LaNitra Berger, senior director of Mason’s Office of Fellowships, and thanks to a happenstance meeting between them, Ngarnim and Grice are fulfilling their dreams and helping promote the ideals of International Black Women’s History Month, which celebrates the achievements and rich histories of the past present and futures of Black women.

Berger said she takes seriously responsibility of guiding Black female students, and that networks for Black women are powerful and oftentimes underestimated.

“I think what’s important for the larger community to see is that young Black women at Mason are doing hard work, getting things done and being successful,” Berger said. “And the university is better for it.”

Grice was a sophomore at Mason in 2014, majoring in global affairs. The daughter of a military officer, she had already lived in multiple countries and wanted to study in Japan. But Grice struggled to find financial assistance. A fellow student suggested she speak with Berger, who introduced Grice to the Boren and Rangel scholarships.

“Dr. Berger gave me books, magazines and other items to help me enrich my studies while showing me how I could follow my vision without the financial capabilities,” said Grice, who earned a Boren scholarship in 2015 and a Rangel fellowship in 2018.

After graduating from Mason in 2017 in bachelor’s degrees in global affairs and economics, Grice earned her master’s in international economics and development from Johns Hopkins University. In June she heads to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam for her first two-year appointment with the U.S. Foreign Service.

It was in 2017, while working as an intern at the U.S. embassy in Dakar, Senegal, that Grice met Ngarnim, who also worked at the embassy and was transferring to Mason from Howard Community College. Ngarnim, who will graduate from Mason in May with a biochemistry degree, grew up in Chad, where she was a top student but was shut out of advanced math and physics classes because, as she said she was told, the classes were “too hard” for females.

“That weighed on me, so I pushed and was the only female in those classes in my last year of secondary school,” Ngarnim said. “I know what I can do.”

Ngarmin’s determination prompted Grice to recommend she contact Berger at Mason. Ngarnim said her weekly conversations with Berger helped grow her confidence and realize graduate school is her next step.

“We Black women are more than competent to do any of these positions, and the more advice I have given, the more determined I have become,” Grice said. “I am not lacking. I am in a field where I am underrepresented, but I am confident, and I am here for a reason.”

Ngarnim feels the same as she heads for Rochester, New York, where she has a full scholarship to pursue a PhD in biochemistry at the University of Rochester. Being part of a group that is underrepresented in STEM fields only emboldens her, she said.

“I have always looked for challenges,” Ngarnim said. “I’ve learned that the further you get in your education and career, you have to expect the diversity to narrow. So by getting out of my comfort zone I can pave the way for others.”

Topics

Office of the Provost

Student Success

Five Mason graduates receive prestigious 2020 Fulbright awards

Colleen Rich — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 17:30:58 +0000

Five Mason graduates receive prestigious 2020 Fulbright awards Colleen Rich Mon, 08/10/2020 - 13:30

Topics

Fulbright Program

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Department of History and Art History

College of Health and Human Services

Fellowships Office transitions to Undergraduate Education

Colleen Rich — Mon, 18 May 2020 15:33:36 +0000

Fellowships Office transitions to Undergraduate Education Colleen Rich Mon, 05/18/2020 - 11:33

Topics

Office of the Provost

Undergraduate Education