Students receive prestigious Pickering Fellowships
Jonathan Nwosu and Soribel Feliz
The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation has named two Syracuse University students as 2011 Pickering Fellows. The prestigious Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship Program annually selects 20 undergraduate and 20 graduate Fellows with outstanding academic backgrounds who are dedicated to representing the interests of the United States abroad.
Jonathan Nwosu, a senior international relations major in The College of Arts and Sciences, was selected for the 18th class of Undergraduate Fellows; and Soribel Feliz, an incoming graduate student in public affairs and international relations in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, was selected for the 15th class of Pickering Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellows.
Undergraduate Fellows receive up to $40,000 annually for educational expenses in their senior year and first year of graduate study. Graduate Fellows receive up to $40,000 annually during their first and second years of graduate study. Fellows in both programs participate in one domestic- and one overseas-internship and commit to three years of service as a Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. Department of State.
Nwosu emigrated from Nigeria to the United States when he was seven years old. He has traveled throughout Europe, Latin America, and Japan, including participating in service projects in Peru and Guatemala and as a student in SU Abroad’s Florence program. Since 2008, he has worked as a summer intern for the High School Diplomats Program at Princeton University. Nwosu is a Ronald E. McNair Scholar, a member of the Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Fraternity and a recipient of the SU in Florence Community Service Award, the Van Hollen Public Service Award, the Dr. Richard Ahlberg Award, the Kappa Alpha Psi Book Award, and the W.E.B. DuBois Academic Award.
Feliz is a 2009 graduate of Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. She has interned as a legislative assistant to New York Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacob and as an assistant to the Office of Agency Programs in the U.S. Office of Government Ethics in Washington, D.C. She was a crew leader for the U.S. Census Bureau and currently works as an interpreter for the Legal Interpreting Services of New York City and as an in-home math and English Language Arts tutor for Testquest, Inc. During the spring 2011 semester, Feliz participated in the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute at George Washington University.
Feliz is a member of the Golden Key International Honor Society, a Fellow of the Institute for International Public Policy and a recipient of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, the Shirley Chisholm Fellowship, the Rose Goldstein Memorial Scholarship, and the Ida Gold Memorial Scholarship.
The Pickering Fellowships are named in honor of one of the most distinguished American diplomats of the latter half of the 20th century. Thomas 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. He ended his career as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.
Jonathan Nwosu, a senior international relations major in The College of Arts and Sciences, was selected for the 18th class of Undergraduate Fellows; and Soribel Feliz, an incoming graduate student in public affairs and international relations in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, was selected for the 15th class of Pickering Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellows.
Undergraduate Fellows receive up to $40,000 annually for educational expenses in their senior year and first year of graduate study. Graduate Fellows receive up to $40,000 annually during their first and second years of graduate study. Fellows in both programs participate in one domestic- and one overseas-internship and commit to three years of service as a Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. Department of State.
Nwosu emigrated from Nigeria to the United States when he was seven years old. He has traveled throughout Europe, Latin America, and Japan, including participating in service projects in Peru and Guatemala and as a student in SU Abroad’s Florence program. Since 2008, he has worked as a summer intern for the High School Diplomats Program at Princeton University. Nwosu is a Ronald E. McNair Scholar, a member of the Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Fraternity and a recipient of the SU in Florence Community Service Award, the Van Hollen Public Service Award, the Dr. Richard Ahlberg Award, the Kappa Alpha Psi Book Award, and the W.E.B. DuBois Academic Award.
Feliz is a 2009 graduate of Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. She has interned as a legislative assistant to New York Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacob and as an assistant to the Office of Agency Programs in the U.S. Office of Government Ethics in Washington, D.C. She was a crew leader for the U.S. Census Bureau and currently works as an interpreter for the Legal Interpreting Services of New York City and as an in-home math and English Language Arts tutor for Testquest, Inc. During the spring 2011 semester, Feliz participated in the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute at George Washington University.
Feliz is a member of the Golden Key International Honor Society, a Fellow of the Institute for International Public Policy and a recipient of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, the Shirley Chisholm Fellowship, the Rose Goldstein Memorial Scholarship, and the Ida Gold Memorial Scholarship.
The Pickering Fellowships are named in honor of one of the most distinguished American diplomats of the latter half of the 20th century. Thomas 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. He ended his career as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.
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