Several Blacks Awarded Charlie Rangel Fellowships

WASHINGTON - The Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Program has awarded 15 graduate fellowships for students seeking careers in the foreign service.

Winners receive up to $34,000 a year to complete a master’s degree program in international affairs or related fields.

In addition, fellows work at an internship in Washington, usually for a congressional representative, before starting graduate school and a second internship at a U.S. embassy abroad between their first and second year of graduate study.

The program is designed to increase diversity in the foreign service, but fellowships are open to students of any race.

The program is administered jointly by Howard University and the U.S. Department of State.

Among the winners of 2011 fellowships are several African Americans including Lekisha Gunn of the University of Alabama, Calvin Hayes from Florida A&M University, and Leshawna Johnson of Columbia University.

2011 Rangel Fellows:

Ashley Bartlett,  University of Georgia
Grace Chung, University of Virginia
Nashwa Elgadi, Temple University
Carolina Escalera,  University of Missouri - Columbia
Lekisha Gunn, University of Alabama
Lisa Hahn, Scripps College
Calvin Hayes, Florida A & M University
Gabriel Hurst, Cornell Univeristy
Leshawna Johnson, Columbia Univeristy
Christian Loubeau, University of Maryland- College Park
Amber McCoy, Syracuse University
Jacob Mecum, Portland State University
Salvador Molina, UC- Berkley
Rachael Parrish,  Furman University
Bakary Seckan, Morehouse College