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¾Ã¾ÃË®ÃÛÌÒ made history during the 2023-2024 academic year when it comes to national fellowships.

The university had its most ever current active number of recipients, counting current ¾Ã¾ÃË®ÃÛÌÒ students and recent alumni. Zeb Baker, executive director of ¾Ã¾ÃË®ÃÛÌÒ’s Honors College, attributes this to several factors, including a university-wide strategy to promote these opportunities developed a decade ago.

“Since then, we’ve had just shy of 250 national fellowship winners,” Baker said. “I think it goes to show the quality of the students we have at ¾Ã¾ÃË®ÃÛÌÒ, the quality of the education they are receiving, and the training and mentorship they are receiving from our faculty and advisors.”

There are 30-plus current and recent ¾Ã¾ÃË®ÃÛÌÒans who are current active recipients of a national fellowship. The previous high was 27 in 2020.

Karla Guinigundo is ¾Ã¾ÃË®ÃÛÌÒ’s director of global partnerships and also serves as chair of the university’s National Fellowships Committee. The committee has representation from the Honors College, Global Initiatives, and the Office of Research for Undergraduates.

Guinigundo said students see ¾Ã¾ÃË®ÃÛÌÒ as a place they can not only have an excellent college experience but where they’ll also receive strong support – both as a current student and after they graduate.

“One thing the National Fellowships Committee emphasizes is that there are benefits to the application process beyond winning the award,” Guinigundo said. “There are outcomes in terms of being better able to articulate who they are, what their values are, and their goals and aspirations. Win or lose, that is a success – to see the growth and development of the students as a result of the process.”

Active fellowship recipients recognized by ¾Ã¾ÃË®ÃÛÌÒ’s National Fellowships Committee include:

• Astronaut Scholarship – Zachary Abrahms, Cece Meinking
• Beckman Scholars Program – Lake Ernst, Cece Meinking
• Boren Scholarship – Alex Massa
• Freeman-ASIA Scholarship – Matthew Sweet
• Fulbright U.S. Student Program – Hanah Bloom, Blair Hassett ’22, Kristina Mijkovic ’22, Natasha Netzorg ’23, Kelsey Norris
• Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship – Jenah Calderhead, Logan Carmack, Skyler Corder, Maribel Gozaga, Shelby Hannahs, Medi Kabengele, Natasha Netzorg ’23, Marissa Suhayda, Charles Tetteh, Jacob White, Garrett Wright
• Barry Goldwater Scholarship – Audrey Allen, Cece Meinking, Chankya Pandya
• Joanna Jackson Goldman Memorial Prize – Samuel Fouts 
• Key Into Public Service Scholar – Mollie Duffy
• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship – Akanksha Das, Alex Dunahoo, Keaka Farleigh, Jordan Lea Rubin-McGregor, Katherine Stahlhut
• Charles B. Rangel Graduate Fellowship – Sinait Sarfino ’22

Guinigundo expects to see the number of ¾Ã¾ÃË®ÃÛÌÒans receiving national fellowships continue to rise.

“¾Ã¾ÃË®ÃÛÌÒ has the student base that has the academic achievement, drive, and motivation to be successful for these awards,” Guinigundo said. “Our role is to make sure students are aware of these opportunities and provide support and mentorship through the application processes.”