The Gilman Scholarship, funded through the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the United States Department of State, supports students who wish to continue their academic and career development in diverse locations around the world. Seven students at the University of Connecticut received the prestigious academic award for the recent application cycle.
Given to undergraduate students nationwide, the award specifically gives financial assistance to students who have been historically underrepresented in education abroad, including STEM majors, first-generation college students, ethnic and racial minority students, students with disabilities and students from other minority-serving institutions. This supports the mission of the Gilman Program, which is designed to expand the U.S. student population that studies abroad, and broaden the destinations where students can study, providing intensive language study and internship experiences.
In order to be eligible, students must be receiving the Federal Pell Grant at the time of application and be a U.S citizen who plans to study abroad for academic credit through their educational institution.
Scholarship recipients receive up to $5,000 that must be directly put toward study abroad costs. These costs include program tuition, room and board, books, local transportation, insurance, international airfare and passport and visa fees. If a student is studying a Critical Need Language, a language that is determined to be in need by the US government, the scholarship can go up to $8,000.
Valerie Jenkelunas, experiential global learning (EGL) advisor and community liaison specialist, said she is excited about the diversity amongst the recent awardees, as they range from a variety of majors, including STEM- related fields, and will be traveling to a diverse range of locations.
“Some of the underrepresentation that people don’t always think about are students who are in STEM majors, for example, it can be a lot harder to go abroad as a STEM major because of the rigidity of their plan of study,” Jenkelunas said. “We are delighted by the number of STEM majors that we had in this round.”
Jenkelunas added that some of the students will also be attending parts of Asia for their program, an underrepresented location in study abroad as opposed to Western Europe, which is more popular.
“We were pretty delighted at the number of students that were going to Asian countries this time around as well. These exchange programs [in Asia] have comprehensive academics that would allow a STEM major, for example, to get those higher level math or science or engineering credits that they might need to stay on track for graduation,” Jenkelunas said.
Some of the underrepresentation that people don’t always think about are students who are in STEM majors, for example, it can be a lot harder to go abroad as a STEM major because of the rigidity of their plan of study. We are delighted by the number of STEM majors that we had in this round.
Valerie Jenkelunas
Jenkelunas, who works with students on their application essays, noted how she is tremendously proud of the students for the hard work they put in their application, as she says it is not an easy process.
“I have some students that have been working for two years to identify when they can go study abroad, selecting a program that is going to allow them to get academics they need and then doing an application,” she said. “ I am there for the whole journey which is really a privilege for me to see students bring those efforts to fruition with these large scholarships.”
The seven UConn Gilman Scholars in this cycle are as follows:
Andrew Change ‘25 (ENG), a mechanical engineering major, who will be studying in Korea University in Seoul this semester. Change also received the Critical Need Language Award for Korean.
Michelle Eweka ’25 (CLAS), a political science and humanities major, who will study at the University of Granada in Spain in the summer of 2024.
Moera Kamimura ’25 (ENG), a mechanical engineering major, who will study at Waseda University in Tokyo this semester.
Avery Lyn Sparks ’25 (CLAS), a psychology major with a political science minor, who will study at the International Studies Institute in Florence, Italy, this semester.
Alexandra Torres Munoz ’25 (CAHNR, CLAS), an allied health sciences and French double major with minors in Spanish, European studies, physiology, neurobiology, and literary translation, who will study at the University of Granada in Spain this semester.
Yanni Ysiranidies ’25 (BUS), a finance major, who will study at Waseda University in Tokyo in the summer of 2024.
Suki Zheng ’25 (ENG), an environmental engineering major, who will study at Korea University in Seoul this semester.
The Gilman Scholarship program application is currently open for the next cycle. Applications are due by March 7, 2024.
UConn Experiential Global Learning is hosting virtual Gilman Scholarship information sessions on WebEx today, Jan. 19 from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. and on Monday, Jan. 22, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. about the eligibility requirements and the application for the upcoming deadline. Students that are interested in the scholarship are encouraged to register on Nexus.
Any questions can be directed to valerie.jenkelunas@uconn.edu or michael.cunningham@uconn.edu.