Four School of Education and Social Policy students were selected for the highly regarded Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) fellowship program. Juniors Carla Argueta, Tabitha Bentley, Shari Lewis and Tasha Richardson will begin their fellowships with summer institutes at universities this year.
PPIA is a national program that prepares college students from diverse backgrounds for graduate degrees and ultimately careers serving the public interest. Top public policy and international affairs graduate programs across the United States participate in PPIA to provide financial support and training to fellows. The PPIA fellowship program was started to address the lack of diversity in the field of professional public service, including government, nonprofits, public policy institutions and international organizations. PPIA fellows will participate in a series of programs over the coming years, starting with a Junior Summer Institute this summer.
Carla Argueta, a social policy major from Franklin Park, Illinois, will attend the summer institute at University of California–Berkeley. At Northwestern, she has worked with other students and faculty in the creation of a Latino Studies Program, and she is a member of Alianza and serves as its Latino Studies Program chair. Argueta is also a co-founder of Race Alliance at Northwestern, a group that holds discussions and events that focus on race relations. She also traveled to Panama with Northwestern's Engineers for a Sustainable World as their translator and head of community
development. Last quarter she studied abroad in Santiago, Chile, where she took university courses and was a teacher assistant for a university English class. "I applied to the PPIA because I wanted to learn the economic side of policy. I also want to see if policy research is a field that I would like to work in the future," she says.Tabitha Bentley, a social policy major, will be attending the institute at Princeton University this summer. Bentley, who is from Wheeling, Illinois, is the co-founder and president of Promote 360, the SESP student organization devoted to minority empowerment and well-being. She attended the Public Policy and Leadership Conference hosted by Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and last summer she taught in a Miami middle school through the Breakthrough Collaborative. Bentley intends to go on to graduate school in public policy and has a special interest in education policy. Besides Promote 360, her extracurricular activities also include the Associated
Student Government, Caribbean student organization, Eva Jefferson Committee and teaching Sunday school.Shari Lewis will be attending the summer institute at the University of Michigan. Lewis, who is from Chicago, majors in social policy and has a minor in African American Studies. She is the mentoring co-chair of Promote 360, volunteers weekly with National Student Partnerships and is a research assistant for SESP professor Michelle Reininger. She applied for the PPIA fellowship program because she attended the Public Policy and Leadership Conference at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and learned about the program's "fantastic opportunities to gain quantitative skills in addition to learning more about careers in public service." Since she wants to pursue a career in education reform after graduation, she believed that PPIA would provide her with "a wonderful chance to further pursue her career goals."
Tasha Richardson, who is majoring in human development and psychological services, will be going to University of California-Berkeley this summer. Richardson, who is from Summit, Illinois, would like to enroll in the Peace Corps upon graduation. "I applied to the PPIA program because I felt it would give me a perspective on the policy issues that have directly impacted my life." Richardson is the winner of three scholarships, and she serves as a research assistant for SESP professor Dan McAdams. Her extracurricular activities include Muslim Student Association, Office of Fellowships undergraduate member, Undergraduate Academic Committee member and Hobart Residential College Philanthropy Chair.After this summer, fellowship programs will continue for Bentley, Lewis and Richardson through the completion of their graduate degrees in public policy, international affairs or public administration.
The PPIA fellowship program is highly selective, and students are chosen on the basis of their commitment to public service and ability to succeed in graduate school. Fellows possess high academic credentials as well as outstanding cultural awareness and dedication to improving the world, according to the organization. They are selected as juniors in college.
Photos from top:
Carla Argueta, Tabitha Bentley, Shari Lewis and Tasha Richardson
Last Modified: 11/19/09