College senior Perrinh Savang and Anna Nelson-Daniel ('12C) have been named 2013 Humanity in Action (HIA) fellows, according to a March 25 HIA announcement.
According to a March 25 press release, fellows are chosen based on academic standing, active participation in human rights issues and recommendations.
The HIA Fellowship accepted 42 recipients from 38 U.S. universities who will join other accepted international students in a one-month summer trip to Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, Lyon and Warsaw, according to the Philip Ugelow, the program's deputy executive director. HIA has taken more than 1,200 Fellows on international study programs since 1999.
The group will focus on human rights issues, including minority and discrimination problems and examples of resistance across different selected countries.
The program only accepted 10 percent of more than 550 U.S. applicants, according to Ugelow. He said HIA received 40 percent more applicants this year than last. A member of the program's selection committee interviewed all finalists in February.
Nelson-Daniel and Savang are the sixth and seventh Emory students accepted to HIA.
Savang, a double major in interdisciplinary studies and anthropology, said he believes he was selected because of his Emory human rights research, his participation in a Mongolia study-abroad program and a research project regarding the effectiveness of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
"I think it's really important to understand the role history plays in eliminating discrimination and reducing disparities, because a lot of times we forget how much struggle minorities have faced in the past and how much they still struggle today," Savang wrote in an email to the Wheel.
Nelson-Daniel – who was a double major in art history and visual arts with a minor in Global Health, Culture and Society – said she felt honored to have received this fellowship.
Throughout her undergraduate career, she also participated in social justice work as she created artwork about social problems.
"I applied to the Humanity in Action fellowship to build on my understanding of social conflict from a different perspective, learning from European context," Nelson-Daniel wrote in an email to the Wheel. "I am excited to meet students and leaders from around the world that share my passion in social advocacy. I hope this experience will inform my artwork as I look toward graduate school for a Masters in Fine Arts."
Savang said this fellowship is special to him because of its international nature.
"The purpose of the fellowship really is to expose students to the different approaches organizations have taken in order to address discrimination and stigma," Savang wrote in an email to the Wheel.
Savang and Nelson-Daniel will also attend an orientation program organized by the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C. prior to the Europe trip.
In this workshop, the American fellows will focus on European security and political issues. HIA also places the fellows in one of the five chosen European cities. Savang's placement is in Lyon, France.
"I was overjoyed at the prospect of spending an entire month talking about human rights with students just as passionate as I was," Savang wrote. "I really couldn't believe it."
Dee McGraw, the director of Emory's National Scholarships and Fellowships Program, said her office supports HIA "because the experience for our students selected for the award is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity and because Humanity in Action's goals and values align so perfectly with ours at Emory."
"First, [they] participate in a concentrated, intense, exhausting and exhilarating summer of research and study about topics of profound importance," McGraw said. "Second, because of Emory ... our students are well prepared to compete for the fellowship and then to perform with distinction once selected."
The other winners in the group are from universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Turkey and Ukraine, according to the HIA website.
"This unusually high level of diversity makes this international program unique, dynamic and challenging," Judith Goldstein, HIA's executive director and founder, said in the press release.
Last year, HIA accepted alumni Dignant Kapoor ('12C) and William Eye ('12C).
McGraw said she is grateful for the Emory faculty and administrators who direct programming and mentor College students.
"It's their efforts – and the support of the University – that produce the kinds of students who are so accomplished and who can step up to opportunities like HIA, for their own enrichment and for the university," McGraw wrote in an email to the Wheel. "These students bring recognition and honor to all of us. It's a joy to work with them."
– By Karishma Mehrotra
