September 6, 2017
Donya Nasser, a St. John’s 2015 graduate, has been awarded a Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellowship. She is one of five Fall 2017 Fellows chosen from among 242 applicants who graduated from 165 universities in 38 states to be honored.
As a government and politics major, Donya amassed numerous honors and fellowships. She was a McNair Scholar and interned for the White House Office of Legislative Affairs, the Wilson Center’s Middle East Program and the Brennan Center for Justice. Also, Donya served as the 2015-2016 U.S. Youth Observer to the United Nations and a Truman-Albright Fellow at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She has previously served as a member of the Advocates for Youth Young Women of Color Leadership Council, the President of the College Democrats of New York, and AAUW Youth Representative to the United Nations. As the University’s first Truman Scholar, Donya has completed research on women in peace-building in Iran and the MENA region. She was named to Glamour magazine’s 2014 Top 10 College Women.
Donya completed a master’s of arts in Iranian Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in 2017, as a recipient of both the John Loiello and Kamran Djam Scholarships.
Donya will spend six to nine months working with the Truman Center for National Policy in Washington, DC.
The Scoville Fellowship, established in 1987, is a highly competitive national fellowship program that provides recent college and graduate school alumni with the funding and opportunity to work with senior-level policy experts at one of more than two dozen leading think tanks and advocacy groups in Washington, DC for six to nine months. Scoville Fellows contribute to the work of their office through research, writing, public education and advocacy. They may focus on arms control and nonproliferation, conflict prevention and resolution, defense budget, diplomacy, environmental and energy security, terrorism prevention or other international security issues. They attend policy talks, Congressional hearings, coalition meetings, and small group events with experts in government and NGOs arranged by the fellowship, and receive active mentoring and networking from the board of directors and former fellows. Many Scoville Fellows have gone on to prominent positions in the field of peace and security with the Federal Government, domestic and international NGOs, academia, and media. The fellowship recruits from across the U.S. twice a year and provides a salary, benefits, travel expenses to DC for interviews and moving, and a small stipend for attending conferences, policy courses, and foreign language classes.
The fellowship is named for Dr. Herbert (Pete) Scoville, Jr. (1915-1985), a Ph.D. in physical chemistry, former Deputy Director for Research at the CIA, Assistant Director for Science and Technology at the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, President of the Arms Control Association, and mentor for numerous young people in arms control, national security, and peace issues.
For more information contact The Office of Media Relations by calling (718) 990-1621 or e-mail inquiries to [email protected].
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