UTEP Student Awarded Global Fellowship
Last Updated on April 02, 2019 at 12:00 AM
Originally published April 02, 2019
By UC Staff
UTEP Communications
Daniela Quinones, a sophomore at The University of Texas at El Paso, is one of 10 students in the United States selected for the prestigious Frederick Douglass Global Fellowship (FDGF).
Quinones, a student in the Bachelor of Science in Rehabilitation Sciences program in UTEP’s College of Health Sciences, will receive a full scholarship to study abroad in London this summer.
The FDGF is operated jointly by the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE), the nation’s largest nonprofit facilitator of studying abroad, and the Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions (CMSI). Each year, the fellowship is awarded to 10 outstanding students enrolled at a minority-serving institution.
Quinones expects to graduate from UTEP in 2021. She is a peer career adviser at the University Career Center and serves as the collegiate senator for health sciences in UTEP’s Student Government Association. In July 2018, Quinones participated in a physical therapy internship through the Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP) at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She plans to pursue a physical therapy career.
“Being chosen as a Frederick Douglass Global Fellow is a great honor,” Quinones said. “This opportunity is going to open so many doors for me, as I never saw myself participating in study abroad, but this fellowship has made that possible. I will be able to experience other cultures, see different perspectives and become more open-minded. This experience will prepare me to become a better practitioner and global leader.”
The fellows were nominated by their college presidents and selected during a national competition. The winners have demonstrated high academic achievement, possess exemplary communication skills, display the hallmarks of self-determination, exhibit characteristics of bold leadership and have a history of service to others.
The winners will use their experiences to motivate other underrepresented students to pursue opportunities to study abroad. Of the 332,727 U.S. college students who studied abroad in 2017, less than 30 percent were students of color – 0.4 percent American Indian/Alaskan Native, 4.3 percent multiracial, 6.1 percent African-American, 8.2 percent Asian/Pacific Islander and 10 percent Hispanic-American, according to data from the Institute of International Education. The data shows that students of color largely miss out on international education experiences that can play a critical role in their personal growth, as well as their academic and career success.
The Frederick Douglass Fellowship, which launched in 2017, is representative of efforts by CIEE and CMSI to increase diversity in study abroad by breaking down the barriers of cost, curriculum and culture that prevent students from participating in international education experiences. Named for the African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer and international statesman Frederick Douglass, the Fellowship encourages students to use his life as a model for becoming bold, globally conscious and service-oriented leaders.