Nardos Amanuel Kebede has dreamed of receiving the Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Graduate Fellowship since high school. The competitive fellowship provides up to $42,000 annually to complete a two-year master’s degree in international affairs. Upon completion, fellows have a five-year appointment as a Foreign Service Officer in the Foreign Service of the U.S. Department of State. While managing her senior-year fall midterms, Kebede received the exciting news that she is one of 45 recipients nationwide of this prestigious fellowship.
“This is a dream come true. I’ve always been a lifelong public servant. I started serving at a non-governmental organization when I was 11,” says Kebede, who follows in the footsteps of Vivian Ekey ’11, political science and modern languages and linguistics, the first Retriever to receive this fellowship in 2011. Kebede spent the last two summers in the U.S. Foreign Service Intern program.
This unique experience gave her academic and professional training in Washington, D.C., an opportunity to work in a policy office at the U.S. Department of State, and a 10-week assignment at the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, where she was born.
Understanding public service
Kebede’s interest in international diplomacy began during a high school project, where she researched mental health policies and outcomes for young people in Ethiopia and across Africa. This foundation led her to UMBC’s Sondheim Public Affairs Scholars Program, where she further developed her understanding of public service, civic engagement, and research-based policy and diplomacy. During her first year, Kebede joined UMBC’s McNair Scholars Program, a graduate school mentorship and preparation program, to explore earning a Ph.D. that would lead to becoming a diplomat. Her plans changed during the U.S. Foreign Service Internship Program when she met current Rangel Fellows.
“I wasn’t sure I wanted to go to graduate school. I thought I’d be a diplomat the conventional way where I take the Foreign Service Officer Test after undergrad—even though at one point, I considered going straight into a Ph.D. program for comparative politics,” says Kebede. “What changed is that I wanted to become a diplomat first. I would love to work for a number of years as a generalist and then consider transitioning to become a regional specialist. I have always been interested in the East African region.” The Rangel Fellowship gives her the chance to start her foreign service training following a Congressional and U.S. embassy internship and graduation.
“I am thrilled for Nardos and thrilled for our country to have such an exceptional scholar and citizen as Nardos on track to represent us in the foreign service,” says Laura Antkowiak, director of the Sondheim Public Affairs Scholars Program. “Nardos stands out for so many wonderful qualities, such as her intellectual maturity, her poise and communication skills, her care about what’s happening in the world, her enthusiasm for research that makes an impact, her extensive volunteer and mentorship work on and off campus, and her empathy, integrity, and kindness.”
Strength in numbers
Receiving this award is the culmination of years of hard work, determination, dedication, and being willing to accept help. With funding from the McNair Scholar Research Institute, Kebede had the opportunity to visit Jerusalem to meet prominent Ethio-Israeli leaders and conduct interviews for her independent and ongoing research project titled, “The Generational Evolution of Cultural Identity Amongst Ethiopian Israelis and Its Impact on Integration,” under the mentorship of Brigid Starkey, teaching professor of political science.
Kebede is paying it forward as a McNair Scholars Teaching Fellow, teaching a research methods course, and supporting new scholars. She notes that each step along the way has been shaped by the guidance, encouragement, and collaboration of faculty and peers across the social sciences and the Honors College including UMBC’s Rangel Fellowship advisor, April Householder, director of undergraduate research and prestigious scholarships, who advised Kebede through the application process.
“To end up at this point where I have a direct way to my dream job as a public servant, as a diplomat traveling the world, and representing the United States and the ideals of democracy, free and fair elections, and human rights, it’s a dream come true,” says Kebede. “I have to pinch myself sometimes because I can’t believe I made it to this point.”
Learn more about UMBC’s prestigious scholarships.
Tags: CAHSS, mcnairscholars, PoliticalScience, Sondheim Public Affairs Scholars Program
