IPED Students Selected for U.S. Government Fellowships

Ryan Jones and Anthony Cotton, two graduate students in Fordham’s program in International Political Economy and Development (IPED) have been selected for the United States Presidential Management Fellowship Program, IPED’s director Henry Schwalbenberg announced.

The program is a prestigious two-year paid fellowship, sponsored by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, for recent graduate students in a U. S. government agency. The fellowship is often a stepping stone to securing a governmental leadership position.

Both students have experience studying abroad. Cotton was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana and studied French in Burkina Faso last summer. Jones worked last summer for the U.S. Foreign Agricultural Service, and participated in IPED’s Emerging Markets Program in South Africa.

The good showing by Fordham puts it one step behind Yale's Program in International and Area Studies, which has had three students accepted to the fellowship program. Yale's international program traditionally has the highest quantitative average in Graduate Record Exam (GRE) scoring among the members of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs. However, Schwalbenberg says that next year's graduating class has the same average quantitative GRE score as Yale.

“Our goal for next year is to beat Yale!” Schwalbenberg said.


—Janet Sassi