Three Hunter College students were awarded the prestigious Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, Director of Prestigious Scholarships and Fellowships Stephen Lassonde announced.
Mahdee Mustafa ’25, Jenna Salem ’27, and Edison Zhu ’25 are recipients of the U.S. Department of State scholarship to study abroad.
Mustafa, a human biology major and sociology minor, and Salem, a political science major and legal studies and Arabic minor, are studying this month in Amman, Jordan, through Hunter’s Arabic Language Immersion Program.
Zhu, a double major in human biology and Chinese who is a Chinese Flagship student, plans to study Chinese for an academic year at the National Chengchi University in Taiwan.
The Gilman Scholarship grants up to $5,000 (or up to $8,000 for those who plan to study a “critical need” foreign language) to students who are traditionally underrepresented in education abroad, including students with financial limitations, students with disabilities, students of color, and community college students.
The program honors the late upstate Congress Member Benjamin A. Gilman (R–Middletown), who served for 30 years and headed the House Foreign Relations Committee from 1995 to 2002.
To be eligible for the Gilman Program, applicants must be receiving a Federal Pell Grant during the time of application or provide proof that they will be receiving a Pell Grant during the term of their study abroad program or internship.
The students were among 30 CUNY students awarded Gilmans this cycle. More than 2,000 Gilman scholarships are awarded twice annually to students from all 50 states and U.S. territories.
Hunter’s Newman Office of Prestigious Scholarships and Fellowships has a stellar record of accomplishment in preparing students for competitive scholarships and fellowships. In recent years, the college has produced two Rhodes, three Marshall, six Schwarzman, five Luce, eight Goldwater, and 39 Fulbright Scholars among many other prestigious awardees.
