SIA students receive Professional Development Grants funded by Giving Tuesday Gifts

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Three School of International Affairs (SIA) students have been awarded Professional Development Grants to pursue opportunities related to their career paths during the spring 2024 semester. Awardees are first-year Master of International Affairs (MIA) students Brisa Avila and Jeferson Tenorio, and second-year MIA student Raven Bedford. These grants were made possible through the generous 2023 Giving Tuesday gifts of SIA alumni, board members, and friends.

The professional development grant enabled Avila to attend the International Production and Processing Expo in Atlanta, Georgia. The event brings together all industries related to the food/meat and poultry chain of production and has panels and sessions with industry experts and academics on issues such as food safety and sustainability. The expo hosts exhibitors and speakers from all over the world showcasing innovative solutions to address the industry's challenges, including environmental resources management, climate change, and zoonotic diseases.

For Avila, who has worked in the poultry industry for several years, participation in the conference complemented her enrollment in SIA Professor Elizabeth Ransom’s INTAF 511 course, ‘Ethical Dimensions in Food and Agricultural Governance,’ and provided her with an opportunity to network with companies in the meat and food processing sector.

The Professional Development Grant enabled Tenorio to travel to Washington, D.C., to attend a dinner at the residence of the Ambassador of Colombia to the United States, dedicated to “fostering collaborations to empower Afro-Colombian communities through education.” The dinner brought together universities, educational programs, former and current Afro-Colombian students, and experts in the field of education to engage in conversations to explore avenues to improve educational prospects and address the challenges Afro-Colombian populations face in accessing quality education.

The event provided Tenorio the opportunity to meet with representatives of the Association of Former Grantees from Choco, a group of Afro-Colombian professionals from one of the most marginalized areas in Colombia who have received high-quality education through various scholarships and grants, including the Fulbright Program for Afro-Colombian Leaders, COLFUTURO, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Programs, among others.

With her grant, Bedford was able to attend the 2024 Women in International Security Conference, a conference resonating with her interest in challenges confronting women in the international security field and her desire to pursue a career advancing the contributions of women in the international security domain. With experience in creating and executing programs that promote equity and inclusion, Raven is committed to contributing to discussions on innovations, developments, and opportunities for women in international security across the government, NGO, and private sectors. The broad participation in the conference of representatives from international financial institutions to large multinational corporations, to United Nations employees, provided Raven with a broad canvas for networking with established professionals.