Thomas R. Pickering Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellowship

One closed and one open passport lying on a map of the US.

Service-minded University of Rochester students and alumni committed to careers in US diplomacy are considered for the Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship Program.

Funded by the US Department of State and administered by Howard University, the Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship Program provides graduate fellowships to prepare outstanding young people for foreign service careers in the US Department of State. The program is named after one of the most distinguished American diplomats of the 20th century.

Upon completion of a two-year master’s degree program and fulfillment of foreign service entry requirements, fellows may work as foreign service officers, serving in Washington, DC, and at a US embassy, consulate, or diplomatic mission around the globe. Fellows must agree to a minimum five-year service commitment in the Department of State’s Foreign Service.

The fellowship helps finance two-year graduate programs, provides two summer internships, offers mentoring from a Foreign Service Officer, and affords other professional development activities.

Learn more about the Pickering Fellowship and other fellowship, scholarship, and award opportunities available to Rochester students.

Recent Pickering Fellows

Congratulations to our most recent University of Rochester Pickering Fellow!

Jennifer Suh headshot.Jennifer Suh ’19

Suh was born in South Korea and raised in Guam. She received a bachelor of arts degree in international relations at the University of Rochester, spent a summer in Shanghai studying Mandarin, completed her Air Force ROTC through Rochester Institute of Technology, and was commissioned into the US Air Force, where she is currently an intelligence officer serving mostly in South Korea and Italy. She plans to pursue a master’s degree in global/international affairs with a specialization in international security focused on the East Asia region.

Past Pickering Fellows and Alternates

Jin Kim ’19, ’20 (T5)
Area of study: Political science (BA)
Minor: East Asian studies
Details: 2020 Fellow

Shannon M. Miller ’07
Area of study: Anthropology (BA) and history (BA)
Details: 2007 Alternate