Jin Kim ’19 (T5 ’20), a political science major from Glenview, Illinois, has been awarded a Thomas R. Pickering Graduate Fellowship for graduate study in preparation for a career in the US Foreign Service. Funded by the US Department of State and administered by Howard University, the fellowship is designed to attract outstanding candidates from diverse backgrounds to represent the United States in the Foreign Service.
The Thomas R. Pickering Fellowship seeks to attract and prepare outstanding students who demonstrate academic excellence and strong leadership potential along with financial need, and who have an interest in pursuing a Foreign Service career in the US Department of State.
Kim, who is currently studying in Argentina as part of his Take Five Scholars Program, is the first University of Rochester student to win the award. Last March, he was selected as a Public Policy and International Affairs Fellow for the Berkeley Junior Summer Institute and spent seven weeks at the University of California-Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy.
“I’m shocked and thankful to have been selected,” Kim says. “It’s truly a culmination of all my professional experiences—from non-profit work in Chicago to interning on Capital Hill and the US Consulate in Vietnam.”
He joins Susan Ojukwu ’17 and Justine King ’15 as the third University student or alumnus to win a prestigious, nationally competitive fellowship for foreign affairs graduate study in the past three years.
Kim has begun applying to graduate programs in public policy, public administration, public affairs, and international affairs, the next step toward a career as a diplomat. He’ll return to Rochester for the spring semester. “I’ll never forget my roots,” he says.
