Harris School Welcomes Muskie Graduate Fellow
September 22, 2010
Olga Stradysheva worked for the World Bank in Russia for two years before boarding a plane, flying 5,000 miles, and settling in her new Hyde Park apartment last month. It’s a common story for many of the international students enrolled at the Harris School each year. Stradysheva, however, is no ordinary MPP first-year.
After nine months of applications, exams, and interviews, Stradysheva beat out some 4,000 other applicants to become one of only 160 students selected for the prestigious U.S. Department of State’s Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program, which places students in top-tier universities across the country.
“It is highly competitive,” Stradysheva explains. “In former Soviet Union countries, more people apply for this scholarship than they do for the Fulbright. It’s a great opportunity.”
Established by the U.S. Congress in 1992 to encourage economic and democratic growth in Eurasia, the fellowship selects emerging leaders from 12 countries of the former Soviet Union to “build democracy and foster the transition to market economies in Eurasia through intensive academic study and professional training,” according to the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
As the Harris School's second Muskie fellow, Stradysheva hopes to use her time at the University of Chicago to expand her quantitative skills before returning to Russia—the fellowship requires her to work in her home country for at least two years. “I’m interested in environmental policy, public outreach campaigns, and studying public opinion in general,” she says. “I’m sure a lot of government and private sector organizations will want me with a Harris School diploma.”
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