Augsburg Has Our First Payne Fellow

submitted by pearsong@augsburg.edu

Shamsa Ahmed, ’21 Political Science and International Affairs double major, has been named a Payne Fellow, one of 15 selected in the country. In previous years 600 students have applied for the fellowship, making an applicant’s chance of earning the award around 2%.

Shamsa will receive $104,000 for graduate school in international affairs or a similar field, summer internships, one in D.C. and one overseas with the US Agency for International Development (USAID,) and a USAID mentor. After completing the fellowship, Shamsa will be ready to accept a position as a Foreign Service Officer with USAID. She has had this goal of working with USAID since her sophomore year when she applied for and won the Boren Scholarship. As a Boren Scholar Shamsa studied Swahili in Florida and Tanzania.

Shamsa is currently serving as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in South Korea. She was also a semi-finalist for a Truman Scholarship and an alternate for the Pickering Fellowship.

At Augsburg Shamsa was an Act Six Scholar and a TRIO/SSS student. She served as Vice President of the Muslim Student Association, Founder of Women for Political Change and Student Government Class President. She also had internships and employment with the State of MN Department of Human Services, the Council on American Islamic Relations, Interfaith Action of Greater Saint Paul and Common Cause.

Congratulations to Shamsa!