Under Secretary of State Allen Caps Off International Education Week 2023

Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Elizabeth M. Allen recognized the global impact of the U.S. Department of State’s Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program, which helps support the Biden-Harris Administration’s broader efforts to expand diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in international education and across society, and celebrated its more than 41,000 alumni from across the United States at an event today capping off International Education Week 2023.

Seven Gilman alumni received the first-ever Gilman Alumni Changemaker Awards at the U.S. Department of State: William Blakey (University of Washington), Chelsea Hanway (University of Nebraska – Lincoln), Jade Fong (University of California, Berkeley), Fatima Kouyate (University of Georgia), Nataly Morales (University of North Georgia), Chou Moua (University of Minnesota), and Melissa Silva (University of North Georgia). The grant provides $10,000 of seed funding to Gilman alumni to pursue community projects that address or advance the following: building community through arts, sports, and language; protecting the environment; global health; human rights, refugees, and migrants; strengthening democratic institutions and fighting misinformation; fostering Gilman alumni networks and development, economic development and entrepreneurship; and science, technology, and innovation.

Since 2001, the Gilman Scholarship has provided funding for more than 41,000 U.S. undergraduate students from all 50 states to study and intern in over 150 countries worldwide. Nearly 70 percent self-identify as racial or ethnic minorities, approximately 60 percent come from small towns or rural communities across the United States, and nearly 50 percent are first-generation college students. The Gilman Scholarship is a U.S. Department of State program that is funded by Congress and implemented through a Department of State grant to the Institute of International Education (IIE).

A joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education, International Education Week promotes programs that prepare Americans for a global environment and attract future leaders from abroad to study, learn, and exchange experiences. Learn more about the Department’s international education efforts, including the 2023 Open Doors Report, which outlines the latest facts and figures on student mobility here.