As part of the award, Brittany Carroll '11 will pursue a master's degree at American University before serving as a U.S. foreign service officer for three years.
Brittany Carroll ’11 has been awarded a 2013 Thomas R. Pickering Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellowship by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.
Administered for the U.S. Department of State by the Foundation, the Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowships support preparation of future foreign service officers by developing a source of men and women whose academic backgrounds fulfill the skill needs of the State Department and who are dedicated to representing America’s interests abroad.
Pickering Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellows receive financial support towards a two-year, full-time master’s degree program in fields such as public policy, international affairs, public administration and other related academic fields. Fellows participate in one domestic and one overseas internship. The fellowship helps cover tuition, room and board, books and other fees.
After completing their master’s degree, recipients commit to three years of service as a foreign service officer. Carroll is one of only 20 graduate fellowship recipients for the upcoming year. She will attend American University for a Master of Arts in international affairs with a regional focus on Africa.
“My experiences have challenged me professionally, academically and personally to not only understand my role as an American, but also as an African-American woman,” Carroll said. “Through the Foreign Service as a Pickering Fellow, I want to be in a position where I can not only represent my culture, but also gain an invaluable understanding of American foreign policy and its political and economic relationships with other countries.”
At Elon, Carroll was active with the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., serving as its treasurer, historian and corresponding secretary. She was a member of the Periclean Scholars and took part in the Elon University Orchestra and the Elon University Gospel Choir. Carroll was inducted into two academic honor societies and was consistently honored each year with the Phillips-Perry Black Excellence Award.
Carroll majored in international studies and political science. She was one of two Elon students to receive a 2011 Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship for spending a year in Taiwan teaching English and sharpening skills in Mandarin Chinese. She most recently served as an intern in the White House.
The Foreign Service, a corps of working professionals who support the American president and the Secretary of State in advancing the overseas interests of the United States, are “front-line” personnel who can be sent anywhere in the world, at any time, in service to the diplomatic needs of their nation.
The Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship Program is named in honor of one of the most distinguished and capable American diplomats of the latter half of the 20th century. Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering holds the rank of Career Ambassador, the highest rank in the U.S. Foreign Service. He served as Ambassador to Nigeria, El Salvador, Israel, India and the Russian Federation, finishing his career in the Foreign Service as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.
Carroll is the daughter of Bonnie Linen-Carroll and Jerry Carroll, Sr., of Washington, D.C.
Elon students and recent alums who are interested in this award or other nationally competitive fellowships are invited to contact the Office of National and International Fellowships in Lindner 200.