UW News

September 27, 2007

Recent grad earns prestigious scholarship

Kiera Clarke, who earned a B.A. in Italian and minor in international studies at the UW in June, has received a scholarship worth as much as $300,000 for graduate studies.

Clarke, 23, received the scholarship from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, which provides support for up to six years of graduate study with a yearly stipend up to $50,000.

At the UW, Clarke was involved in the Honors Program both as a peer instructor and peer adviser. She also served as a faculty assistant for the Law, Societies and Justice program in Rome, Italy. She is a member of both Phi Beta Kappa and the National Society for Collegiate Scholars.

Clarke has been volunteering with the International Rescue Committee, a refugee resettlement agency, for nearly two years. She began volunteering with local high school students through the Refugee Voices program. In the fall of 2006, after learning the Refugee Voices program would not continue, she decided to create the IRC Speakers Bureau, which empowers refugees to use their personal experiences to educate the community about refugee issues. She still serves as the program coordinator today.

Clarke is beginning a professional masters program in international relations and public affairs at the UW. She hopes to pursue a career in the creation, advocacy and/or implementation of a more just and effective forced migration policy, both domestically and internationally.

Clarke was one of 34 students to be given a scholarship out of more than 970 applicants.