PRESS RELEASE
FORD FOUNDATION INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIPS PROGRAM
www.FordIFP.Net
For further information, please contact:
International Fellowships Fund
809 UN Plaza, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10017 USA
Adriana Thoen: (1-212) 984-5558 fax: (1-212) 984-5594 email: query@FordIFP.Net
Ford Foundation International Fellows
Earn Awards and Honors
TRADITIONALLY EXCLUDED STUDENTS RECOGNIZED FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
NEW YORK CITY, JUNE 7, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program (IFP) is proud to announce that several IFP
Fellows have recently been recognized for outstanding work in both academic and professional
spheres. These Fellows are among the first to complete their studies with IFP support. Their success
is strong evidence that candidates chosen from groups and communities traditionally excluded from
opportunities for higher education can and do excel in highly competitive graduate programs.
"Ford Foundation International Fellows must demonstrate leadership and social commitment as well
as academic capacity to win a place in our program," said IFP Executive Director Dr. Joan Dassin.
"They are highly motivated to gain as much as possible from their graduate programs that will
enhance their ability to help their countries and communities."
In addition to the honors and awards described briefly below, several IFP Fellows have also won
support from their universities and other fellowship programs to pursue additional advanced degrees
after completing their graduate programs under IFP. "We are extremely pleased that universities are
recognizing the individual capacities and achievements of IFP Fellows,” said Dr. Dassin. “They also
tell us that the very special experience and perspectives that IFP Fellows bring to their studies
enriches other students and the universities themselves."
Among the IFP Fellows recently honored are:
 Lida
Yusupova (Russia), selected as an IFP Fellow-elect in 2003,was awarded the prestigious 2004
Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders in Geneva in April. Lida, who plans to study human
rights law, was cited for "tireless efforts in a situation of war and extreme danger, with increased risk
for women" in Chechnya.
 Yen
Thi Hoang Vo (Vietnam), who successfully defended her master's thesis at the University of
Kansas, has been invited to give a special presentation on disability and development at World Bank
headquarters in Washington, DC, in June, before returning home to Vietnam.
 Bibiana
Bangpuori (Ghana), who received her master's degree in development studies from the
Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University in May, was awarded the
university’s Second Annual Bailis Family Social Justice Award, which recognizes a student "whose
work experiences, paid or volunteer, have contributed the most to positive social change and
promotion of social justice," during and before their studies at Brandeis.
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IFP Press Release
June 7, 2004
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 Elizabeth
Mika (Tanzania), who completed her master's degree in nursing at Boston College, was
named one of that university's "Outstanding Graduate Students" at an April 20 awards banquet.
 My
Phuong Thanh Ho (Vietnam), a doctoral candidate in education at the University of Southern
California, received an Academic Achievement Award at USC’s 22nd Annual International Student
Graduation Reception on April 16.
 Dr.
Ana Marina Tzul Tzul (Guatemala), who graduated in January 2004 with a master's degree in
Public Health from Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, was awarded "special honors" for an
outstanding thesis on maternal mortality and a superior grade-point average.
 Elena
Pryamikova(Russia), a Candidate of Science in sociology at Ural State Pedagogical
University who spent the past semester studying at South Bank University (UK), has been awarded
two grants to continue research on developing critical and tolerant thinking among high school
students.
 IFP
alumna Yasmin Arquiza ( Philippines), who studied at the Asian Institute of Management in
Manila, was second runner-up for the environmental sustainability category in the inaugural
Developing Asia Journalism Awards, announced by the Asian Development Bank in April.
Among IFP Fellows granted university support to continue doctoral studies are: Simon Bawakyillenuo
(Ghana, appropriate technology) and Nneka Uchenna Ifeka (Nigeria, gender studies) Hull University,
Genner Llanes (Mexico, development) and Babatunde Omilola (Nigeria, development) Graduate
School of Social Sciences and Cultural Studies, University of Sussex, and Gajendran Ayyathurai
(India, anthropology) Columbia University.
For a more complete description of recent honors and awards earned by IFP Fellows,
please visit our website www.FordIFP.Net.
ABOUT IFP
The Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program (IFP) provides opportunities for advanced study to exceptional
individuals from groups or communities traditionally excluded from higher education who will use this training to become
leaders in their respective fields, furthering development in their own countries and greater economic and social justice
worldwide. IFP was launched in 2000 with a $280 million grant from the Ford Foundation, the largest in the Foundation’s
history. About 3,000 fellows will be selected through 2010. Over 100 IFP Fellows have completed their studies.
IFP Fellows may pursue studies at any university worldwide in academic disciplines and fields related to the Ford
Foundation's grantmaking goals to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international
cooperation, and advance human achievement. Most Fellows receive up to one year of language instruction or other training
before starting their graduate studies.
IFP is a program of the International Fellowships Fund, an independently incorporated supporting organization of the
Institute of International Education (IIE). The IFP secretariat in New York City coordinates work on IFP Fellows’ selection,
placement, mentoring, and monitoring with the program’s 16 International Partners worldwide: the Africa America Institute,
Johannesburg, South Africa and Maputo, Mozambique; AMIDEAST, Cairo, Egypt, and Ramallah, Palestine; the Asian
Scholarship Foundation, Bangkok, Thailand; the Association of African Universities, Accra, Ghana; the Carlos Chagas
Foundation, São Paulo, Brazil; the Center for Educational Exchange with Vietnam, Hanoi; the Center for Research and
Higher Studies in Social Science, Mexico City; the Center for Research on the Mesoamerica Region, Antigua, Guatemala;
Indonesian International Education Foundation, Jakarta; the Forum for African Women Educationalists, Nairobi, Kenya; the
Institute for International Education/China, Beijing; the Institute of International Education/Latin America, Mexico City; the
Institute of International Education/Russia, Moscow; the International Fellowships Program Fund, Santiago, Chile; the
Philippines Social Science Council, Manila, and; the United States Educational Foundation in India, New Delhi.
IFP also works closely with several IIE country offices, as well as its New York headquarters, which provides university
placement and related services for many IFP Fellows, and with Ford Foundation offices around the world. IFP is also
cooperating with other international higher education organizations, including the British Council, the Netherlands
Organization for International Cooperation in Higher Education (NUFFIC), and the Center for Higher Education Policy
Studies (CHEPS) at the University of Twente in the Netherlands.
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