Study abroad is an integral part of the Indiana University academic experience. Just ask sophomore Ja’Niya Howard. Howard was selected by the Council on International Education Exchange (CIEE) to participate in the 2023 Frederick Douglass Global Fellowship, a prestigious summer exchange program founded to honor America’s most powerful scholars and social justice leaders for their work to break down barriers and inspire sociopolitical change. Students selected for the fellowship are chosen based on their demonstrated commitment to advancing social justice in the world by building bridges between people with different viewpoints.
Over the course of the four-week summer program, the 12 fellows travel to multiple cities in America, South Africa, and Ireland where they are exposed to diverse examples of social justice leadership. The itinerary is inspired by Frederick Douglass—an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman—and his travels to Ireland in 1845 when he and Irish visionary Daniel O’Connell exchanged ideas on creating a more just and equal society. Similar historical changemakers, including John Lewis, Abraham Lincoln, Bishop Desmond Tutu, and Nelson Mandela, are also studied during the fellowship as students travel through Washington D.C., Cape Town, South Africa, and Dublin, Derry, and Belfast in Northern Ireland. The fellows conclude their journey with a comparative study showcasing their findings.
Howard’s interest in the fellowship stems from her identity as an African American woman and her involvement with sociopolitical change. She actively participated in the Michigan Organization of Adolescent Sexual Health and serves on the group’s racial relations board. Howard says she has learned to believe in herself and her talents through the fellowship. “Many students have so much potential; sometimes, it just takes that little push,” says Ochmaa Escue, director of Indiana University’s Overseas Studies and Scholarship Program, administered by the Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.