UGA Honors student Valerie Tucker has been awarded a Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship for students interested in careers in the U.S. Department of State Foreign Service.
As a Pickering Fellow, Tucker will receive a scholarship of up to $37,500 annually for tuition and other expenses for her senior year of undergraduate studies as well as for her first year enrolled in a master’s degree program.
Tucker, who is from Fort Walton Beach, Florida, is a junior majoring in international affairs in the School of Public and International Affairs and Spanish in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. She is one of 10 undergraduates and 20 graduate students chosen for the 23rd cohort of the program from among hundreds of applicants from 160 colleges and universities.
Tucker has participated in various experiential learning opportunities through UGA. She recently completed a yearlong fellowship with SPIA’s Center for International Trade and Security as a Richard B. Russell Security Leadership Scholar and has interned twice with TradeSecure LLC, a company that helps global businesses with issues such as export control, foreign investment and trade policies. Tucker also completed an immersive study abroad program with UGA en Espana at the University of Valencia in Spain that was funded by an Honors Program International Scholars grant.
