Junior Kimberly Everett of Semmes, Ala., is the first University of Alabama at Birmingham student to receive the Thomas R. Pickering Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellowship.
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Everett is an economics major with a concentration in PPE — philosophy and political economy — a specific program offered by the UAB Collat School of Business and the UAB College of Arts and Sciences, and a minor in Chinese. She is a student in the UAB University Honors Program with a 3.82 grade-point average. Everett also is UAB’s 2011 Truman scholar.
The Pickering Fellowship Program supports students who are preparing academically and professionally to enter the U. S. Department of State Foreign Service. The highly competitive program selects students in academic programs relevant to international affairs, political and economic analysis, administration, management and science policy from all ethnic, racial and social backgrounds.
As a Pickering Fellowship recipient, Everett will receive $40,000 for each of two years to complete a master’s degree.
“We are so excited to have our first ever Pickering Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellowship. This is a well-deserved honor for Kimberly, who also won a Truman Scholarship this past month, and yet another reflection this spring of UAB’s commitment to both academic excellence and service to our local and global community,” says UAB President Carol Garrison.
Everett is spending her junior year in China studying Mandarin and the Chinese economy on a Boren Scholarship from the National Security Education Program and the Institute for International Education. She plans to enroll for a joint law degree and master’s degree in public administration/international development at Harvard Law School and Harvard Kennedy School. She aims to become a Foreign Service officer and ultimately advise the U.S. on trade policy with China and the surrounding areas. She is the daughter of Richard and Clara Everett of Semmes.
“It feels great to win the Pickering and be able to join the Foreign Service. I’m very fortunate to have this opportunity to learn first-hand about U.S. foreign policy and attend graduate school. I’m also looking forward to seeing other parts of the world and learning new languages,” Everett said.
“I believe one of the most important challenges for the United States this century will be our ability to develop and maintain healthy relationships with members of the international community as we face many social, political and economic challenges,” she said in an email from China. “The Foreign Service is the face of the U.S. abroad, and subsequently plays a large role in how others perceive us. I’m just excited to be a part of it all and looking forward to seeing where life takes me.”