The John G. Tower Center for Political Studies eagerly announces this year’s Kelli and Gerald Ford Scholarship recipient is India Angelique Simmons.
India is a junior majoring in Political Science, Human Rights, and International Studies with minors in Arabic, History, and Women and Gender Studies, as well as a competitive runner on SMU’s Track and Field team. She has been awarded the Embrey Human Rights Fellowship where she founded the Redefining Mental Illness organization that is dedicated to creating conversation around issues of mental illness at SMU. India will use the Ford Scholarship along with the McNair Scholarship to further develop a partnership between Amnesty International and the SMU History Department and issues of genocide, ethnic violence, international liberation, race relations, and the role of international human rights organizations.
The Ford Scholarship is awarded to sophomores and juniors with strong interests in international affairs. Recipients spend their academic year researching and writing a report, which could be presented to the public. Learn more about scholarship opportunities from the Tower Center here.