Ben Anderson, who graduated from UofL in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in political science, was awarded a 2022 . Cornelius Sanford, who graduated from UofL in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and pan-African studies, won a 2022 Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Graduate Fellowship.

“It is tremendously exciting for UofL to have even one recipient selected for either of these prestigious fellowships,” said Bethany Smith of UofL’s Office of National and International Scholarships. “To have two in a single year is unprecedented. Congratulations to Ben and Cornelius, who will both go on to fulfilling careers in the Foreign Service.”

Previously, only one UofL graduate had won a Pickering Fellowship (Ashley Gray, 2005), and one a Rangel Fellowship (Zerlina Bartholomew, 2019).

The sibling programs are aimed at attracting individuals “from all ethnic, racial and social backgrounds who have an interest in pursuing a Foreign Service career” with the state department.

The difference in the programs — both of which are worth up to $42,000 a year for recipients to earn a two-year master’s degree — is primarily in the focus of their domestic internship component. Pickering Fellows intern at the state department in Washington, D.C., while Rangel Fellows intern on Capitol Hill focusing on Congress’ role in foreign policy.

Anderson, a Louisville native, won a Fulbright English Teaching Grant to Taiwan in 2019 and is the son of two UofL English department faculty members, Karen Chandler and David Anderson. He plans to study public policy.

Sanford, of Eminence, Kentucky, graduated from UofL in 2019. Afterward, he held two internships in Cape Town, South Africa. In addition, he is a who served as a Teaching English as a Foreign Language Educator in rural Madagascar. He hopes to pursue international affairs and diplomacy in his graduate studies, focusing on .

Among their numerous accomplishments, both were fellows of the Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) program at University of California, Berkeley. Anderson was a UofL Brown Fellow, a Woodford R. Porter Scholar and a Muhammad Ali Scholar. Sanford was a Martin Luther King Scholar.

The state department represents the U.S. at more than 270 diplomatic locations around the world, including embassies, consulates and missions to international organizations.

In 2018 he hit pay dirt: the recent political science graduate to study the Turkish language at Azerbaijan University of Languages in Baku, Azerbaijan.

So he packed his bags, said his goodbyes, and headed off.

But then, a funny thing happened at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C.

While waiting for his flight and browsing email, Brown learned that he had also won the prestigious student . The email informed him he could begin his Fulbright as an English teacher in Ankara, Turkey, during the fall semester.

“I honestly didn’t know what to do. I was speechless,” said Brown, who learned months ago that he was an “alternate” for the award.

“I had already given up on Fulbright and had enrolled in another Turkish language program in Baku for the fall semester,” Brown said. “Winning this Fulbright has reassured me of the value of my study and validated almost two years of hard work. Doing the CLS in Turkish followed by a full year in Ankara, Turkey, really feels like a dream come true.”

Brown’s Fulbright makes him the 11^th UofL scholar to earn the prize in 2018 and underscores the university’s in competitions for prominent student scholarships.

“Winning both awards is even better,” said Bethany Smith, of UofL’s Office of National and International Scholarship Opportunities.

The CLS takes place during the summer and the Fulbright starts in the fall. So, he will be able to do both and stay abroad for a whole year.

“Devin worked incredibly hard on his Fulbright application, knowing it was very risky as there haven’t been ETA winners to Turkey in recent years,” Smith said. “We’re so pleased this worked out for him.”