Texas State Graduate Students Honored with P.E.O. International Peace Scholarships

“Angela Davis, in a conference in the city I was born, Salvador-Bahia, Brazil, said ‘When a Black woman moves, the whole structure of society moves with her,’” Alves said. “Receiving the P.E.O. International Peace Scholarship honors the amazing women, my grandmother, mother and sisters, who had to work hard to give me the opportunity to continue my studies and pursue a career."

“I am the first in my family who had the opportunity to learn English and study abroad. [This award] also represents every woman in Brazil who could not have the opportunity to attend university and pursue a career,” she said.

For Kenyan native Luhumyo, the scholarship meant she could stop worrying about money and focus on getting the most out of the creative writing program at TXST. “I'd heard good things about the program. But I was especially motivated to apply because of its diversity — and from my experience, the program makes a conscious effort to be as inclusive as possible. That's something I appreciate.”

 

From her home in Vietnam, Bui explained what the  scholarship means for her. ”It empowers me to think about how I, as a woman, can raise my voice and take action to help other underprivileged women in my country."

“I realize that there is still society’s prejudice about girls’ inability to do mathematics not only in a developing country like Vietnam but also in America. Through pursuing the Ph.D. program in mathematics education at Texas State, I hope to contribute my part to improve the equity practice in mathematics education and show people that young or old, rich or poor, boy or girl, everyone can do math,” Bui said.

Since 2017-2018,  50 Texas State graduate students have received this award with the assistance of Andrea Hilkovitz and Brian Smith in The Graduate College.

"Starting with a single recipient in 2017-2018, The Graduate College has grown its pool of recipients to an impressive total of 50 in the last six years. I also find it remarkable that Texas State routinely has had among the largest award numbers for Texas colleges and universities during the past three years. We are very proud of our recipients," said Andrea Golato, dean of The Graduate College, professor of German, and a former international graduate student.