FIU named a Millennium Fellowship Campus by United Nations

FIU has been named a Millennium Fellowship Campus Hub by the United Nations. The recognition comes after 18 FIU students were awarded a 2019 Millennium Fellowship.

Launched in 2018 by the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) and Millennium Campus Network (MCN), the selective Millennium Fellowship is a semester-long leadership development program that convenes, challenges and celebrates student leadership.

Students receive the fellowship based on a proposed local project that advances at least one of the United Nation’s sustainable development goals and one UNAI principle. Through the semester-long process, the students will convene with other fellows to develop, implement and measure the impact of their proposed projects.   

Millennium Fellows will be challenged to share best practices and take collective action on one or more of the sustainable development goals and will receive training, access to a network of alumni and UN connections—and a special recognition. Fellows' projects are projected to positively impact the lives of more than 978,400 people worldwide this year. 

As part of the program, FIU will select two campus directors who will guide the rest of the cohort and convene monthly to engage in the leadership development program funded by MCN and UNAI.

“We want our FIU students to have global awareness, a global perspective and a passion to make deep transformational contributions,” said Elizabeth Bejar, senior vice president for Academic and Student Affairs. “The Millennium Fellowship gives our students a chance to become global citizens by devising problem-solving solutions to challenges our world and local community are facing.”

FIU is one of 69 campuses worldwide - and 18 in the United States - whose students have been granted the fellowship. The 2019 fellows from FIU are all women, and 16 of 18 students are part of the Global Medallion program. Once this fellowship concludes, FIU participants will form an FIU-based alumni group that will provide support for future fellows.

“When we created the United Nations Academic Impact to foster a culture of intellectual social responsibility, we considered ‘intellect’ not as something remote or esoteric, but rather as a quality innate in every thinking individual,” said Ramu Damodaran, chief of United Nations Academic Impact. “Our collaboration with MCN will allow students to demonstrate how the wisdom and thought they invest in their formal curriculum can be extended to a greater purpose of common good, lending their strengths to their communities and their world and, in turn, being enriched by them.”

In 2019, more than 7,000 young leaders on 1,209 campuses across 135 nations applied to join the Class of 2019. Just 69 campuses worldwide (6 percent) were selected to host the 1,092 Millennium Fellows. 

“On every campus and in every community, student leaders are dedicated to making positive contributions while committed to our ethos: empathetic, humble, inclusive leadership,” shared Sam Vaghar, executive director and Co-founder of MCN. “Emerging leaders need requisite training, connections, and recognition to deepen their social impact as undergraduates and throughout their careers. Partnering with UNAI enables us to engage more students, providing a powerful framework to help them convene, take action, and elevate the important contributions they make.  I congratulate FIU for a bold commitment to strengthen the community and help make UN goals a reality.”

FIU’s work on campus is being supported by FIU’s Office of Global Learning Initiatives and the Center for Leadership and Service.

FIU Millennium Fellowship Class of 2019:

Adeline Cieslak 
Afsaana Mohammed 
Alexandra Ruiz 
Ashley Weathers 
Carolina Echeverri 
Cindy Zahnd 
Janelle Acevedo 
Kaylin Diaz 
Kelly Rojas 
Mariela Perez Robledo 
Melanie Rodriguez 
Michelle Flores 
Morgan Porter 
Naomi Nunez Leon 
Nicole Jara 
Page Bachrach 
Thalia Paulete 
Yandra Mariano

For a complete list of fellows click here. For more information on the Millennium Fellowship, visit: https://www.millenniumfellows.org/meet-2019-fellows/.