An initiative of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship aims to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in faculty positions at colleges and universities. Funded by the Mellon Foundation, each fellow will conduct research under the guidance of a selected faculty mentor. Over the next two years, each fellow will receive up to $16,600 in funding support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and loan repayment of up to $10,000 to pursue graduate study in the humanities.

Each selected applicant demonstrates exceptional intellectual promise, commitment to racial equity in higher education, and motivation for doctoral study in select fields in the humanities and humanistic social sciences.

Serena Ruiz is concentrating in Ethnic Studies and Education Studies where her research seeks to understand the educational disparities that Mexican Americans face. Asking how Latinx representation in education impacts one’s understanding of history and their own identity, Serena hopes to use interviews to capture the lives and experiences of the Mexican-American communities she will study. In the future, Serena hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in Latinx Studies. Reflecting on her own trajectory and the mission of Mellon Mays, Serena writes, “Equity and diversity advocacy in higher education have been meaningful to my academic experiences because, as I have learned in my education classes and through personal experience, it is essential to have educators and peers who look like you and can relate to you, or in other words, engage in culturally responsive pedagogy.”

For more information about the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, please contact Associate Provost and MMUF Director Asabe Poloma at mmuf@brown.edu.