Scholars Investigate Women as Worldwide Changemakers

Twenty Allegheny students from around the globe will spend the next four years exploring the challenges and rewards of empowering women, both in the U.S. and abroad, in their role as the fourth and newest cohort in the College’s Global Citizen Scholars (GCS) program.

The competitive program, to which incoming first-year students must apply, provides scholars with unique learning opportunities in civic engagement, global learning, and U.S. diversity with a combination of intensive advising, coursework, and a range of high-impact experiences including study abroad. The GCS program was established in 2015 with initial funding from Linda Allison Palmiero ’66 and her husband, Joe. The first cohort graduated in 2019.

Two faculty co-leaders jointly develop their planned curriculum and activities under a relevant global theme of their choosing that guides each group’s study and experiences. They, too, compete for the opportunity to lead a cohort. First-year scholars enroll in an introductory seminar and — in a year without COVID-19 restrictions — attend a mandatory overnight retreat with fellow participants, faculty, and administrators.

Scholars build knowledge and fieldwork skills in year two through coursework and extracurricular activities, including excursions to related organizations and locales. They study away, separately, during their junior year, and then as seniors, complete a legacy project and serve as mentors to newer cohorts. Group meetings, readings, writing, and other special projects round out the program. Many use their experiences to inform their senior comprehensive projects.


“We want students — young men and women — to see how women in the pursuit of economic, political, and social justice have been incredible changemakers, using unconventional means of accessing power to inspire and advocate not just for themselves, but for their communities, everywhere.”


“Empowering Women Worldwide” is the academic and experiential theme under which this group will study and travel with Professors Ishita Sinha Roy and Caryl Waggett. The cohort is rich in religious and cultural diversity, with students hailing from China, Ethiopia, Nepal, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States. Their GCS experiences will be rooted in social justice and global health. Dr. Sinha Roy teaches media studies, with a focus on national and global identity politics, in the Department of Communication, Film, and Theatre. Dr. Waggett teaches environmental health within the College’s Global Health Studies Program, and she has helped to establish international internships in India and Moldova for Allegheny students. Both women conduct research with students nationally and internationally.

The theme supports the objectives of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, one of which “stresses that gender equality is not only a fundamental human right but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world,” said Dr. Sinha Roy. “We want students — young men and women — to see how women in the pursuit of economic, political, and social justice have been incredible changemakers, using unconventional means of accessing power to inspire and advocate not just for themselves, but for their communities, everywhere.”

Visit Empowering Women Worldwide website
Supporting the Program

Interested in helping to support a Global Citizen Scholar or learning more about the program? For more details, contact Melissa Mencotti at giftplan@allegheny.edu or by telephone at (814) 332-5912 or toll-free (866) 332-3853.