LAS Political Science Sophmore Usama Ibrahim Named Rangel Scholar
Usama Ibrahim – LAS neuroscience and political science sophmore – is one of 15 scholars selected nationwide for the 2015 Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Summer Enrichment Program. Ibrahim is the first UIC student chosen to participate in this selective six-week program.
Beginning in late June, Ibrahim will live at Howard University and take two courses and a seminar focusing on U.S. foreign policy, economics and writing. He’ll participate in a variety of programs with foreign affairs professionals at Howard and around Washington, D.C.
The Rangel Scholar program is named for Charles B. Rangel, now serving his 23rd term as a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the 13th Congressional District of New York. Co-sponsored by the U.S. State Department and Howard University’s Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center, the program provides students a stipend and covers the costs for tuition, travel, meals and housing.
Ibrahim says he enjoys studying Middle Eastern and international politics and is equally concerned about domestic and international human rights issues. He has enrolled in LAS classes that cover these topics and he also independently studies related current events and issues.
A 2013 graduate of Universal School in Bridgeview, Illinois, Ibrahim was admitted to UIC as part of the President’s Award Program Honors Scholarship, UIC’s most prestigious four-year tuition and housing scholarship, given to exemplary incoming first-year Honors College students.
He was awarded a 2015 Chancellor’s Student Service and Leadership Award, which recognizes outstanding UIC student leaders for commitment to service and community engagement.
Through the Peer Health Exchange volunteer program, he teaches health workshops in Chicago Public Schools that would not otherwise have a health curriculum. As a member of the group’s leadership council, he teaches and mentors undergraduate peers to teach the workshops.
Ibrahim is president of Healing Arts, a UIC student volunteer organization that provides art enhancement programs for elementary school children. As a UIC Honors Ambassador, he serves as a student liaison to prospective and incoming Honors College freshmen.
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