Education, Students
Posted by on Sunday, February 13, 2011 12:14 pm

Senior wins Luce Scholarship

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GREENSBORO, NC – Zimuzor Ugochukwu is a campus “rock star” at UNCG.

Now Ugochukwu, a senior biology major at UNCG, has won a nationally competitive fellowship that will allow her to work in Asia for a year after she graduates this May. After extensive interviews in New York and San Francisco, she was selected as a Luce Scholar.

“This scholarship is a stepping stone in my career trajectory and will broaden my international scope,” Ugochukwu says. “I look forward to the cultural exchange and an overall transformative experience. The lessons I will learn over the next year will be brought back to not only enhance conversations but hopefully engage a new generation of young people eager to learn and engage in society in a socially conscious way.”

While at UNCG, Ugochukwu led the Greensboro edition of the Atlanta-based “Let’s Raise a Million” project for the second consecutive year, ushering in more than $100,000 in energy savings for the East White Oak and Warnersville communities. She was the driving force behind “Ignite Greensboro,” initially established to raise funds and awareness for the International Civil Rights Museum. As an undergraduate researcher, she discovered a link between a gene found in fruit flies and genes found in a genetic birth disorder, Treacher Collins syndrome. The list goes on.

Yvonne Johnson, former Greensboro mayor, and UNCG Chancellor Linda P. Brady were just two of those who wrote recommendation letters for Ugochukwu.

Johnson wrote that Ugochukwu is “one of the most dynamic young women I know…. She is a lover of people and respects the dignity of all human beings.”

Brady wrote that Ugochukwu “does not simply overcome barriers; she plows through them.”

The Henry Luce Foundation launched Luce Scholars in 1974 to enhance the understanding of Asia among potential leaders in American society. Henry Luce was the founder of Time magazine; his parents were missionaries in China.

The Luce Scholars Program provides stipends, language training, and individualized professional placement in Asia for 15-18 scholars each year, and welcomes applications from college seniors, graduate students and young professionals in a variety of fields who have had limited exposure to Asia.

Ugochukwu’s road to a Luce fellowship was not an easy one. Only 75 U.S. universities – institutions such as Harvard, Princeton and Yale – can nominate applicants for Luce Scholars, and each has three nominating slots per year. Since UNCG is not a Luce-nominating institution, Ugochukwu sought several other options before Williams College in Massachusetts agreed to nominate her.

About 151 people applied for Luce fellowships this year, and 45 finalists were chosen for interviews. Ugochukwu found out she had won a fellowship just two hours after she completed a round of six 30-minute interviews in San Francisco.

Ugochukwu will graduate with a BS in biology and a double minor in political science and sociology. In early July she will head for Asia after orientation sessions in New York and San Francisco. She does not yet know what Asian country she will work in – India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam top her list – but she will spend the first two months of her stay learning the language.

Ugochukwu, born in the U.S. to Nigerian parents, is primarily interested in social entrepreneurship and primarily interested in social entrepreneurship and how entrepreneurs use business models to achieve the triple bottom line: people, profit and planet. She plans to own a social venture someday, pooling young people into an emerging market, and creating business models to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems. She also hopes to open a museum in New York City that celebrates the works, gifts and contributions of people under 30.

What does she want to take away from her overseas experience? “A better sense of self and my place in the world, a shared experience with the local natives, an increased familiarity and appreciation for different cultures, a global mindset and a greater look into social innovation and entrepreneurship around the world.”

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