I just spent an hour organizing info on the Soros Fellowship & while I meet the New American reqs, I just started my 3rd year of grad school which is the 1st year I'm no longer eligible. Here's why we need to be more vocal about the Soros (& other fellowships for BIPOC grads)

First, I knew by my first year of undergrad that I wanted to do psychology research and go into a PhD program (before I'd even changed my major officially from literature). This is also the same year I learned about the NSF GRFP. Why? Because I was beat over the head with it...

...the moment I joined a lab and by the advising office. But I never heard of the Soros Fellowship (or the Ford Fellowship for that matter) during my entire time in undergrad. But wait, Bev, why didn't you find this on your own to begin with? This is a great question!

Of course, part of the onus should've been on me to find this, & part of being a graduate student is surely seeking out these opportunities. But as a first-gen baby researcher I honestly didn't always know where to look or how to find them, & what often...

...happened more is that I applied to something cause it was common knowledge and out in the ether of things (aspiring) grad students do. Cause honestly the whole process of even applying to grad school is so unlike anything any of my family has ever done, and the only real way

I knew what to do or where to begin (incl. fellowships) is cause I had the kindness of knowledgeable folx and good mentors to help me through it, and even more good mentors to afford me opportunities I wouldn't had known to look for (like being in a research lab).

Getting a fellowship can help provide opps and open doors specifically for first-gen, immigrant, BIPOC folx, who already navigate so much unfamiliar territory (not to mention structural and inequitable barriers that themselves must be dismantled but that's an additional thread).

All this to say, I found out about the Soros through a workshop organized by and for BIPOC folx, which was an absolutely fresh breath of air. It felt like the warmest of hugs. But emphases on the Soros should be just as much in the ether as the NSF GRFP, for example, in largely

White spaces as well. There must be as much of an emphasis on opps specific to BIPOC students. First-gen, immigrant, and BIPOC students are often an after thought in the current way a lot of academic spaces and circles are structured, in part because of a lack of

diversity. And part of it is we must diversify too. But we can't diversify if we don't open doors at the same time and also make these welcoming spaces where first-gen, immigrant, and BIPOC folx want to be and stay. These fellowships are by no means trivial if awarded and can

open new doors for first-gen/BIPOC grads that otherwise wouldn't be there. But if no one says anything about these opps, then by default they may not always be on the radar and there exist more ways for the structures that make advancement harder for these folx to remain in place

Although I am not eligible for the Soros, I let students I work with as a post-bac program co-director know about the Soros on the first day we met this semester, and I am going to do everything I can to continue spreading the word about it and other opps

specific to first-gen/immigrant/BIPOC folx, and encourage you all to as well. It's up to us to help create opps for those who are often disenfranchised by the very systems we all exist in within academia. Otherwise, how can we expect to create an inclusive, equitable, and

... just environment in one of the perhaps most esteemed professions in this country focused on creating and spreading knowledge? #AcademicChatter #PhDchat

Here is the link to the Soros Fellowship for New Americans, with the fellowship deadline being October 29, 2020 2pm ET. https://www.pdsoros.org/  Please share!