Margaret Born, a graduate of Natrona County High School and native of Jackson, Wyoming, has been nominated by Michigan State University (MSU) for a major graduate school scholarship award – the Mitchell Scholarship.
The US-Ireland Alliance established the George J. Mitchell Scholarship Program, which allows up to 12 future American leaders to pursue a year of graduate study in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Along with Born, Joel Arnold, a recent graduate with degrees in social relations and policy from the James Madison College and urban and regional planning from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Alana O’Mara, an Honors College senior majoring in neuroscience in the Lyman Briggs College, have been nominated for the Mitchell Scholarship.
The National and International Fellowship and Scholarship (NIFS) office at Michigan State University, administered by the Honors College, helps interested undergraduate and graduate students to pursue major national and international opportunities by providing information and direct support throughout the competitive application processes.
“These are students who have gone above and beyond during their time at university,” said Cynthia Jackson-Elmoore, dean of the Honors College. “MSU is proud to nominate these gifted and hard-working students for these major awards.”
Born is the founder and president of Project Nur, a student organization devoted to combating Islamophobia through education and cross-cultural interaction. She has also served as caucus chair and leader for inclusion on the James Madison College Student Senate.
She has held internships with the Michigan House of Representatives and Refugee Development Center. Born now works as a peer advisor for the MSU Office of Study Abroad.
Born plans to study international peace studies in Ireland.
“Pursuing my master’s degree in Ireland will move me beyond the theories of peace and justice and ground me in the lived reality of struggle,” Born said. “I am hungry to learn all that I can there.”
MSU has produced one Mitchell Scholar.