WKU graduate Keightley Dudgeon of Crestwood was named a 2021 Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Graduate Fellow. She is one of 45 fellows selected nationwide and only the second WKU student to earn this honor.
The Rangel Graduate Fellowship supports extraordinary individuals who want to help formulate, represent, and implement U.S. foreign policy through a career in the Foreign Service of the U.S. Department of State. Dudgeon will receive up to $42,000 annually for a two-year master’s degree, two paid internships in the U.S. Congress and a U.S. Embassy or Consulate abroad, and opportunities for mentoring and professional development.
Through a master’s degree in international relations, Dudgeon will study public policy with a focus on international development. “My hope is to effect bureaucratic change in refugee and immigration services, both domestically and abroad,” she said.
Dudgeon, a 2019 graduate in Arabic with a minor in Teaching English as a Second Language, has long been interested in the Middle East and North Africa region. As an undergraduate student, she earned a Critical Language Scholarship for intensive Arabic language study in Morocco, building on her proficiency gains from a study abroad program for intensive Arabic study in Jordan through WKU Global. She also participated in the Qatar Foundation International Universities Debate Championship.
