Eight exceptional Vanderbilt students are embarking on transformative global journeys as this year's cohort of the Michael B. Keegan Traveling Fellowship program. This prestigious fellowship empowers students to immerse themselves in diverse cultures, pursue bold ideas and engage in hands-on learning that shapes their future as global citizens and leaders. Through independent exploration and cross-cultural engagement, fellows can develop the adaptability, resilience and leadership skills necessary to drive meaningful impact in an interconnected world.
Four graduating seniors will spend a year traveling the world, independently researching topics and creative interests of their choosing. Four other students have been awarded the Summer Keegan Fellowship, allowing them to pursue immersive international projects as part of Immersion Vanderbilt.
Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Tiffiny Tung emphasized the fellowship's role in shaping globally minded leaders. "The Keegan Fellowship exemplifies Vanderbilt's commitment to experiential learning and global leadership," Tung said. "By immersing themselves in diverse cultural settings and collaborating with people who have had different life experiences, our Keegan Fellows develop the adaptability, resilience and empathy needed to be thoughtful leaders who make a lasting, positive impact in their neighborhoods and nations and across the globe."
The 2025 Postgraduate Keegan Fellows are Nour Abida, Deniz Orbay, Ellie Pazol and Caitlin Scannell.
Nour Abida, a political science and law, history, and society major from Tunis, Tunisia, will embark on Behind Closed Doors: Domestic Violence, Culture, and Political Participation. She will explore how cultural rhetoric around domestic violence shapes survivors' self-efficacy and political participation. By examining this discourse, she hopes to shed light on an often-overlooked issue and celebrate survivors' resilience.
"I am honored to be selected for the Keegan Traveling Fellowship and to explore a topic close to my heart across the world," Abida said. "I look forward to engaging with local communities, learning from the people I meet and embracing the rich cultures each country has to offer."
Deniz Orbay, from Istanbul, Turkey, is double majoring in computer science and applied mathematics with a minor in cinema and media arts. His project, A Camera''s Purpose: Independent Filmmaking Around the World, will explore how indie film communities operate globally and how cultural and political contexts shape their themes. He hopes to better understand the relationship between media and culture and the stories societies tell at the grassroots level.
"I'm incredibly grateful for this opportunity to explore the world-and myself-through independent filmmaking, which I'm deeply passionate about," Orbay said. "I'm especially excited for the spontaneity of travel and the unexpected opportunities that come from meeting new people along the way."
Ellie Pazol, a medicine, health and society major from Northbrook, Illinois, with a minor in special education, will embark on The Voices of Those Who Rose Before Us: Elderly Activism in an Ever-Aging and Changing World. She will explore global movements led by older individuals, examining cultural attitudes, social roles, and welfare systems. Pazol aims to shift perceptions of aging by highlighting the agency and activism of older adults.
"I'm incredibly grateful to be a Keegan Traveling Fellow. This opportunity will challenge my understanding of activism and allow me to spend a year listening to diverse global voices. I'm especially excited to visit Zimbabwe and meet the women of The Friendship Bench, whose work in community-based mental health care has inspired change worldwide," she said.
Caitlin "Catie" Scannell, a climate studies and medicine, health and society double major from San Francisco, will pursue a project titled Climate Health Through Women's Narratives: Exploring Geographic, Cultural and Socio-Historical Factors Shaping Women's Experiences of Climate Change and Public Health.
Through conversations, art and service, she hopes to shed light on how climate change uniquely impacts women's health. Her goal is to amplify women's voices and translate their lived experiences into actionable insights for a more equitable and sustainable future.
2025 Summer Keegan Fellows
The Summer Keegan Fellowship, launched in 2024, offers rising juniors and seniors an eight- to -10-week global immersion experience, which also fulfills their Immersion Vanderbilt requirement. This year's summer fellows are:
- Claire Arney, a rising junior double majoring in chemistry and earth and environmental sciences, will explore sustainability in Latin America by studying farming practices, land management and policy in Costa Rica, Colombia and Argentina. She aims to uncover overlooked environmental solutions, with a focus on reforestation and traditional ranching, and apply her findings to future work in green technology.
- Madelyn Bonadio, a rising senior majoring in public policy, will investigate the life cycle of fast fashion, connecting with garment workers in Vietnam, analyzing corporate responsibility in Singapore and studying the environmental impacts of clothing waste in Ghana. Through these experiences, she aims to propose actionable policy recommendations that address fast fashion's global human and environmental consequences.
- Devin Crawford, a rising junior majoring in economics and public policy, plans to examine how intelligence agencies target marginalized communities and impact societal trust. His project traces intelligence practices from World War II to the Cold War in Berlin, apartheid-era South Africa, post-coup Chile and contemporary Guatemala. Crawford seeks to understand how intelligence shapes governance, cultural attitudes and global relations, offering insights for his future work in the U.S. Air Force.
- Andrea-Grace Mukuna, a rising junior majoring in political science and communications, will study Afro-music scenes shaped by diasporic movements between the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, France and Belgium. Mukuna will explore how African music has influenced cultures in France and Belgium while investigating how Ivorian and Congolese immigrants have transformed their musical traditions.
Through experiential learning and leadership development, the Keegan Traveling Fellowship, administered by the Office of Undergraduate Education in the Office of the Provost, continues to open doors for students eager to explore, discover and make an impact on the world.
Michael B. Keegan, BA'80, for whom the fellowship was renamed in 2004, is excited about its continued impact. "The program has seen remarkable growth, and this year's applicant pool was particularly outstanding," he said. "It is inspiring to see students embrace this opportunity to explore, learn and engage with the world in such meaningful ways."
