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Recent international affairs graduate Maly Fung ’07 will participate in the Intern Summer Workshop by the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers (IRT) at the PhillipsAcademy in Andover, Mass., June 25-July 22. The workshop is highly selective, accepting only 25-30 interns each year.
Fung will engage in an intensive graduate-level curriculum that includes lectures, seminar discussions, writing conferences, Graduate Record Examination practice sessions, and presentations by nationally-known educators, scholars, poets, and artists.
During the recruiters’ weekend, admissions representatives from consortium institutions, such as PrincetonUniversity, ColumbiaUniversity, and CornellUniversity, will speak about their graduate programs.
Fung believes the IRT program will prepare her for her future career plans of obtaining a Ph.D. in Latin American studies and becoming a professor.
“The IRT’s mission is to deepen the pool of talented minorities entering the teaching profession,” she says. “With this aim, they will support and guide me through the process of applying to graduate schools by providing counsel as to which programs are appropriate to my academic background, assist me with the Statement of Purpose included in each application, and prepare me for graduate-level work.”
Fung attended Lafayette as a Posse Scholar. The Posse Foundation identifies, recruits, and trains student leaders from urban public high schools to form multicultural teams called “posses.” Following an intensive eight-month recruitment and pre-college training program, the teams enroll at top-tier colleges and universities nationwide to pursue their academic careers and help promote cross-cultural communication.
While at Lafayette, Fung interacted with many members of the faculty and staff who played significant roles in her personal and academic growth.
“Both my Posse mentors, Liz McMahon, professor of mathematics, and Gary Gordon, professor of mathematics, supported me unconditionally in the process of adjusting to Lafayette,” says Fung. “Deborah Byrd, associate professor of English, and Michael Jordan, assistant professor of foreign languages and literature, helped me develop my intellectual curiosity in the respective fields of women’s studies and Latin American studies.
“My interest in these subjects was explored out of the classroom as well, through community service opportunities in local organizations such as Third StreetAlliance and my participation in the Hispanic Society of Lafayette. Most recently, Michael Benitez, director of the Office of Intercultural Development, has been a role model and a mentor to me, as has Denise Galarza-Sepúlveda, assistant professor of foreign languages and literature, who supported me in the process of applying to the IRT program and provided me counsel on graduate school decisions.”