Nancy Nguyen is one of 50 young leaders from around the world who have been awarded a fellowship by the Rotary Foundation. She will be attending the University of Queensland in Australia for the Masters of Peace and Conflict Studies, an 18-month fully-funded program. Nancy will be one of 12 Rotary Peace Fellows studying there. This innovative program merges a strong, academic understanding of the roots of conflict with practical tactics for solving real-world problems.
This is the first time the Rotary Club of Coronado recommended a Rotary Peace Fellow candidate. Rotarians and Rotary family members cannot apply for the program, but Rotary Clubs have a key role in reaching and recommending Rotary Peace Fellow candidates.
Nancy was chosen from a pool of global candidates for this highly competitive program. Her present role is as a Civic Engagement Community Organizer at the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans (PANA) in San Diego. As the most active resettlement region in California and a border city to the world’s largest binational region, Nancy’s work at PANA allows her to be on the front lines of refugee advocacy. For her work “fostering relationships with coalitions and organizations that work on advancing immigrant and refugee issues locally and statewide” she was recognized as a 2021 Women of Distinction in Youth Empowerment by the San Diego Mayor’s Office. Nancy is a 2019 graduate of San Diego State University, Honors College.
Nancy’s longstanding commitment to peace and international development is reflected in her years of international and local policy, advocacy, civic engagement, and direct-service work. She assisted an emergency influx of oceanic Congolese refugees to an Uganda refugee camp, and facilitated intercultural understanding between ethnically diverse students, particularly Burmese and Thai refugees as a Princeton in Asia Fellow. She also published and presented international policy proposals to U.S. diplomats. Endeavors like these are strongly connected to Rotary’s “service above self” advocacy in advancing human rights and promoting peace and good will.
Nancy said that she would like to research peacekeeping effort efforts in Asia as the focus of her Master’s Degree dissertation.
Since the Rotary Peace Centers began in 2002 more than 1,600 fellows have graduated from the programs. They are now working on peace and development initiatives in more than 140 countries. Many serve as leaders in government, nongovernmental organizations, education and research institutions, peacekeeping and the law enforcement agencies, and international organizations like UNICEF, the United Nations, the World bank, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Coronado Rotarians are looking forward to connecting with Nancy on zoom as she pursues her studies.
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