Two Southwestern seniors are adding another chapter to the University’s lengthy history with the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship. Nia Cannon ’26 and Sumaya Moshiur ’26 have become the latest SU students to earn the prestigious scholarship from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

With the scholarships, Cannon will be studying abroad in South Africa this summer and Moshiur will travel to France, Hungary, and Portugal along with the SU European Cultural Explorations program.

Nia Cannon ’26A native of nearby Killeen, Texas, Cannon is set to graduate from Southwestern this August with an anthropology major and a race and ethnicity studies minor. This summer, she will be participating in SIT Study Abroad’s “South Africa: Diplomacy, Politics & International Relations Internship” program. During her time in South Africa, she will be taking courses related to international relations and diplomacy and will be interning with a local government.

Cannon will also be participating in a homestay, where she will have the opportunity to learn directly from a South African family and experience the culture in a personal and immersive way. While in South Africa, she hopes to learn Zulu, the most widely spoken language in the country.

“Anthropology and race and ethnicity studies felt like the perfect combination for me because they allow me to better understand people, communities, and the way culture shapes everyday life,” Cannon said. “I’m really looking forward to being immersed in a new environment, learning from others, and gaining a broader understanding of the world and the people in it. I think being in South Africa will challenge me to move from simply observing the world to actively engaging with it, and that’s something I’m really excited about.”

Sumaya Moshiur ’26Originally from Clifton, Texas, Moshiur is on track to graduate this December with degrees in business and psychology. During the four-week SU European Cultural Explorations program, she will have the opportunity to study in Cannes, France, Budapest, Hungary, and Lisbon, Portugal. Led this summer by Professor of Communication Studies Valerie Renegar and Professor of Psychology Erin Crockett, SU European Cultural Explorations is a bi-annual program that allows students to study abroad in several European countries.

While traveling across Europe, Moshiur will be conducting research focusing on close relationships, with a particular emphasis on how love and relationship dynamics vary across cultures. Throughout her research, she will study how different components of love, such as intimacy, commitment, and passion, are expressed and understood in different cultural contexts.

“I am excited for the opportunity to study close relationships across cultures because it connects directly to my interests in psychology, communication, and human connection,” Moshiur said. “I hope this experience enhances my knowledge of how people form and maintain meaningful relationships in different cultural settings.”

The Gilman International Scholarship Program enables students receiving federal Pell Grants to study or intern abroad, providing them with skills critical to our national security and economic prosperity. Named after the late Congressman Benjamin A. Gilman of New York, the program aims to broaden the student population that studies abroad by supporting undergraduates who might not otherwise participate due to financial constraints.

Since the program’s inception in 2001, a total of 47 SU students have now had the opportunity to study abroad thanks to the aid of a Gilman Scholarship. This marks the seventh consecutive year that at least one SU student has earned participation in the program, and the fifth consecutive year in which multiple SU students have been selected.

Through the program, Southwestern students have been able to study abroad in 32 different countries across six continents, including Australia, China, Costa Rica, India, New Zealand, Rwanda, South Africa, Spain, and Uruguay, among others.

Supported by the U.S. Congress, the Gilman Scholarship is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and is aided in its implementation by the Institute of International Education (IIE). To learn more about the Gilman Scholarship, visit gilmanscholarship.org.