Cora Woloson ’23 (photo provided)
Cora Woloson ’23, from Canandaigua, NY, has won a highly competitive American India Foundation (AIF) Banyan Impact Fellowship. Woloson will spend a year in New Delhi with ACCESS Development Services, an organization that works to reduce poverty in India. At SUNY Geneseo, Woloson was an international relations major with a political science minor and a concentration in the developing world.
The Banyan Fellowship is a fully funded, interdisciplinary experiential learning program that places young professionals from India and the US in service with communities across India. Through collaboration and capacity-building, fellows work with local communities to exchange knowledge and skills to steer projects that advance social and economic development. Fellows learn about grassroots development and inclusive leadership through fieldwork, mentorship, and conferences during the course of the program.
Woloson was selected in a national competition involving more than 900 applicants and is the first Geneseo Banyan Fellow. Since 2001, AIF has “selected, trained, and supported 573 Banyan Fellows and 255 partner organizations across 25 Indian states to scale impact, catalyze transformation, and build the next generation of socially minded change makers.”
After a 2019–20 Rotary Youth Exchange year in Mumbai, India, Woloson was inspired to contribute to the sustainable development and transformative changes propelling India during its remarkable growth. As an undergraduate, she won a Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) award to study Hindi during Summer 2023 in Jaipur, India, at the American Institute of Indian Studies.
At Geneseo, Woloson served on the executive board of the South Asian Cultural Club Shakti, as an RA for International Student Engagement in the college’s Global House residence hall, and in the Office of International Student Scholarship Services, coordinating campus-wide events geared toward intercultural engagement.
“I am so thrilled to contribute to ACCESS’s mission of incubating innovations for sustainable livelihoods for India’s poor and work alongside the next generation of leaders dedicated to driving positive, sustainable change,” says Woloson. “This immersive bi-national volunteer service program presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become an integral part of the community I’ll be serving, allowing me to witness firsthand the transformative impact of these kinds of international aid initiatives.”
After her Banyan experience, Woloson expects to continue her Hindi studies through a master’s degree at Georgetown University in global affairs and international development. She plans for a career as a Department of State Foreign Service officer with the United States Agency of International Development (USAID).
Students and alumni interested in the Banyan Fellowship program should contact Director of National Fellowships and Scholarships Michael Mills at millsm@geneseo.edu. For more information about other nationally and internationally competitive scholarship and fellowship programs, visit Fellowships and Scholarships.
—Michael Mills