Kellogg students receive American Association of University Women Fellowship

10/16/2015 - Carmen Sebro and Domonique Powell-Austin, both '16, have been awarded the American Association of University Women (AAUW) 2015–16 Selected Professions Fellowship.

The fellowship is awarded to women who intend to pursue a full-time course of study in a traditionally male-dominated field, such as architecture, computer or information science, engineering and mathematics.

An additional fellowship is available for women of color pursuing a business, law or medical degree.

Sebro will focus on technology and business. In the past, she has worked in communities where students face considerable disparities in educational resources. That experience pushed her to think creatively about how to bridge that gap, she says.

Sebro plans to use her fellowship year to discover how technology and business can be used to remedy those inequalities and empower communities economically.

“The AAUW has supported the work of women leaders for over 130 years — I am honored to be selected,” Sebro said.

Powell-Austin says she will use her fellowship to study marketing next year in Madrid, where she’ll gain a better understanding of how brands market to customers around the globe, with a particular focus on the consumer goods industry.

“Prior to business school, I had limited global opportunities,” Powell-Austin said. “I’m excited to learn more about the connection between consumers and their most trusted brands globally.”

Education in Action

Both students already have amassed a long list of accolades while at Kellogg.

Powell-Austin currently serves as Vice President of Alumni Relations for the Retail and Luxury Goods Club and Vice President of Academics for the Black Management Association.

Sebro is a Kellogg Board Fellow for the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Foundation in Chicago, Co-President of the Black Management Association and Co-Chair of the Women’s Leadership Workshop. She also researched creating an economic growth engine for low-income entrepreneurs with Teamwork Englewood in Chicago as a student consultant for NUvention Impact, an interdisciplinary experiential learning program designed to expose students to social entrepreneurship.

Inspired by the deep history of AAUW achievers, Sebro looks forward to building on those experiences during her fellowship year. “I arrived at Kellogg convinced that solutions to our greatest social issues can be found through ethical, bold leadership in business,” she said.

“Kellogg has been an incredible launch pad to put this concept into practice and I’m looking forward to working with other AAUW fellows and members to extend my impact in social innovation.”