Media contact: Savannah Koplon
Left to Right: Katie Lovelady, Sindhu Dwarampudi, Banks Stamp and Sarah Van Winkle
Not pictured: Kerry McCullochFive students from the University of Alabama at Birmingham represented the institution among more than 1,000 at the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U)’s annual meeting, held virtually from April 11-13.
“UAB has always had tremendous success sending students to the CGI U meeting,” said Gareth Jones, UAB’s interim director of Service Learning and Undergraduate Research. “This competitive opportunity puts our students on the map by connecting them with students from around the country, and our office has continued to support these students through funding and training. We are so proud of the thoughtful and inspirational commitments to action these students have made. They are at the forefront of changing the world for the better.”
To apply to CGI U, a student or a group of students must develop a Commitment to Action with specific and measurable steps to address challenges in one of five focus areas: education, environment and climate change, peace and human rights, poverty alleviation, or public health. UAB’s CGI U students represent three colleges and schools on campus, with their Commitment to Action projects focused on two specific areas each:
- Sarah Van Winkle of Athens Alabama is a senior majoring in physics and Banks Stamp of Phoenix, Alabama is a senior majoring in political science. Both proposed Combating Cancer in the Maasai Mara: Sustainable Clinics & Homesteads as their Commitment to Action project.
- Sindhu Dwarampudi of Suwanee, Georgia is a senior majoring in neuroscience. She will pursue hydroponics to advance food security in Birmingham, Alabama.
Kerry McCulloch Photo credit: Kerry McCulloch
- Kerry McCulloch, a graduate student in the Master of Public Health program, will focus her project on assessing the health needs of migrants in the Arizona-Sonora border region shelters.
- Katie Lovelady of Hartselle, Alabama is a junior majoring in industrial distribution. She will be working with Van Winkle and Stamp on the Commitment to Action project: Combating Cancer in the Maasai Mara: Sustainable Clinics & Homesteads.
Featured speakers at the event included former President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and First Lady Jill Biden.
CGI U is an extension of former President Bill Clinton’s Clinton Global Initiative that engages leaders on college campuses around the world to organize new, specific and measurable initiatives that address existing challenges. Through its year-round program, CGI U helps develop the next generation of leaders and social entrepreneurs, by providing accepted undergraduate and graduate students with training and mentorship opportunities, access to a wide range of international experts and change agents, and invitations to networking events with their peers and program alumni.