Top (L to R): Edie Jones ’27, Tary Santelises ’26. Bottom (L to R) Lea Mancarella ’28, Ava Woodstock ’27.
In a national competition, four SUNY Geneseo students have won 2026–27 Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships for study abroad: Edie Jones ’27 (New Zealand), Lea Mancarella ’28 (Ghana), Tary Santelises ’26 (Ghana), and Ava Woodstock ’27 (Ghana). Since the college’s first award in 2007, 65 Geneseo students have won Gilman scholarships.
The State Department award financially assists US undergraduates of limited financial means in pursuing academic studies or credit-bearing, career-oriented internships abroad. The goal is to better prepare students to assume significant roles in an increasingly global economy and an interdependent world.
Edie Jones, a geological sciences major from Pittsford, NY, will spend January 2026 in Christchurch, New Zealand, as part of the Geology Capstone Field Experience study abroad program led by geology professors Dori Farthing, Scott Giorgis, Amy Sheldon, Nicholas Warner, and Jacalyn Wittmer Malinowski. Jones looks forward to hands-on field work in a “geologic goldmine, with everything from dormant and active volcanoes to mountain ranges that stretch across the South Island. I want to study what goes on beneath the Earth’s surface to form these wonders and how they shape the environment around them. Everything is connected, and I want to better understand my impact through studying the natural world.”
Lea Mancarella, a political science major from Brighton, NY, will travel to Ghana’s capital of Accra during Spring 2026 to study issues surrounding sustainable development and urban and rural living. The Urban Sustainability course is led by associate professor of geography and sustainability studies Jennifer Rogalsky and professor of biology Susan Bandoni Muench. After graduation, Mancarella plans to apply for the Fulbright US Student Program and the Peace Corps to “return to Africa, even Ghana specifically, to continue working in international affairs and broaden my international worldview to interact more effectively with not just Americans but people from around the world.”
Tary Santelises, from Middletown, NY, is a sociomedical sciences major with a minor in biology. During Spring 2026, she will travel to Ghana with the Biology and Global Health course to study schistosomiasis, a tropical disease that affects morbidity and mortality in low- and lower middle-income countries. In preparation for a career as a public health professional, Santelises will be afforded “an invaluable opportunity to deepen my academic and professional commitment to public health, reproductive/social justice, and community well-being by examining hemoglobin levels, testing children for malaria, and educating about schistosomiasis in a marginalized community on the outskirts of the capital.”
Ava Woodstock, a biology major from Huntington Station, NY, who plans on a career in medicine, is traveling to Ghana in Spring 2026 to “listen, learn, and gain hands-on experience that will shape me into a more compassionate and informed doctor.” A local priest who traveled to Africa inspired her to study abroad with “stories of the breathtaking landscapes and remarkable Ghanaian people, as well as his building medical clinics to help alleviate the health care shortage.” Having personally lived through the stress of limited health care access, Woodstock wants to “better understand how others, particularly in Ghana, cope with far greater challenges.”
Gilman Awards at Geneseo
The US Department of State’s Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program awarded scholarships to 1,550 American undergraduate students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Northern Mariana Islands in Fall 2025 to study and intern abroad in 90 countries. Gilman Scholars are US undergraduate students with high financial need who receive federal Pell Grants. The Gilman Program received more than 7,700 applications, a record high for the fall application cycle.
The Gilman application cycle for Summer and Fall 2026 will open in January. Students and alumni seeking more information about and assistance with applications for the Gilman International Scholarship and any other fellowship or scholarship program should visit National Fellowships and Scholarships or contact Michael Mills, director of national fellowships and scholarships, at millsm@geneseo.edu.
—Michael Mills