The Department of Student Affairs in Higher Education is pleased to announce Abreeya Darda as the recipient of the Nancy Newkerk Scholarship for 2022.
Bree is a second-year student in the Student Affairs in Higher Education program and serves as a graduate assistant in the Fraternity and Sorority Life Office at IUP. She is the vice president of communications for the Associates for Student Development, a member of the Center for Teaching Excellence Advisory Board, and served as a Crimson Scholars Circle Leadership Program facilitator. Bree also was nominated for the 2022 IUP Distinguished Advisor Award.
One of Bree’s nominators stated, “Bree’s leadership abilities raise the bar that was set by those who came before her.… The time she spends helping to develop [students’] skill set speaks to her ability to empower others to achieve their greatest good.” Another nominator shared, “[Bree’s] commitment to affirming students, particularly students from historically excluded populations, deserves notice.”
Since 1999, the Nancy Newkerk Scholarship has been awarded to deserving second-year SAHE graduate students who demonstrate outstanding contributions to college students, student affairs activities, the SAHE department, and the broader higher education community.
Nancy Newkerk served as dean of women at IUP (then Indiana State Teachers College) from 1957 to 1967 and as associate dean of Admissions at IUP from 1978 until her retirement in 1994. She was awarded the IUP President's Medal of Distinction in 2009. She passed away in 2017.
Newkerk scholarship recipients are selected on the qualities that reflect Nancy Newkerk's own professional career in student affairs: a collaborative colleague, a student-centered practitioner, and a role model for citizenship and civic responsibility.
Bree will be presented with her award and scholarship at the College of Education and Communications’ annual Scholarship Reception this fall.