Nicole Duby is a UA alum and Fulbright grant winner— she earned a B.S. in psychology and a B.A. in French in 2021. The Fulbright Scholarship is funded by the U.S. Department of State and serves abroad as a partnership with Fulbright Commissions and Foundations, along with U.S. embassies.

Sebo Diaz is a Goldwater Scholarship recipient and rising senior at the University of Arizona, studying biomedical engineering and mathematics. The Goldwater Scholarship is one of the most prestigious scholarships for sophomores and juniors who have a focus in natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics and intend to pursue research-oriented careers in one or more of those fields.

Five students from the W.A. Franke Honors College were involved in significant research regarding global gender equality, as well as Environmental, Social, and Governance commitments (ESG) in the workplace. The outcome of the research showed that gender equality is a key catalyst for accelerating ESG within business structures and vice-versa, indicating that women’s equality in terms of economic opportunity, educational achievement, health, survival, and political empowerment could be achieved within our lifetime.

Hannah Doskicz is a Fulbright grant winner and recent graduate from the University of Arizona College of Medicine. Doskicz earned double majors— a B.S. in physiology and a B.A. in Spanish literature. Doskicz will be teaching English abroad in Mexico as a part of winning the Fulbright award, and hopes to improve her cultural and linguistic knowledge, as well as foster cross-cultural connections between the U.S. and Mexico.

W.A. Franke Honors College Assistant Professor of Practice, Dr. Caitlyn Hall, is an environmental engineer with a passion for interdisciplinary thinking and community-focused science. She and her team of faculty and staff from across the University of Arizona were recently awarded the 2022 CUES Spanning Boundaries grant for their project, Community Stories of Sustainability and Resilience: Sonoran Desert and Baja Regions.

Every year, Arizona Women in Higher Education (AWHE) honors one woman who has exhibited exceptional leadership qualities and achievements. This year, that woman is Dr. Cheree Meeks, Assistant Dean of Programs, Diversity and Inclusion at the W.A. Franke Honors College. Dr. Meeks is the first Black woman to receive this award since its inception in 2013.

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Also known as Emancipation Day, Black Independence Day, Freedom Day, or Jubilee Day, Juneteenth marks June 19, 1865, when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived with federal troops in Galveston, Texas, and issued an order informing the last enslaved people in Texas that they were free.

Pauline Koelbl is a UArizona Franke Honors Alumna and founder and managing partner of ShEquity. We recently chatted with Pauline to learn about her passion for female empowerment and entrepreneurship, her experience at the University of Arizona Honors College, and being a double Fulbright Scholar and Fellow.