Ciara Moezidis Named a Truman Finalist
SCU Junior is a Finalist for a Premier Fellowship for Those Pursuing Public Service
By Ali Reimer
Political science and communication major Ciara Moezidis ’21 has been selected as a finalist for the Truman Scholarship. An acclaimed campus leader in numerous diversity and civic engagement activities at Santa Clara University, Moezidis was selected based on her record of leadership, public service, and academic achievements.
As an Iranian-American, Moezidis is passionate about improving Iran-U.S. relations as well as decreasing the stigma and discrimination that Iranians and Iranian-Americans face. She is a member of the University Honors Program, Political Science Honors Program, and Lambda Pi Eta.
“Ciara exemplifies the very best qualities of a Santa Clara University education in her intellectual development, purposeful leadership, and passion to serve as a ‘person for and with others,’” wrote SCU’s Naomi Levy and Stephen Carroll in their nomination letter for Moezidis, who is minoring in Spanish. “She has the intellectual capacity, leadership and communication skills, multi-disciplinary training, moral vision, and passion for service that she needs to succeed in her mission.”
A premier graduate fellowship in the United States for those pursuing careers as public service leaders, the Truman Scholarship provides $30,000 for graduate school and programming to help each recipient be the best public servants possible. The scholarship, which was created in 1977, has been awarded to just three Santa Clara University students: Janet Napolitano ’79 (1977), Dierdre M. Kelly ’81 (1979) and Kim P. Olson’87 (1985).
At SCU, Moezidis co-founded and is a co-president of IGNITE, a national organization that helps empower women to enter politics. She also founded the #BroncoPosi movement after attending the IgnatianQ conference, at which Jesuit universities sought to discover how students could best be allies to those in the LGBTQ+ community. Through positivity and education, the movement hopes to improve awareness of diversity and identity on campus, and her involvement helped earn her the distinction of being named Santa Clara’s 2019 Student of the Year.
In addition to being an Associated Student Government Senator, a CORE Christian Fellowship member, and MENA club member, Moezidis has also been a community facilitator, political science peer advisor, and human resources liaison for diversity and inclusion on the SCU campus. She has received multiple Bucky Awards for her leadership on campus, a Jean Donovan Fellowship to work with survivors of domestic violence in Peru, and was selected as the 2019 Panetta Institute for Public Policy Congressional Intern. She interned for U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna in Washington D.C., was a legislative intern in the district office of State Sen. Jim Beall, and a campaign intern for Don Rocha for Santa Clara County Supervisor.
Upon graduation, Moezidis intends to pursue a Masters of Public Administration in international development and a Masters of Theological Studies with an emphasis in religion, ethics, and politics at Harvard University, where she was a 2018 Diversity and Explorations Fellow.