Valparaiso University Alumna Named Rangel Fellow

August 8, 2022 – Valparaiso, Indiana – Valparaiso University alumna Maia Moore ’18 has been awarded a Rangel Graduate Fellowship by the Foreign Service of the U.S. Department of State. Moore graduated as a double-major in international economics and cultural affairs and Chinese and Japanese studies. Her passion for pursuing international work accounts for success academically and professionally. She believes that her University experience was instrumental in making her the professional she is today. 

“I had been interested in a career in foreign services for six years, and just decided that now was the time to pursue this,” Moore said. “If I hadn’t gone to Valpo and found great mentors in my professors, I don’t know that I would have taken this path in my life.”

In addition to her double-major, Moore was a member of Christ College — The Honors College and an intern at the U.S. State Department in the summers of 2017 and 2018. Moore was also a 2018 Fulbright Scholarship finalist, leading her to live and work in Taiwan for two years after graduation. Moore moved to Chicago to explore work in the nonprofit sector before resuming her pursuit of an international career through the Rangel Fellowship program, a goal her former professors continued to support her in. 

“Maia was one of the finest and most self-motivated students I have had the opportunity to teach at Valpo, and it has been so wonderful to celebrate her graduation and post-graduate accomplishments with her,” said Fontaine Lien, Ph.D., assistant professor of world languages and culture at Valpo. “I hope that the Asian Studies program will be able to give students these kinds of opportunities in the future.”

The Rangel Graduate Fellowship recruits people from different backgrounds to represent the U.S. in foreign affairs. On top of paying for a master’s program in foreign services, which Maia will pursue at Georgetown University in the fall of 2022, the fellowship includes one Congressional internship followed by an internship with an embassy or consulate, professional development opportunities, and at least five years of employment with the U.S. State Department Foreign Service office. For Moore, however, five years may just be a good start. 

“I would love to stay on as long as I can,” Moore says. “If I can retire from the foreign service, I will. It’s such a dynamic career that it’s all I want.”