Promoting intercultural understanding and global human development

DeJorie Monroe ’16

Charles B. Rangel Fellow, U.S. Department of State

MAJOR: SPANISH | MINORS: THEOLOGY, LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES, MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES

Since graduating as a Hesburgh-Yusko Scholar in 2016, DeJorie Monroe ’16 has pursued professional and learning opportunities that help promote improved international educational systems. From teaching in the Dominican Republic, Argentina, and her hometown of Columbia, South Carolina, to working in IT, redesigning education curriculum in Indianapolis, and earning a masters in management and leadership, Monroe continues to apply her academic interests to real life impacts on diverse communities. As the first Notre Dame alum to be selected as a Charles B. Rangel Graduate Fellow with the U.S. Department of State in 2022, she will add to that experience while training for a post in the U.S. Foreign Service.

Monroe launched her post-graduate career as an Orr Fellow at Genesys and served as Orr’s Director of Civic Engagement in Indianapolis. In this role, she led a team in re-designing curriculum in Indianapolis Public Schools. Monroe then turned towards international education, earning a Fulbright Fellowship to teach English in Argentina. Upon meeting foreign service officers and listening to their stories on their paths towards diplomacy, Monroe endeavored to pursue her own ambitions in foreign service. 

After returning from Argentina, Monroe worked as a dual language immersion educator. Striving to narrow her interests in public service, she pursued the Rangel International Affairs Graduate Fellowship, named for retired congressman Charles B. Rangel. This prestigious fellowship aims to bring more women and people of color into the foreign service. 

As a Rangel Fellow, Monroe will specialize in education and human capital within the Global Human Development Program at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, interning both in Washington, D.C., and in an embassy abroad, and utilizing the language and interpersonal skills she has spent years honing. She strives to be an effective public diplomacy officer, pairing her passion for and commitment to intercultural understanding with a hope to improve the lives of students worldwide.