On Sept. 1 and 2 Doug Cutchins, director of the newly created Global Awards Office at the Career Development Center, hosted two meetings that reviewed different fellowship and scholarship opportunities available at the post-graduate level. Cutchins also spoke to interested students about the process of writing their personal statements for these awards with a focus on prestigious scholarships like the Truman, Rhodes and Falcon scholarships.

The meetings are part of an effort by the CDC to encourage NYU Abu Dhabi students to apply for prestigious fellowships and scholarships around the world. In an email to The Gazelle, Doug Cutchins explained the reasons behind this effort.

“It benefits all of us when our students apply for these awards. When students win, of course, there is a terrific benefit to the student in that they get funding for an experience that they want. It also benefits the university in terms of recognition and prestige and it honors the work of all of the faculty and staff members who helped that student achieve everything they did at NYUAD,” wrote Cutchins.

Senior Wilson Tang, who attended the meetings, praised the university and the CDC for supporting students interested in applying for international awards.

“I think it's great that the university has a new resource in the [CDC] to help students who want to apply to these awards,” he said.

Sophomore Sofia Gomez-Doyle claimed that attending the event even as an underclassmen gave her a good sense of how to prepare for the future.

“I attended the Global Awards Session, and honestly, I thought it was great because it gave me a glimpse of what lies ahead,” she wrote to The Gazelle, “We all want different things in life, but it's great to have the opportunity to learn in advance and see what's out there.”

Cutchins also mentioned that though at the moment the awards identified are for post-gratudate study, the CDC is working on identifying opportunities for underclassmen.

To date the university has developed a roster of 27 awards, available through the Student Portal, for which NYUAD students can be strong applicants. It includes scholarships and fellowships in Europe and the United States catered for students from around the world. The roster lists a wide variety of awards such as the Erasmus Mundus, the Fulbright fellowships and the Gates Cambridge scholarship.

Cutchins is working to capitalize on the success of the Class of 2014 in securing prestigious awards like the Rhodes and Falcon scholarships. His experience includes serving as president for the U.S. National Association of Fellowship Advisors and hopes to bring representatives of various foundations to NYUAD to showcase student talent.