Humphrey Fellowship Program at Vanderbilt University

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to each of the 2025-2026 Vanderbilt Hubert H. Humphrey Fellows on completing a successful program year! The pursuit of outstanding excellence from each of the Fellows made this past year truly remarkable. We are excited to see how each of them will apply the skills and insights they have gained during the Fellowship as they move forward in their careers and lives.

As part of the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, Eve Peeterson is completing her Professional Affiliation with The Wond'ry - Vanderbilt University's Center for Innovation and Design. Eve is supporting the end-to-end development of the Applied Innovation Practitioner Certificate Program. She conducts market research and analyzes participants to identify target audiences. Eve also assists in designing the curriculum and developing content for the Learning Management System (LMS). Furthermore, she supports planning and logistics for the program's pilot launch scheduled for April 2026. In addition, she creates communication materials and participant feedback tools to aid in program evaluation.

As part of the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, Nazia Zaman is completing her Professional Affiliation with the Office of Impact (Finance Department). Nazia's professional assignment with the Office of Impact involves supporting data-informed strategies aimed at enhancing community outcomes. This role deepened her understanding of how policy, data, and implementation intersect to drive measurable impact.

As part of the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, Shailendra Jha is completing his Professional Affiliation with the office of People, Culture & Belonging (PCB) at Vanderbilt University. Shailendra supports the Talent Marketplace initiative for skills-based learning and role development. He aligns learning content with Vanderbilt’s Skills-Based Job Architecture by tagging courses, curating resources, and mapping pathways to ensure alignment with defined skills and outcomes. This work provides Shailendra with hands-on experience with enterprise talent platforms, learning analytics, and emerging technologies, including Oracle Job Family Communities, OpenSesame, LinkedIn Learning content tagging, and AI-enabled tools. The experience strengthens his ability to design and implement scalable, skills-based workforce development systems that can be adapted to support education and employment initiatives in Nepal.

As part of the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, Veronica P. Atin is completing her Professional Affiliation with Tennessee State University's Intensive English Center. Veronica supports teaching, assessment, and curriculum development, and teaches two Reading and Writing classes at different proficiency levels. Veronica's responsibilities include designing instructional materials, assisting with syllabus development, collaborating with instructors, and contributing to program improvement while gaining insights into U.S. ESL pedagogy and institutional practices.

As part of the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, Dr. Erdem Ceydilek is completing his Professional Affiliation with the Student Affairs Office at Vanderbilt. Erdem is working alongside Student Affairs — observing student care coordination, wellbeing programming, and support operations to bring those insights back and build a campus-wide student support ecosystem for international students at Middle East Technical University in Türkiye.

As part of the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, Stavri Panayiotou is completing her Professional Affiliation with the Professional Learning & Growth Department at Metro Nashville Public Schools. During this affiliation, Stavri is supporting innovative and differentiated professional learning initiatives across the district. Her work includes exploring how strategic use of budget resources can strengthen innovation and expand differentiated learning opportunities for educators. She is also contributing to the planning and facilitation of a district-wide training on professional development design for instructional leaders and content creators. Additionally, Stavri is collaborating with instructional coaches, contributing to the development of a resource library that highlights engaging practices, reviewing professional texts, supporting book selection, and conducting school visits to better understand implementation in action.

As part of the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, María Moreno Sánchez is completing her Professional Affiliation with the Tennessee Financial Literacy Commission. Maria is supporting the design of their next financial wellness strategy. Her work focuses on helping strengthen the transition from traditional financial literacy programs toward a more integrated system that combines data (Scorecard), community activation (Summits), and capacity building. Through workshops, research, and dialogue with stakeholders, the goal is to help identify opportunities to make financial wellness efforts more measurable, collaborative, and impactful at the community level.

As part of the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, Chao Zhang is completing his Professional Affiliation with Peabody College at Vanderbilt University. He is receiving support from staff in the College of Education and Human Development. Chao's affiliation is central to my professional mission of reforming college English education in Central China. His primary goal is to establish a sustainable Community of Practice (CoP) to help teachers implement Differentiated Instruction (DI) and inclusive practices in large, mixed-ability classrooms. The keystone activity is organizing and hosting a global online conference in May 2026.

As part of the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, Eman Elsokary is completing her Professional Affiliation with the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC). During her Professional Affiliation with THEC, Eman contributes to the Quality Assurance Funding (QAF) project. Her work includes supporting the development of the QAF user manual in alignment with updated standards, assisting with integrating career-readiness assessment measures into the funding framework, and contributing to the implementation of academic policies and related support structures aimed at strengthening quality assurance and performance-based funding in higher education.

As part of the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, Ches Esnara is completing her Professional Affiliation with the Office of International Programs and Academic Global Engagement at Tennessee State University. Ches aims to contribute to strategic partnership proposals and participate in research project discussions held by global faculty scholars. By participating in curriculum streamlining and co-teaching at the Intensive English Center, she hopes to help build a more creative and inclusive environment for students. My work connects international outreach with academic goals, creating a clear path for my growth in academic leadership and global engagement.