Pempho Chinkondenji, a Ph.D. candidate in Educational Policy and Leadership, has been awarded an American Association of University Women (AAUW) International Fellowship. 

The award is intended to help fellows achieve their educational and professional goals, allowing women to break through barriers in fields where they are traditionally underrepresented. They provide women from all fields with the funding, confidence, and exposure that goes along with receiving a prestigious award — which is key to being competitive in the job market and tackling the growing burden of student debt.

Pempho Chinkondenji focuses her research on issues of gender, education and development in the global south with a specific focus on Africa. She cofounded Loving Arms, a nonprofit that promotes girls' education and raises awareness about issues of sexual violence in Malawi. Chinkondenji hopes that through her study of readmission/pregnancy policies for girls' schooling, she will be able to influence governments to implement practices that prevent the exclusion and discrimination of girls.