Jessica Clarkson

Jessica graduated with honors from UC Berkeley in 2012, obtaining a B.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies with a concentration in Africa, and minoring in Music. She joined the UC Berkeley Center for African Studies in October 2012, as a program coordinator and a student advisor for The MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program. She received the UC Berkeley Staff Achievement Award for her work serving 58 undergraduate and Masters students from all over sub-Saharan Africa on full scholarship. Since the program’s inception, she has played an instrumental role in the design of support services and policy development, both on campus and within the international network of partner institutions. A recipient of the FLAS fellowship in Swahili as an undergraduate, she has studied abroad in Germany, France, and Kenya, and speaks German, French, intermediate Swahili, and some Farsi. She has also spent time in Ethiopia, Zanzibar, South Africa, and Ghana. In her free time, she sings in choruses, dances the salsa and the blues, and directs opera productions. Jessica looks forward to using her experience in scholarship program administration in Zambia, and learning about both the day-to-day operations of a local NGO and some Nyanja!