ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2018
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. In the three months the application was open in 2018, students applied to join the Class of 2018 on 285 campuses across 57 nations. 30 campuses worldwide (just 11%) were selected to host the 402 Millennium Fellows in the global pilot this year.
The Class of 2018 is bold, innovative, and inclusive. During the Millennium Fellowship, Millennium Fellows' dedicated 48,785 hours and their 214 unique projects positively impacted the lives of 393,449 people worldwide.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT ZELIA GONZALES, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW FOR THE CLASS OF 2018.
Cornell University | New York, United States | Advancing SDG 4 & UNAI 5
" My project stems from the exact conflicts I had in higher education entering an elite university as a low-income, first-generation college student. My goal is to problem solve for the next generation and that’s starts with addressing my university. I am excited to connect with other students on my campus who are similar minded and supportive as we embark to guide an 100+ year old institution’s mind on educational values. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: Coalition for Security Policy Reform
The Coalition for Security Policy Reform is a group of student organizers and student-organizations coming together to leverage our role on campus to achieve event and security/policing policy reform on campus. Our group started with over 40 organizations convening to 1) identify our common concerns, 2) identify our common interests, and 3) create demands of the university to further our goals for safety and accessibility on campus. We have met weekly this semester and have created a network of invested participants willing to represent the student body in demand negotiations. We are moving into negotiations now this winter and have larger plans for the Spring. The point of creating a coalition was to seed sustainable community involvement and responsibility among students while establishing a platform for best practices and complex conversations. We hope to mirror union-style representation in negotiations and have an established order on campus for years to come for issues beyond security and even management.
About the Millennium Fellow
Zelia Gonzales is a third-year student at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY studying Industrial and Labor Relations. After years of community organizing her advocacy has broadened as she has realized issues are more and more systemic. Zelia plans to use her degree and experience in Labor, American Studies, and Education to pursue teaching secondary and adult learners and eventually entering political office. Her educational philosophy is strongly influenced by project, cultural, and art -based learning in and out of a formal classroom setting.
