Peace Ajirotutu's lifelong passion for politics was fueled by an internship with the North Carolina General Assembly while a student at UNC Pembroke.
The Raleigh native graduated last May and has since narrowed her focus to international affairs at the Institute of World Politics (IWP), thanks partly to the prestigious school’s partnership with UNCP. A private graduate school in Washington, D.C., IWP prides itself on empowering the next generation of national security experts.
As part of an early assurance agreement, at least three UNCP graduates admitted to IWP's master's degree program will be eligible to receive financial benefits, including a scholarship awarded each semester. IWP offers seven master's degrees with a curriculum that includes statecraft, history, American political philosophy, the Western moral tradition, economics and moral leadership.
Ajirotutu was awarded $2,200 from IWP and is pursuing a master's in statecraft and international affairs. She received an additional $50,000 from the Louis DeJoy and Aldona Woś Family Foundation Scholarship. Woś serves as IWP president.
"The pathway program with UNCP and IWP is a great opportunity to receive scholarship money and to have the opportunity to attend a prestigious graduate school," Ajirotutu said. "I hope more UNCP students will take advantage of this great opportunity and help strengthen this pipeline."
IWP also offers early admission to its master's degree programs for qualified students. UNCP Trustee Chairman Allen Jamerson, a retired brigadier general, hopes Ajirotutu’s success will inspire others to choose the UNCP-IWP pathway. Jamerson, who has spent the last decade of his career in the greater Washington D.C. area, recently accompanied Ajirotutu at IWP's annual gala.
Jamerson said that IWP offers intelligence professionals a strategic education to help them deal with the national and international challenges we face and how to implement that policy to achieve national security objectives.
"I'm excited about this partnership because there are going to be UNCP students at IWP getting that education next to students who graduated from Harvard, George Mason and other Ivy League schools," Jamerson said. "I'm excited to see more UNCP students experience this because our degrees are just as valuable as degrees from Ivy League schools, and we can make a difference anywhere in the world.
"The strength of UNC Pembroke is we have an institution whose faculty, staff and administration care about the success of our students and that pays off when they get to an environment like IWP."
