2021 Undergraduate Fellow Spotlight: Mercy Ogutu

Born in Kisumu, Kenya and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Mercy Ogutu is a rising Junior at Trinity Washington University majoring in Political Science and International Affairs with a Cultural and Language Relations minor. With a concentration in Human Rights and Foreign Policy, Mercy plans to pursue a Masters in Nonproliferation and Security Studies to one day work as a policy advisor for the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, under the branch of Regional Disarmament. Her interests include international peace, multilateral diplomacy, nonproliferation international treaties, and humanitarian approach of nonproliferation, in the East Africa and the United States.

Mercy Ogutu is a former Foreign Policy Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., House of Representatives Congressional Intern for Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and a former Shadow Student at Securities Exchange Commission: Women and Minority Inclusion Office in Atlanta, Ga, expanding her interests in policy making and multilateral diplomacy. In the past, she has conducted and presented Undergraduate research focused on prevalent action to decrease the HIV-1 epidemic rates in Kenya, South Africa, Atlanta, Ga, and Washington, D.C. 

In her free time, she serves as the Class of 2023 President, the Chair of Trinity Washington Student-Athlete Advisory Committee,Tennis and Volleyball Representative on the National Student-Athlete Advisory Committee for the NCAA Division III, Chair of the Working Group of Inclusion and Social Justice, and a student representative on the Minorities Interest, Opportunities Committee on the NCAA Board of Governors, and Student Representative on the University Engagement Team for Special Olympics College National Work working on student based initiatives for academic, professional development programs, and community outreach.