Kathryn Gioiosa, the first CCNY student to win both Truman and Udall Scholarships, with College President Vincent Boudreau.
Kathryn Gioiosa, a political science major in The City College of New York’s Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership, has been named a 2025 Harry S. Truman Scholar and a 2025 Udall Scholar. She is the first CCNY student to receive both of these scholarships.
She is one of 54 exceptional students from 49 U.S. colleges and universities selected by the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation’s Board of Trustees, and one of 55 exceptional students from 45 colleges and universities selected by the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation.
The highly competitive Truman Scholarship is the premier graduate scholarship for aspiring public service leaders in the nation. Selection is based on a combination of career and graduate study interests, community service and academic achievement.
“Resourceful, patriotic leaders, today’s Truman Scholars would make President Truman proud,” said Terry Babcock-Lumish, the Foundation’s executive secretary and a 1996 Truman Scholar from Pennsylvania. “Rising to meet their moments in this century as he did his in the 20th century, they are dedicated public servants who do not shy from challenge.”
Truman Scholars demonstrate outstanding leadership potential, a commitment to a career in government or the nonprofit sector, and academic excellence. Each Truman Scholar receives funding for graduate studies, leadership training, career counseling, and special internship and fellowship opportunities within the federal government.
Gioiosa is CCNY’s eighth Truman Scholar since 2005. Ayesha Khan (2023), Claire Lynch (2017), Ayodele Oti (2011), Gareth Rhodes (2011), Don Gomez (2009), David Bauer (2008), and Claudio Simpkins (2005) were the previous recipients.
The Udall Undergraduate Scholarship honors the legacies of Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall, whose careers had a significant impact on Native American self-governance, health care, and the stewardship of public lands and natural resources. The Scholarship Program identifies future leaders in environmental, Tribal public policy, and health care fields. It is highly competitive, with students participating in their schools’ internal competitions before receiving consideration from the Udall Foundation.
The Forest Hills, Queens native is a Macaulay Honors student. She is also a Moynihan Center Public Service Fellow and was, previously, a Climate Policy Fellow.
Gioiosa serves as co-executive director of TREEage, a youth-led climate justice organization. She also sits on the steering committee, and co-leads the organizing committee of New York Renews, a coalition of over 390 environmental, justice, faith, and labor organizations statewide.
Gioiosa first became interested in public policy in the areas of infrastructure and climate change as a high school student. The daughter of a teacher, she experienced first-hand how some Queens public schools are afflicted with problems such as lead-tainted water or faulty heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.
Committed to making New York City a safe, healthy, and flourishing city for all, Gioiosa plans to pursue a joint master’s degree in public policy and urban planning after graduation.
About the Truman Scholarship Foundation
Established by Congress in 1975 as the living memorial to President Harry S. Truman and a national monument to public service, the Truman Scholarship carries the legacy of our 33rd President by supporting and inspiring the next generation of public service leaders. When approached by a bipartisan group of admirers near the end of his life, President Truman embodied this commitment to the future of public service by asking Congress to create a living memorial devoted to this purpose, rather than a traditional brick-and-mortar monument. For almost 50 years, the Truman Foundation has fulfilled that mission: inspiring and supporting Americans from across the country.
The 54 awardees join a community of 3,618 Truman Scholars named since the first awards in 1977. Prominent Truman Scholars in government service include United States Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch (Colo. 1987), U.S. Sens. Chris Coons (Del. 1983) and Andy Kim (N.J. 2003), U.S. Reps. Gabe Amo (R.I. 2009), Dusty Johnson (S.D. 1998), and Greg Stanton (Ariz. 1990), and former White House National Security Advisors Susan Rice (D.C. 1984) and Jake Sullivan (Minn. 1997).
About the Udall Foundation
The Udall Foundation was established by the U.S. Congress in 1992 as an independent executive branch agency to honor Morris K. Udall's lasting impact on this nation's environment, public lands, and natural resources, and his support of the rights and self-governance of American Indians and Alaska Natives. The 1998 Environmental Policy and Conflict Resolution Act created the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution, now called the John S. McCain III National Center for Environmental Conflict Resolution, as a program of the Udall Foundation to assist parties in resolving environmental, public lands, and natural resources conflicts nationwide that involve federal agencies or interests, and to provide training and capacity-building in collaboration, multiparty problem solving, and conflict resolution. In 2009, Congress enacted legislation to honor Stewart L. Udall and add his name to the Udall Foundation.
About The City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. Education research organization Degree Choices ranks CCNY #1 nationally among universities for economic return on investment. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.8% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Lightcast puts at $3.2 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers and society. At City College, more than 15,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. In 2023, CCNY launched its most expansive fundraising campaign, ever. The campaign, titled “Doing Remarkable Things Together” seeks to bring the College’s Foundation to more than $1 billion in total assets in support of the College mission. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.