Three BIC students win The LAGRANT Foundation Scholarship

Paul Bernabe, Dimandja Utshudi, and Ayush Kumar, from The City College of New York’s Master of Professional Studies in Branding + Integrated Communications (BIC) program, are recipients of scholarships from The LAGRANT Foundation. They are among 26 graduate students nationwide to receive a TLF scholarship whose winners share the foundation's mission of increasing ethnic diversity in the advertising, marketing and public relations industries.

The trio will each receive $3,750 and join an impressive list of students from institutions such as Rice University, Georgetown, UCLA, Northwestern and New York University.

Prior to enrolling in BIC, Bernabe received a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of California-Irvine in 2012 where he was a member of Pilipino-Americans in Social Studies. Originally from India, Kumar received a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology in 2016 from Boston University. Born in Rwanda, Utshudi received his Bachelor of Business Administration from Lehman College. 


Celebrating its 22nd year, TLF has generously awarded nearly $80,000 in scholarships to graduate students from the BIC program at CCNY— more than any other single college. BIC students have been recipients of a TLF scholarship every year since the launch of the program in 2013. 

Past BIC scholarship winners are: Fred Garcia and Amber Jackson, BIC '15; Donna Dei-Baning, BIC '16; Dalisbeth Galvez, Melissa Julien, and Priscilla Parra, BIC '17; Charisse Holder, Erica Lopez, and Sean Feol-Baugh, BIC’ 18; Jennifer Cuffari, LaToya Heron, Amera Lulu, Kelvin Morales, and Rebecca Rivera, BIC ’19; and Mohamed Amribet, John Holliday-Stewart, Carlos Matias, Carmen Quang, Raymond Sein, and Kamattie Singh, BIC ’20.

About The LAGRANT Foundation
The LAGRANT Foundation (TLF) has provided 643 scholarships and $2.7 million since its inception in 1998. Founded by Kim L. Hunter, its mission to increase the number of ethnic minorities in the fields of advertising, marketing and public relations is generously supported by its major donors and supporters. TLF provides students with career & professional development workshops, scholarships, internships, entry-level positions and mentors to African American/Black, Alaska Native/Native American, Asian American/Pacific Islander and Hispanic/Latino undergraduate and graduate students.

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. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.2% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Emsi puts at $1.9 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 16,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.