Global Awards

Kurt Davies is the Director of Global Awards at New York University. 

Kurt has been helping students realize their full potential for the better part of two decades.  In his current role, he oversees all operations in the Office of Global Awards.  Specifically, he manages the nomination process for several fellowships, including the Truman, Marshall, Mitchell, and Rhodes Scholarships. He came to NYU from James Madison University, where he served as the Director of Prestigious Scholarships.  He has also worked in the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships at Villanova University and the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy at the University of Pennsylvania.  After a career as a travel agent, Kurt returned to college as a non-traditional student, receiving a bachelor’s degree in linguistics and anthropology from the University of North Carolina and a master’s in higher education from the University of Pennsylvania.  Kurt received a Fulbright grant in 2010 to research post-Soviet language policy in Kyrgyzstan.  When he is not advising students on fellowship opportunities, Kurt is likely to be found in line for discounted theatre tickets, playing Scrabble, or watching UNC basketball.  Kurt has lived in seven states and five countries.

Yollotl Lopez is a doctoral candidate in the English Department at the NYU Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Her work focues on 20th/21st century American litearture, specifically undocumented immigrant narratives. She is also a volunteer editor at NYU's Latinx Project's publication Intervenxions and an active creative writer.

Khadijah Muhammad is a south side Chicago native pursing a master degree in Media, Culture and Communication at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. Her research focuses on exploring the impact of media skepticism on Black athletes and majority Black sporting events.

Her background consists of working with youth as they pursue their own post-secondary endeavors, she is passionate about helping students become their best selves and reaching their goals.

In her free time, she enjoys staying active in the gym, tap dancing, and exploring the city with friends!

Shirin Nadira is a PhD candidate in Comparative Literature at NYU whose research interests include postcolonial literature and theory, theories of globalization and cosmopolitanism, and philosophies of education, and she is currently writing a dissertation on the depiction of university life and international students in contemporary fiction.

She enjoys talking and thinking with real-life students as much as fictional ones and has sought out opportunities to do so through as both a teacher and advisor. Shirin taught high school and college-aged students in Singapore for 3 years and has served as adjunct instructor for NYU’s Core Curriculum at NYU. In addition to advising students on fellowship opportunities at the Office of Global Awards, she is also Assistant to the Director of Undergraduate Study for the Comp Lit department offering academic advising to undergraduate Comp Lit majors.

When she’s not reading or writing, Shirin can be found hunting down cheap eats in Queens, solving jigsaw puzzles, working on getting fluent in Spanish, and dancing salsa.

T Wilkins serves as the Assistant Director, Early College Careers. In this role, T focuses on supporting first- and second-year students and students from historically excluded populations in pursuing Global Awards. T has a Bachelor’s in English from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, a Master’s of English Education from Teachers College, and an EdD in Educational Leadership from Duquesne University. 

Prior to joining NYU, T was the Assistant Director for Education Services at The Door and an djunct professor at Borough of Manhattan Community College. T has had previous roles with Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, the Boys & Girls Club of America, and the National Center for Academic & Dissertation Excellence and has taught at the University of the District of Columbia Community College, Trinity Washington University, the Community College of Allegheny County, and the College of New Rochelle.