Cydni Gordon
Class of 2024
Advisor: Alberto Diaz-Cayeros
Cydni Gordon was born and raised in Northern Virginia, just outside of Washington D.C. Mostly recently, Cydni was a Program Officer in the Western Hemisphere Fulbright Programs Branch in the Office of Academic Exchange Programs for the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) for three years. In that role, Cydni worked with countries throughout the hemisphere including many Latin American countries: Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela. She also worked with the English and French speaking Caribbean countries. In addition, she represented ECA on the Fulbright Americas Diversity and Inclusion Council (FADIC). Cydni is an alumna of the Fulbright program having been a 2017 Student Research awardee to Argentina. She holds two bachelor's degrees in Psychology and Mass Communications (with a double major in African American studies) and a certificate in Global Education from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). At VCU, Cydni studied abroad several times, spending time at VCU’s campus in Qatar, conducting qualitative research on migration factors in and teaching English in rural Southern Mexico. She also worked closely with international students on campus as a mentor for the Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange program, and to participants of other Department of State exchanges like the Study of the U.S. Institutes and the Hubert Humphrey Fellowship. She also assisted in managing an 100K Strong in the Americas reciprocal exchange program with two institutions in Mexico as an undergrad. Cydni enjoys spreading the word about Fulbright and mentoring future study abroad students. She’s passionate about the power of international education and cultural exchange and making the space more diverse and inclusive. She loves all types of Latin dance but is partial to bachata and salsa. She loves to cook for her family and friends and transport to a new place through novels when she can’t travel.
Her research interests include the intersection of culture and mental health especially among Latino and African diasporic communities, international education and mental health and U.S. foreign policy broadly in Latin American and its influence on black and indigenous peoples.