From South Africa to the AAHHE: Friendship & Excellence for Two Rutgers Ph.D. Students

When the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) announced its 2026-2027 Graduate Student Fellows, the list included a rare, first-time achievement: three doctoral students from Rutgers University were selected in the same year. Two of those winners from the GSE, Sheila Marie Feliciano and Serafina L. Smith, already shared a history that felt destined to lead them to this moment. 

“I have always felt like Serafina and I were meant to navigate this journey together,” Feliciano said. 

From left to right: (1) Visit to a university in Cape Town, South Africa. (2) From Study Abroad trip to South Africa. (3) Serafina’s baby shower.

Their paths have repeatedly crossed since 2024 during virtual Rutgers-wide graduate meetings, at a graduate writing program, as GSE doctoral students, and eventually joining the GSE Student Affairs Committee (GSAC). 

After exchanging contacts and going out for coffee, it was decided: “We are friends. You will never get rid of me,” Feliciano recalls Smith saying. 

From there, the two were roommates during their trip to South Africa for the GSE South Africa Initiative. Returning from the trip, the duo continued their partnership as leaders within the GSAC. Smith served as president while Feliciano served as vice president. 

“We worked closely together to support the GSE community, and that work is what brought us close to one another,” Smith said. “She has seen me become a mother for the second time. It’s been an honor to know her and work alongside her.” 

Driven by a desire for mentorship and community, both scholars turned to the AAHHE fellowship to navigate academic systems that were not originally built with them in mind. Feliciano sought opportunities, like the fellowship program, to address the insufficiency of Hispanic and Puerto Rican researchers navigating Puerto Rican studies. For Smith the program provides a place where she can focus more intently on research, the completion of her program, and honoring her identity and culture, while challenging notions of what success and a doctoral journey look like for students like herself. 

Ultimately discovering that they were both selected through a completely anonymized review process brought joy and relief, reassuring each scholar that she would navigate this milestone alongside a friend. 

“I cheered and celebrated with her right there,” Smith said. “It was so exciting, and I felt real relief knowing someone like her, someone I deeply admire, was in the cohort with me.” 

While they were both awarded the fellowship, their selection was based on the strength of their individual scholarly work. Feliciano, a Ph.D. student in Education concentrating in Learning, Cognition, Instruction, and Development, focuses on decolonizing language education and creating safe spaces rooted in social justice and cultural sustainability. Her recent pilot study examined how educators in Puerto Rico navigate a colonial curriculum through their language and material practices. 

“There is a significant gap in Puerto Rican education studies, and AAHHE provides strategies to help scholars achieve these educational and professional goals through its constructive feedback and networks,” Feliciano said. 

Smith, a Ph.D. student in Higher Education and Director of Data Analytics within the Division of Enrollment Management at Rutgers University–Newark, investigates the leadership experiences of Afro-Latina women in administrative roles at Hispanic-Serving Institutions. 

For both, the AAHHE Fellowship represents more than a professional milestone. As a first-generation college student, Smith explains that it “opened up a space of belonging, connection, and community” that she didn’t always have access to in academia. 

“This fellowship means there is care and love within academia for graduate students, and that higher education associations are willing to challenge traditional academic norms by providing equitable resources for marginalized and minoritized communities,” Feliciano said. 

As they begin their fellowship year together, their advice to others is simple: be authentically yourself and just go for it. 

Learn more about the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) 2026-2027 Graduate Student Fellows.