By: Katelyn Norris
For the third consecutive year, Bellarmine University has had a Newman Civic Fellow. This year’s recipient is doctoral student Marcus Stubbs.
Stubbs is a student in the Doctor of Philosophy in Education and Social Change program at BU and will graduate in 2023. He has worked on campus as a student success coach in the Student Success Center. This is where Stubbs said he learned about the Newman Fellowship.
The Newman Civic Fellowship is a program offered through Campus Compact and is a nonprofit that promotes social change and public good. It provides its recipients with networking and conference opportunities to grow personally, professionally and civically.
Stubbs is one of the more than 200 students from across the nation to receive this fellowship, and he said he is very grateful for the opportunity.
“Well, I feel beyond words. You know it’s like one of those things where if you if you knew about it was a feeling like no other. I just felt like the lottery, [it’s a] huge deal for me,” Stubbs said.
Stubbs said one of his passions is food deserts and he wants to continue making an impact in the nonprofit sector. He said he wants to continue having an influence on his community and bringing food equity to those that may not have the advantages of local grocery stores.
Most important, Stubbs said he is proud to have been named a Newman Civic Fellow. He said it means a lot to him that they see the work he is doing and deem it important.
“I feel I really have impacted the community in a meaningful way, and it was just such great joy that people believed in me. It was good to have that award to be a Newman Fellow, but what really mattered to me was that people believed in me to carry out the fellowship and to actually do real work,” Stubbs said.
Elizabeth Cassady, associate dean of academic services, worked with Stubbs when he was a student success coach and she said he was always focused on helping students be as successful as possible.
“He is incredibly driven by his commitment to making the world and the community a better place. He was always open to learning more and finding new ways to support all of our students,” Cassady said.
Stubbs said he has received an outpouring of support from the BU community upon the announcement of his fellowship. He said as soon as it was announced, professors in Annsley Frazier Thornton School of Education reached out in congratulations, and he said he had an influx of texts from colleagues.
“The BU community has been responsive, and it’s really great. I’ve been getting so much support and just congratulations and it’s really been meaningful, you know, it’s really been meaningful comments from them,” Stubbs said.
Evanthia D. Speliotis, professor of philosophy, said she had the pleasure of getting to know Stubbs during the planning phase for the Guatemalan service trip. She said she knows he is a person who is always planning and thinking ahead.
Speliotis said she was not surprised when she had found out Stubbs received the fellowship. She said she knew they made the right choice by picking him.
“When I hear someone whom I respect and admire and has a lot to offer gets recognized by the community, I am thrilled, and I think he has a plan for what the help he gives in the future will be,” Speliotis said.
For the moment, Stubbs said he is focusing on getting all his projects in order before he begins to move forward with his fellowship. He said he knows he is expected to do well and that his past trajectory has everyone’s expectations high, but he said he ready to let his work speak for itself.
“I believe it’s just half the battle, getting the civic fellowship. I think the other half is actually doing some meaningful work. That’s what got me rolled up. That’s what got my spirits high because it allows me to actually do some impact positively,” Stubbs said.