News & Updates
USAID Lincoln Scholar Featured in Lehigh Press
Bethlehem, PA, February 28, 2024 — Lincoln Scholar Thein Mwae Yee of Burma was recently profiled by Lehigh University’s Office of International Affairs in Pennsylvania. Through the IIE-administered USAID Burma Lincoln Scholarship Program, Thein Mwae Yee is earning a Master of Education in Teaching and Learning; she expects to graduate in 2025 and return home to teach English to more young people. She is one of just 135 leaders from Burma selected to receive a Lincoln Scholarship for graduate study in the U.S. USAID created the program in 2019 to invest in people studying in fields that are critical to Burma’s development.
“For me, StepUp is not only a course that can help with English proficiency, it’s also something that helps me explore how education works in the United States and how they manage classrooms in American universities,” Thein Mwae Yee told Lehigh.
The USAID Lincoln Scholarship Program began in 2019 with the goal of improving the technical competencies and enhancing the leadership potential of the next generation of leaders to guide Burma along a path of inclusive socio-economic development. It is designed to empower scholars with the technical knowledge, leadership skills, and respect for diversity to address Burma’s development challenges.
In August 2023, USAID Burma awarded IIE the Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship Program (DISP) to support current and future community leaders of Burma, particularly those from vulnerable groups, to gain access to quality higher education (HE) learning opportunities.
Over the past 40 years, IIE has implemented more than 100 USAID projects in over 30 countries valued at more than $500 million. Our work has spanned diverse and crosscutting sectors, including scholarship and fellowship management, workforce development, university partnerships, and local capacity building. Learn more about the history of USAID programs managed by IIE at https://www.iie.org/programs/usaid-programs/.
Read Thein Mwae Yee’s full profile here.