University of Georgia Honors student Valerie Tucker has been awarded a Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship for students interested in careers in the U.S. Department of State Foreign Service. As a Pickering Fellow, Tucker will receive a scholarship of up to $37,500 annually for tuition and other expenses for her senior year of undergraduate studies as well as for her first year enrolled in a master’s degree program. Tucker, who is from Fort Walton Beach, Florida, is a junior majoring in international affairs in the School of Public and International Affairs and Spanish in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. She is one of 10 undergraduates and 20 graduate students chosen for the 23rd cohort of the program from among hundreds of applicants from 160 colleges and universities.