Colin Powell Graduate Fellowship in
Leadership and Public Service

Helen is a fifth-year doctoral student in CCNY’s Clinical Psychology program. She earned her Bachelor’s in Psychology from NYU and is interested in immigrant family dynamics, social epidemiology, and the effects of transgenerational trauma on mental health in marginalized communities. Helen has also taught as an adjunct instructor and currently is a therapist at CCNY’s community-based training clinic as well as at the CUNY Graduate Center. Before attending CCNY, Helen worked as a research assistant in Dr. Elias Dakwar’s lab at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and helped conduct numerous clinical trials examining the potential of intravenous ketamine for alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, and opioid abuse. She is also a visual artist, writer, and former musician and enjoys tattooing clients in her free time.

Paula is a doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology program at the City College of New York. She earned her BA from The George Washington University prior to attending CCNY. Paula is dedicated to working with and increasing access to psychological care for Spanish-speaking individuals. Paula has a special interest in understanding the unique challenges that athletes face and in increasing the quality of psychological care provided to athletes.

Rhyan Toledo is a fifth-year doctoral candidate in the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program at CCNY. Rhyan was born in Arizona and received her bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Religious Studies at Wesleyan University. She is currently on a clinical internship at Lincoln Medical Center. Before attending CCNY Rhyan worked in higher education opportunity programs in NYC and at the Trevor Project. As a fellow, Rhyan will conduct research for their dissertation on LGBTQ+ young adult experiences of religion and spirituality and the impact of those experiences on psychosocial outcomes and identity integration.

Sean Donahue is a doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology program at The City College of New York. He was born in Mount Vernon, NY, and attended James Madison University, where he received his bachelor’s degree in Psychology. He has worked in a variety of clinical settings, including the Manhattan School of Music, NYU Rusk Institute, and Weill Cornell Medicine. Along with Paula Zanotti, Sean has co-established a sports psychology program at City College to facilitate increased access to care among undergraduate student-athletes. He is dedicated to continuing this work after graduating from CCNY and hopes to partner with high school athletic programs in New York City.

Thomas Welsh-Huggins is a second-year Public Administration Master’s student with a focus in Environmental Policy. They have been passionate about Environmentalism since they were young (their Birthday is Earth Day), and this has guided them through their life. Originally from Ohio, they moved to NYC in 2017 after graduating from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagin with a degree in Dance. In NYC, they pursued a career in the Performing Arts and worked professionally as a performer until 2021. The pandemic made them reconsider their goals, and this led them to start the MPA program at CCNY. They are currently working on the difficult transition from the performing arts to the Environmentalism and Environmental Policy world, but they haven’t left the performing arts behind quite yet. Their fellowship will be focused on combining their love of Climate Activism, Mythology, Music, and Dance to create a re-staging of a work they originally performed in 2019. Thomas is very excited about this opportunity, as they are passionate about Climate Communication and making Climate Activism feel manageable to the everyday person. They look forward to completing the fellowship and invite you to come see what they create.

Tsering Yangdol is a second-year clinical psychology doctoral student at the City College of New York. She is a Tibetan refugee born and brought up in India. She is interested in working with underserved populations, especially in understanding psychopathological experiences and help-seeking behaviour in these communities to develop and augment resource-appropriate and culturally sensitive mental health interventions.

As a fellow, she will conduct a study to explore the environmental and intrapsychic factors of emotional health in Tibetan refugees in the US. Before joining City, she worked for three years as the mental health program coordinator at the Department of Health, Central Tibetan Administration, in Dharamsala, India. Being raised in the Himalayas, Tsering enjoys hiking and being in nature.