Kingsborough Standouts Shine
Biology Major and Alumna Among Esteemed 2023-2024 Belle Zeller Scholarship Awardees
Kingsborough Standouts Shine: Biology Major and Alumna Among 2023-2024 Belle Zeller Scholarship Awardees
August 10, 2023 — Kingsborough Community College biology major Nawel Messaoudi and KCC alum Beth Rocco, who was the class of 2022 salutatorian, are among the six students who have been selected to receive 2023-2024 Belle Zeller Scholarship Awards this year. The scholarships are granted each year to CUNY students with outstanding academic achievement and service to their community. Competing against more than 300 applicants CUNY-wide, this year’s recipients will each receive a two-year scholarship of $5,000 per year.
The scholarships are awarded by the Belle Zeller Scholarship Trust Fund, which was established in 1979 by the Professional Staff Congress/CUNY, the instructional staff union of The City University of New York. Named for the late emerita professor of political science at Brooklyn College and scholar of the legislative process, the scholarship is intended to honor the unique qualities of its namesake: the combination of social commitment and scholarship.
Belle Zeller attended Hunter College, majoring in history and the social sciences, earning a B.A. in 1924 and an M.A. in 1926. She was one of the system's few female professors when she began teaching at Hunter College's Brooklyn campus in 1927. She remained there when it changed its name to Brooklyn College in 1930, becoming one of the institution's founding instructors. In 1937, she received a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University.
From 1944 until 1972, Belle Zeller was chairwoman of the Legislative Conference of the City Colleges, a lobbying group that later became the first union to represent the permanent faculty in the City University system. In 1972, the conference merged with the United Federation of College Teachers, a rival union representing part-time instructors. For the next four years, Dr. Zeller was president of the joint group, the Professional Staff Congress.
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