Niiobli Armah IV

Niiobli Armah IV, a graduate student at Southern University, Baton Rouge has been selected as one of 20 students in the nation to serve in the inaugural class of the City Hall Fellows (CHF) public policy fellowship program.

Armah, chosen from more than 400 applicants nationwide, will spend his last year of graduate school working as a paid employee of the Houston Mayor's Office. He will work directly with senior-level city administrators and officials as a special project assistant.

The CHF program combines an intensive, on-the-ground, full-time employment experience in local government with a Civic Leadership Development Program in the cities of Houston and San Francisco.

The program is designed to allow the fellows to work four and half days a week and participate in a half-day civic leadership development program that teaches the participants about the history, politics, mechanics, and function of local governance through the lens of their host city.

Armah said the in-person interview for the fellowship was a humbling and inspirational experience.

"When I walked into my interview there were people from big Ivy League schools being interviewed," Armah said. "In my group there were people from Stanford (University). My selection goes to show that Southern is providing us with the foundation we need to be successful."

William Arp, Armah's mentor and a political science professor at Southern, describes Armah as a young man with great potential.

"Niiobli is one of these quintessential students that has always strived for excellence not only in his life, but also in his service. Southern University has had the opportunity to shape and mold a young man who has demonstrated outstanding potential," Arp said.

Armah, a native of Houston and former SU Student Government Association president, will report to work on August 4.

He earned a bachelor's of arts in political science from Southern's Nelson Mandela School of Public Policy in 2007. He is a 2003 graduate of Alief Elsik High School in Houston.

He will receive his master's degree in social science in December.