Maria Salciccioli, an incoming graduate student in the Department of Education’s Master of Urban Education Policy (UEP) program, has been named the first recipient of the Ruth J. Simmons Urban Education Policy Scholarship. The Board of Overseers of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University (AISR) established the permanent annual scholarship for UEP master’s degree candidates in April 2012 to honor Ruth J. Simmons, Brown’s eighteenth president and AISR board chair, who announced she would be stepping down after 11 years as University president at the conclusion of the academic year. AISR is a national education policy research and reform support organization that focuses on improving conditions and outcomes for all students in urban K-12 public schools, especially those in underserved communities. A graduate of Princeton University, Salciccioli has worked in education programs aimed at helping disadvantaged students in the Houston and Washington, D.C., areas.