Englewood Rutgers Student Makes History With Prestigious Scholarship

ENGLEWOOD, NJ — A city man became one of just 20 people in the country — and the first from Rutgers University — to receive the prestigious Bienecke Scholarship.

Diego Atehortua received the $34,000 scholarship for directing research on 20th-century Latin American art and at the Museo de Antioquia in Columbia. He is also an assistant to art history professor Tatiana Flores and helped her put together a major exhibition for the Museum of Latin American Art in California.

“He came up to me in 2015, when he was taking my class, and said he very much wanted to get a Ph.D. in Latin American art,” Flores said. “That was what he wanted to do with his life. I’ve never met an undergraduate student as research-driven as Diego is.”

Atehortua will use the $34,000, $4,000 of which he will receive immediately, and another $30,000 while attending graduate school. He wants to attend Duke University.

“This is a real milestone for Rutgers,” said Arthur D. Casciato, director of the Office of Distinguished Fellowships. “The Beinecke is the most thoroughly academic of the major national fellowships. It’s totally committed to people going on to graduate education. Diego impressed me as someone who would be a first-rate graduate student and scholar.”

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Photo: Diego Atehortua — Courtesy of Diego Atehortua/Rutgers University