Stephanie Granobles ’27 has been named a 2026 Truman Scholar, one of 55 college juniors across the country selected for the premier graduate scholarship for aspiring public service leaders.
Awardees are chosen for their outstanding leadership potential, a commitment to a career in government or the nonprofit sector, and academic excellence.
Granobles, a public policy analysis major with a sociology focus, received the news while studying in Cali, Colombia, this semester.
“This recognition reflects the community that uplifts and supports me and inspired my commitment to public service,” says Granobles.
Granobles arrived at Pomona from Chicago via the Posse Foundation. Prior to college, she founded a program through the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago called “Breaking Barriers, Uniting Cultures,” designed to enhance cross-cultural interactions among Chicago youth. The project garnered a national prize in the YMCA ChangeMakers competition.
The accolades have continued to roll in for Granobles at Pomona.
Her sophomore year, she was named a Harvard Kennedy School Public Policy Leadership Conference Scholar, which brought her to the Cambridge, Massachusetts, campus to explore graduate studies in public policy and careers in public service.
She was then named an Ubben Fellow, awarded to five Posse Foundation sophomores nationwide. The Ubben Fellowship allowed her to spend seven weeks during the summer working at the Hispanic Federation, during which she shadowed the president and CEO Frankie Miranda.
As a Truman Scholar, Granobles will receive funding for graduate studies, leadership training, career counseling, and special internship and fellowship opportunities within the federal government.
She intends to earn a Master of Public Policy degree, specializing in social and urban policy. Long-term, she aspires to advance community-engaged policy that promotes racial justice, focusing on residential segregation and housing insecurity.
“Growing up in Chicago—one of the country’s most racially segregated yet diverse cities—taught me how systemic inequities shape access to opportunity, political power and cross-cultural interactions,” she says.
Jason Jeffrey, associate director of fellowships and career advising in Pomona’s Career Development Office, supported Granobles through the rigorous application process.
“The Pomona College selection committee was deeply impressed by Stephanie’s near-perfect academic record, her leadership across multiple campus- and community-based initiatives, and her unusually mature, well-articulated vision for a career in public service,” says Jeffrey.
A key part of the application was a 500-word policy proposal laying out a solution to a societal need. Granobles’ proposal, titled “A Non-Profit Model to Address the Affordable Housing Crisis in America,” originated in a social policy class with Luis Tenorio, a visiting assistant professor in sociology at the time. Writing a policy proposal was one of the class assignments, and Granobles was able to adapt it for her application.
In addition to taking a class with Tenorio, Granobles also conducted research with him. Tenorio first brought the Truman Scholarship to Granobles’ attention, and he proceeded to support her through the application process, even after he was no longer at Pomona.
“That’s one of the best things Pomona has given me: those very close, nurturing relationships with professors,” she says.
Granobles currently serves as the student director of the Public Policy, Race, Immigration, Migration, and Education (PRIME) research group. She also conducts research for Gente Organizada, a grassroots organization in the city of Pomona, on local affordable housing policy developments and implementation.
“Stephanie consistently works with communities rather than for them, building trust and shared ownership as the foundation for policy change,” says Jeffrey. “I am certain Stephanie will achieve her goal of reclaiming policy as a unifying force and become a national leader on racial equity.’”