Toyosi Idris, a 2025 graduate of the Clinton School of Public Service, has been accepted into the prestigious Ph.D. program in Social Welfare at the Graduate Center of The City University of New York (CUNY).
The five-year program provides complete financial support and pairs Idris with a faculty mentor to conduct research during her first year, followed by opportunities to teach undergraduate courses in her second and third years. Originally from Nigeria, Idris earned the highly competitive Graduate Center Fellowship.
“I remember staring at the screen and feeling completely overwhelmed with awe,” she said. “This is a natural progression of both my academic and professional journey, a continuation of the questions that have shaped my work, the communities that have trusted me, and the belief that we can give back some of what was once given to us.”
Idris credits her time at the Clinton School for providing key academic clarity and cementing her public service trajectory. Throughout her Master of Public Service (MPS) studies, she leveraged the school’s field service requirements to work on health, education, and environmental projects. Her Practicum project analyzed county-level littering behaviors and public perceptions for Keep Arkansas Beautiful. She worked with a major Canadian healthcare department during her International Public Service Project.
Ultimately, it was her Capstone project with the School-Based Health Alliance of Arkansas that solidified her decision to pursue doctoral research. In this role, she helped organize the organization’s 2025 Symposium and directly engaged statewide stakeholders to advance health and educational outcomes for children within the school environment.
“The Capstone is very close to the work that I do, and I am so happy I got to do that to wrap up my field service experiences,” Idris said. “Beyond that, most of my classes like program planning, program evaluation, and communications allowed me to tailor my work toward my career interests.”
Idris highlighted the practical research and data analysis skills she gained at the Clinton School as vital assets for her upcoming doctoral work, specifically noting institutional review board (IRB) training with Dr. Nichola Driver, Assistant Dean of Impact.
“If you asked me years ago what I wanted to do for my Ph.D., I might not have been able to give a specific answer, but that changed when I started my work with children and did my master’s degree with the Clinton School. It was a very important chapter of my journey,” Idris said. “I wanted to learn and to teach others. I will have research work that can be implemented for public good and public service.”
Looking toward the future, Idris aims to enter academia as a professor to research, teach, and mentor the next generation of public service professionals. She also plans to operate as a consultant to improve healthcare and education access for children, while expanding the global reach of her nonprofit organization, the Hale and Hearty Foundation for Children, a nonprofit committed to bridging the gap between health and education in underserved Nigerian communities.