Five University of Rochester undergraduate students from the College have received prestigious national academic awards and scholarships in recognition of their achievements and to support their studies.
Junior Emily Hickey of Brockton, Mass., has been named a recipient of the Beinecke Memorial Scholarship, awarded for graduate study in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. The Beinecke, which recognizes exceptional motivation, intellectual ability, scholastic achievement, and personal promise, provides $2,000 just before entry into graduate school and an additional $30,000 while attending graduate school.
Only selected colleges and universities may nominate one junior to the national Beinecke Scholarship competition. The University of Rochester was among 87 nominating institutions this year, and Hickey is one of only 18 students named a 2004 Beinecke Scholar. A political science major, she also is pursuing a minor in history and plans on attaining a doctorate in political science with a focus on American politics.
At Rochester, Hickey has received the Burton Award for Excellence from the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures and the Alice DeSimone Student Life Award. She is currently president of the junior class council, an editor of the University’s Journal of Undergraduate Research, a campus tour guide, and a member of the community service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega and of the Ballroom Dance Club.
Seniors Sara Korol and Sonja Stracke have been awarded 2004-2005 Fulbright Grants. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and designed to promote mutual understanding and peace between the United States and other nations through educational and cultural exchange, the Fulbright Program offers opportunities for career-launching study, teaching, and research abroad. Scholars design their own programs and arrange institutional affiliations in the host countries. The grants cover expenses such as travel and health insurance and also provide a monthly stipend.
Korol, from Ilion, N.Y., is an economics major and is also completing the certificate program in Polish and Central European Studies. She will spend her Fulbright year examining Poland’s immigration policy in the context of Poland’s entry into the European Union. She will travel to Warsaw in August, where she will do independent research and attend classes at the University of Warsaw. Korol will continue her studies at Marie Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin in spring 2005. Korol first studied in Poland as a Rotary Exchange Student during the year following her high school graduation. While at Rochester, she studied in Warsaw and at Jagiellonian University in Krakow through a Louis B. Skalny Grant. After returning to the United States, Korol plans to pursue a graduate degree in preparation for a career in international diplomacy.
Stracke, of Clifton Park, N.Y., is majoring both in brain and cognitive sciences and in German. She will spend a year as a Fulbright English teaching assistant in a German school while also taking university courses in psychology, education, and international relations. The recipient of a 2001 German Embassy Book Award, Stracke spent the 2003-2003 academic year studying in Freiburg through a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service. She will attend graduate school upon her return to the United States and plans to pursue a career in the promotion of international education and intercultural exchange.
Audrey Stewart, of Rochester, N.Y., has been selected to receive a Morris K. Udall Scholarship for 2004-2005. Established by Congress to honor the former U.S. representative’s public service, the program awards $5,000 to students who demonstrate leadership, service, and outstanding commitment to environmental awareness. Stewart was one of 80 students selected nationally for the award this year. An active member and past president of the campus environmental group Grassroots, she is pursing double degrees in environmental science and history, volunteers for environmental community organizations, and has been a teaching assistant in environmental science and biology courses. As a Take Five Scholar, which gives selected students the opportunity for a tuition-free fifth year of study, Stewart will spend the next academic year researching her project titled “Visual Artistic Media as a Vehicle for Social Change.” She is the first student from the University of Rochester to receive the Udall Scholarship.
Graduating part-time student Jonathan Prince was offered a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, the first University of Rochester student to receive that award. The awards are made to candidates who are new Americans and demonstrate exceptional creativity, originality, initiative, and accomplishment, as well as commitment to the values of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Nearly 1,000 applicants compete each year for 30 Soros Fellowships. Prince, who moved to the United States from the United Kingdom when he was seven, is majoring in brain and cognitive sciences and completing a minor in music. A non-traditional student who transferred to Rochester, he works to support his part-time studies and family. Prince has performed with the University of Rochester Chamber Orchestra and volunteers at the Open Door Mission. He will enter the doctoral program in psychology at the University of Toronto this fall, focusing on music cognition research. Because the Soros Fellowship can only be used within the United States, Prince has had to decline the award.