News & Events Beyond the Limestone Scholarships 2010

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Scholarships and Other Honors 2010

How useful is a Dickinson education? Just ask our students and alums.

Dickinsonians regularly earn prestigious grants and scholarships, conduct research, work around the world and enter esteemed graduate programs. And, at a time of economic uncertainty, our students and alums are securing desirable positions on Wall Street, Main Street and beyond. They’re entering the growing fields of environmental science, finance, education, the arts, international business, peace advocacy and more.

Here are just a few of the accomplished Dickinsonians who have earned accolades at Dickinson and beyond.

SENIORS

Hilary Collins '10

Hilary Collins '10, a sociology major from Hingham, Mass., has been awarded an Ambassadorial Graduate Scholarship from the Rotary Foundation, International District 7390, for the 2011-12 academic year. Collins plans to study in India (where she studied abroad while at Dickinson) or Kenya. The $25,000 scholarship can be used for one year of study, or can be spread over 2 years.

Collins is the fifth Dickinson senior since 2007 to receive an Ambassadorial Graduate Scholarship. Mofeyisayo Ayodele ’09, last year was awarded a scholarship from the Rotary Foundation to study at the London School of Economics in 2010-11. The other recent award recipients were Katie Creme ’08 and Katie McClellan ’07, who, like Collins and Ayodele, applied through and was endorsed by the Carlisle-Sunrise Rotary Club, and Melissa Nolan ’08, who was awarded a scholarship submitted through and endorsed by the Carlisle (Noon) Rotary Club. Rotary International District 7390 is based in York, Pa.

Collins plans to study at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai, India.

“I plan on enrolling in a development studies program which will include a wide range of courses, both basic and elective, research project experience and a field internship,” Collins said.“I chose to study in India because during the spring of my junior year I had the opportunity to study abroad with Students International Training in northern India. I am eager to pursue a career in international development at a non-profit organization and believe this scholarship will be a valuable opportunity for me to gain applicable hands-on experience in the field.”

Students applying for the Rotary scholarship submit, through a local Rotary club, an application, two letters of recommendation, a transcript, two essays and a list of activities. The district scholarship committee interviews applicants and recommends two finalists and one alternate to the national Rotary office, which awards the scholarships.

Rotary International is a global network of community volunteers that works to achieve world understanding and peace through international humanitarian, educational and cultural-exchange programs. Since 1947, nearly 37,000 men and women from 100 nations have studied abroad through its programs, making it the world's largest privately funded international scholarship program.

Matthew Hayden '10

Matthew Hayden, a German and archaeology major from Buffalo, N.Y., has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to teach English to students in Berlin, Germany.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international education exchange program sponsored by the U.S. Department and is designed to increase the mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The Fulbright Program provides participants—chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential—with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. The program is administered by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Hayden also is the recipient of the 2010 Emil R. and Tamar Weiss Prize in the Creative Arts awarded annually to a junior majoring in English (with an emphasis on creative writing), art and art history, music or theatre and dance. Hayden won a $1,000 grant to present the project publicly during his senior year.

Katelyn Monfet '10

Katelyn Monfet, a German and English major from Chester, N.H., has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to teach English to students in Niedersachsen, Germany.

Monfet, who will begin teaching in the fall, said she hopes to start a theatre group in which students can supplement their study of English outside the classroom. She plans to apply to graduate schools within the next yearto continue her study of German.

“Ultimately, my goal is to teach German to American high school students,” she said.

Jennah Morgan '10

Jennah Morgan, a biology major from Brooklyn, N.,Y., has been awarded a scholarship to participate in the six-week American Dance Festival at Duke University this summer.

Jessie Strasbaugh '10

Jessie Strasbaugh, a German and English major from Bethlehem, Pa., has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to teach English to students in Niedersachsen, Germany.

Strasbaugh will teach grade-school children beginnign in September.

Anna Valiante '10

Anna Valiante ’10

Anna Valiante, a sociology major from Wilson, Wyo., has been awarded the $10,000 Kathryn Wasserman Davis Projects for Peace grant for her proposal, “Pirambu Peace Project: Building skills and empowering the children of the Pirambu neighborhood in Fortaleza, Brazil, Summer 2010.”

The eight-week project is designed to empower adolescents from the Pirambu neighborhood of Fortaleza through photography and English language skills. Students will be recruited from two local high schools and will work with a local organization that serves disadvantaged youth in the area.

“I am so excited that I am getting the chance to return to Brazil,” Valiante said. “I partnered with a friend from Brazil who is a photojournalism major at the University of Fortaleza. We met while I was studying in Fortaleza last year and immediately connected. Because of my experience living in the city of Fortaleza, specifically the neighborhood of Cristo Redentor in Pirambu, I was eager to find a way to return in order to share the incredible experiences I had with the rest of the world.”

Valiante’s goal is to empower the children to use the camera lens as a tool for self-exploration.

“Photography will give the students a chance to expose their realities with the city of Fortaleza as well as the rest of the world,” she said. “It will be their opportunity to speak out against the oppression they have faced due to a history of isolation from the larger community. Images will reveal the rich culture and the hearts of the people of Pirambu, opening doors and help to bring long overdue healing.

“From my time spent in Brazil I was exposed to a reality very different from my own,” she added. “I spent many hours listening to amazing stories from people that have faced very harsh situations. Because of violence associated with this area and poor infrastructure, there has been a long-term stigma associated with Pirambu. Other communities in Fortaleza don’t have an appreciation for the strength and love among the residents of Pirambu. Everyone has a story that is deserved to be heard. Through the Pirambu Peace Project we will work with a group of 20 students on sharing their stories through photography.”

JUNIORS, SOPHOMORES, FIRST-YEARS

Ethan Grandel '12

Ethan Grandel ’12 of Chambersburg has been awarded a DAAD ( Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst, or German Academic Exchange Service), fellowship to study in Bremen, Germany, for 10 months in 2011. A self-designed major in linguistics, Grandel will study German, philosophy and linguistics.

Aubrey Holmes '11

Aubrey Holmes, a music major from Pennington, N.J., will participate in the Brevard Music Center program in North Carolina this summer.

Patrick May '11

Patrick May, a political science and international studies double major from Annapolis, Md., has been awarded an Ambassadors Walter and Leonore Annenberg Fellowship by the Council of American Ambassadors for the summer 2010 session. The program provides high-level mentoring and training to undergraduate students for careers in international affairs in cooperation with the U.S. Department of State.

May will intern for 10 weeks for the Department of State's Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Office of Press and Public Diplomacy.

May has been studying at the Institute d'Études Politiques for the past year through Dickinson's study-abroad program in Toulouse. He is in the Certificate d'Études Politiques program, focusing his studies on the Western European political structures that have emerged since World War II. He will return to Dickinson next year to complete his studies.

Phoebe Oldach '13

Phoebe Oldach, an undeclared major from Chappel Hill, N.C., has been accepted to a summer internship with the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., where she will assist with research in the agency's child health and human development division. Oldach will help research the efficacy of the HPV vaccine, Gardasil, in preventing the formation of genital tract tumors after stem cell transplant in women. Oldach plans to major in biology with a minor in mathematics.

Rebecca Payne '12

Rebecca Payne ’12 of South Hamilton, Mass., has been awarded a DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst, or German Academic Exchange Service), fellowship to study in Bremen, Germany, during her spring 2011 semester. Payne is a self-design major in intercultural communication with a tentative double minor in French and German.

While in Germany, Payne will examine how individuals acquire the language skills as well as the historical and cultural understanding necessary to successfully participate in verbal exchange with others.

“I am particularly interested in how language learners recognize and begin to interact with verbal connotations,” she said. “An easy example would be colors. What do we mean when we talk about feeling blue or seeing red, and how are these meanings the same or different in other cultures? I hope ultimately to expand my research beyond simplistic concepts, like colors, to include larger and far more complex ones such as self, morality, freedom, love and success.”

Kevin Pinero '12

Kevin Pinero, a theatre arts major from Dingmans Ferry, Pa., has been awarded a scholarship to participate in the six-week American Dance Festival at Duke University this summer.

Allison Schell '11

Allison Schell ’11, an American history major from Cherryville, Pa., has been accepted for an internship with the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. Schell, who has a minor in art history, will help to create a traveling exhibition on the Franklin Mint, conduct research and assist in collections management. After graduation, she plans earn a doctorate with the goal of becoming a museum curator.

Sarah Williams '11

Sarah Williams ’11, a classical studies major from Coopersburg, Pa., has accepted a position as a public relations intern this summer at LucasArts in San Francisco. Williams will intern for 12 weeks for LucasArts at the Letterman Digital Arts Center campus.

RECENT ALUMNI

Mofeyisayo Ayodele '09

Mofeyisayo Ayodele, an international studies major from Lagos State, Nigeria, was awarded a $24,000 Ambassadorial Scholarship from The Rotary Foundation to study at the London School of Economics. She received her scholarship last year but it was deferred to the 2010-11 academic year.

Alexander Brock '09

Alexander Brock, a philosophy major from Cincinnati, was awarded a Fulbright research scholarship in Egypt.

Brock, who speaks Arabic and participated in Dickinson’s study-abroad program in Egypt, will use the Fulbright award to conduct research in Islamic philosophy. He plans to research the revival of classical Islamic philosophy during the nahda, the Middle East cultural renaissance which lasted from 1850 to 1914. He will supplement his research with graduate-level coursework at the American University in Cairo, where he will pursue a master’s degree in Islamic studies.

“This renaissance was most alive in Cairo, making it the natural choice for the location of this research,” Brock said. “Muslim intellectuals began to look to their own ancestry and heritage for answers to questions on how to live, instead of defaulting to the European way of doing things, which occupied a place of perceived cultural superiority during that time.”

Brock said his education at Dickinson College set him on the path toward a Fulbright award.

“First, it ignited in me a passion and love of philosophy,” he said. “Secondly, it introduced me to the Arabic language, with which I fell in love, and offered me the opportunity to study abroad in Cairo. This grant will be the collision of those two passions of mine, Arabic and philosophy, both of which I have cultivated as a direct result of my experiences at Dickinson College.

Rebecca Mendelsohn '08

Rebecca Mendelsohn ’08 of Framingham, Mass., has been awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship for her studies in Mesoamerican archaeology at the State University of New York in Albany. Mendelsohn, who earned a bachelor’s degree in archaeology at Dickinson, is pursuing a doctorate of philosophy in anthropology at SUNY.

Fadi Saleh '08

Fadi Saleh was recently awarded the prestigious DAAD scholarship to study in Germany. Bestowed by the German Academic Exchange Service, the scholarship will allow Saleh, a native of Syria, to explore two foreign cultures at once by earning a master’s degree in intercultural Anglophone studies at Germany’s University of Bayreth in fall 2010.

Saleh, who first attended Syria’s Tishreen University, came to Dickinson through a U.S. Department of State program in fall 2006. An English major and active member of the Middle East Club, he was a standout from the start. After graduation, he worked as a translator for a publishing house in Damascus while simultaneously teaching middle-school English, full time, in a private school in his home city, Lattakia. A year later, he secured a position at the Arab-International Private University, where he taught English to non-majors.

He applied for the DAAD scholarship with encouragement and a recommendation from his former Dickinson professor, Carol Ann Johnston.

“Dickinson College has everything to do with helping me prepare for this,” said Saleh. “The college has deepened my desire to interact with different people from various cultures, and has definitely made me think of myself as a citizen of this world, not of a certain country or a specific culture. The professors, courses and social life on campus all had an undeniable impact on my academic maturity and growth.”