Record-setting year for fellowships, scholarships and grants
Thirty-nine fellowships, scholarships and grants in 24 programs were awarded to Whitman College students and alumni during the 2010-11 school year, setting records for the widest range of major awards of any year in the school’s history and recipient representation for every undergraduate class year.
"For the first time on record, our recipients represent all four class years,” said Keith Raether, director of fellowships and grants. “The evolution is important because fellowships are like building blocks. One provides the foundation for another. We've also increased the diversity of awards from last year's record of 19."
Among the 39 national fellowship recipients are five Fulbright awards, one Watson Fellowship, one Javits Fellowship, seven French Teaching Assistant Program awards, three Princeton in Asia Fellowships and two Princeton in Africa Fellowships. See a full list of the awards and recipients below.
On campus, The Office of Fellowships and Grants mentors students in the rigorous application process for such awards, guiding them through essay writing, mock interviews and numerous deadlines. During this school year, the office scheduled 345 appointments and took in 144 formal applications from students.
“Fellowship applications aren't for the faint of focus, Raether said. “The essays alone require multiple drafts. Good ones also demand lots of self-reflection, which isn't easy or particularly comfortable when done in earnest. We work with students every step of the way, from information sessions to the final line-edits and proofreading of an application.”
While it is significant that the hard work of so many Whitman applicants resulted in receiving awards, Raether is quick to point out that the experience and growth through the application process is an important accomplishment in itself.
“For me – and for the students, I hope – a larger measure of value of our work is the process: the self-examination that each applicant commits to, and the awareness that results from that exploration,” said Raether.
Below is the most current list of Whitman fellowship, scholarship and grant recipients for the 2010-11 academic year, including those who received honorable mention or are finalists or alternates. This list will be updated as more results become available.
Fellowships, Scholarships and Grants (information as of June 10, 2011)
Fulbright U.S. Student Program
Molly Smith ’11 (English teaching assistantship, Colombia)
Chris Fleming ’11 (research grant, India)
Isabel Hong ’11 (English teaching assistantship, Germany)
Nick Gottschall ’09 (English teaching assistantship, India)
Oak Rankin ’05 (English teaching assistantship, Brazil)
Katie Davies ’10 (alternate, awaiting word, English teaching assistantship, Germany)
Alicia LeClair ’11 (finalist, English teaching assistantship, France)
Sarah Evans ’11 (finalist, English teaching assistantship, Indonesia)
Watson Fellowship
Ross Eustis ’11 (“Speaking Transnational Dialects of Jazz,” independent travel and study in Sweden, India, South Africa, Brazil, Japan) Read more about Ross here.
Javits Fellowship
Stephen Parkin ’09 (four years of funding for graduate studies, University of Chicago)
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
Aaron David ’08 (three years of funding for graduate studies, University of California, Davis)
Brandon Nickerson ’06 (three years of funding for graduate studies, Oregon State University)
Jillian Varonin ’09 (honorable mention)
Gabrielle Boisrame ’10 (honorable mention)
Brett Addis ’09 (honorable mention)
Truman Scholarship
Matt Dittrich ’12 (finalist)
Lyndsey Wilson ’12 (finalist)
Zach Duffy ’12 (finalist)
Killam Scholarship (through Fulbright Canada)
Alexis Guy ’13 (independent study, McGill University or University of British Columbia)
Osta Davis ’13 (independent study, McGill University)
Princeton in Asia Fellowship
Matt Manley ’11 (English teaching assistantship, Chiang Mai University, Thailand)
Clark Van Horne ’11 (English teaching assistantship, Jishou University, China)
Elise Otto ’11 (English teaching assistantship, Soc Trang Community College, Vietnam)
Gary Wang ’11 (finalist)
Princeton in Africa Fellowship
Alicia LeClair ’11 (mothers2mothers NGO, Cape Town, South Africa)
Matt Manley ’11 (Kucetekela Foundation, Zambia; declined award)
Julia Nelson ’09 (finalist)
Princeton in Latin America Fellowship
Alice MacLean ’11 (Fundacion Juventas NGO, Tunja, Colombia)
Humanity in Action Fellowship
Alice Minor ’12 (Denmark program)
Zach Duffy ’12 (finalist)
Pickering Undergraduate Foreign Affairs Fellowship
Amina Mohamed ’12 (alternate)
Udall Scholarship
Hannah Siano ’13 (honorable mention)
William Newman-Wise ’13 (honorable mention)
Critical Language Scholarship (U.S. Department of State)
Thomas Friedenbach ’11 (Chinese, Xi’an, China)
Patricia Vanderbilt ’12 (Hindi, Jaipur, India)
Miranda Morton ’13 (Arabic, Fes, Morocco)
Davis Critical Languages Fellowship
Eric Wehlitz ’07 (Hebrew)
Davis Projects for Peace
Carson Burns ’11 and Nate Rankin ’11 (waste management in Punto Ocote, Honduras)
El Pomar Fellowship
Jeff Hopfenbeck ’11 (two-year leadership training fellowship, Colorado)
French Teaching Assistant Program (TAPIF)
Danielle Witt ’11 (English teaching assistantship, Nantes)
Mary Dolan ’11 (English teaching assistantship, La Reunion Island)
Deirdre Gorman ’11 (English teaching assistantship, Rouen)
Emily Jackson ’11 (English teaching assistantship, Nantes)
Amanda Protti ’11 (English teaching assistantship, Burgundy)
Kristine Unkrich ’11 (English teaching assistantship, Amiens)
Isabelle Lemly ’11 (English teaching assistantship, Poitiers)
U.S. Teaching Assistantship Program of the Austrian Ministry of Education, the Arts and Culture (USTA)
Jea Alford ’11 (English teaching assistantship)
Rebecca Saladoff ’10 (alternate, awaiting word, English teaching assistantship)
DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) RISE Scholarship
Donna Phan ’12 (research, University of Heidelberg, Germany)
China Education Initiative Fellowship
Gary Wang ’11 (English instruction, Yunnan, China)
Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF)
Nathan Abrams ’13 (research in Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Md.)
Angela Raso ’12 (National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Md.; declined award)
Fulbright UK Summer Institutes
Ahren Stroming ’14 (Roehampton University, London)
GlobeMed Summer Fellowship/Internship
Colleen Bell ’14 (training program to start GlobeMed chapter at Whitman and partnership with a global health organization)
Green Corps Fellowship (Field School for Environmental Organizing)
Ali Schlueter ’11 (finalist, awaiting word)
Multidisciplinary International Research Training Fellowship (MIRT)
Yvan Trinh ’11
Related national awards
Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme
Allison Acosta ’11 (post TBA)
Raisa Stebbins ’11 (post TBA)
Dylan Plung ’11 (alternate, awaiting word)