11 WKU Students Apply For Prestigious Scholarships

November 03, 2008

Bowling Green, Ky. - Eleven Western Kentucky University students are applicants for prestigious national and international scholarships.

Rachel Wigginton, a senior biology major from Glendale, is applying for three scholarships – Rhodes, Gates Cambridge and Marshall. Paul M. Love Jr., a graduate from Hendersonville, Tenn., also is seeking a Marshall Scholarship.

Nine students – the most ever for WKU – are applying for Fulbright Scholarships.

“Competing for national scholarships represents the individual and collected efforts of our talented students, the dedicated faculty and staff who have taught and advised them, and Office of Scholar Development that guides them through this process,” said Amy Eckhardt, director of Scholar Development.

Eckhardt, who joined WKU’s Honors College earlier this year, said the scholarships could be seen as the academic equivalent of playing in Division I athletics. 

“Our students have met the rigorous criteria required to represent our University as a nominee for these scholarships,” she said. “Collectively they have studied abroad in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Europe, they speak seven languages, they are talented artists, athletes, and scholars, and they serve the university and the larger community.”

Wigginton, a member of WKU’s speech and debate team and a member of GreenToppers: Students for Campus Sustainability, would like to become a professor of biology and ecology. At WKU, she has participated in research projects in Kenya and South Africa. She is applying for the Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University, a Gates Cambridge Scholarship to study at Cambridge University and a Marshall Scholarship to study at any British university or business school.

Love, a May 2007 graduate with a degree in history and religious studies,
also is applying for one of 40 Marshall Scholarships awarded for two or three years of graduate study at any British university or business school. Love, who has studied in Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt and Oman, is hoping to continue his research into Arabic and Islamic history.

The applications of Wigginton, Love and the nine other students “demonstrate WKU’s commitment to further internationalizing our University,” Eckhardt said. “The Fulbright, Rhodes, Marshall and Gates scholarships are all opportunities for students to study and live overseas.” 

For more than 60 years, the federal government-sponsored Fulbright U.S. Student Program has provided future American leaders with an unparalleled opportunity to study, conduct research and teach in other countries. In the past two years, three WKU students have won Fulbright scholarships. Since 1993, 98 students from Kentucky have won Fulbright Student Scholarships.

The following WKU students have applied this fall for Fulbright opportunities:

Emily Elaine Brewster, a Spanish and mathematics major from Louisville, is applying for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Colombia to teach English, learn about Latin American history and culture and continue the process of mastering the Spanish language.

Richard Allen Deem, a German and French major from Eaton, Ohio, is applying a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Germany to gain teaching experience, become fluent in German and learn more about the German culture.

Derek Ryan Gaboriault, a theatre major from Bardstown, is applying for a Fulbright Research Grant to Vietnam to strengthen his language skills and perform comparative research on three major forms of theatre: Water Puppet, Tuong and Cheo Theatre.

Katherine Rose Hale, a Spanish, German and religious studies major from Nicholasville, is applying for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Argentina to gain experience at an English Teacher Training College, achieve fluency in Spanish and explore Argentina’s diverse cultural landscape.

Garrett Daniel Harp, an industrial sciences major from Louisville, is applying for a Fulbright German Research Scholarship to study at the Bauhaus-Universitat Weimar and learn about German language, art and architecture.

Inge Kathleen Hooker, a photojournalism and economics from Maryville, Tenn., is applying for a Fulbright Grant to Indonesia to produce a photographic project for publication on the environmental and human effects of deforestation on indigenous tribes in Indonesia.

Senida Husic, a chemistry and biology major from Bowling Green, is applying for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Germany to gain teaching experience and continue perfecting her German language skills, to explore the culture and history of Germany and to learn more about the German health care system.

Jordan Tyler Shaw, a May 2007 graduate from Louisville with a degree in chemistry and biology, is applying for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Colombia to improve his Spanish language skills, gain teaching experience and integrate himself professional and personally into the society there.

Cassandra Ruth Warren, a psychology major from Georgetown, is applying for a Fulbright fellowship in the Netherlands to spend an academic year at the University of Amsterdam to pursue a master’s degree in the Gender, Sexuality and Society program.

More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu and at http://wkunews.wordpress.com/. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For information, contact Craig Cobane or Amy Eckhardt at (270) 745-2081.