Over the last few weeks, several UR students were awarded two different scholarships. The prestigious Harry S. Truman Scholarship was rewarded to junior Jesse Bailey.
Meanwhile, juniors Joseph Galante and Christopher Supranowitz and Take Five scholar Zhuohan Liang all received the Goldwater Scholarships, named after former Senator Barry M. Goldwater.
Fellowships Coordinator and Academic Counselor Belinda Redden was proud of these achievements. “Completing an application for a prestigious competitive fellowship is a demanding undertaking, and our students should be publicly recognized when they achieve success in these competitions,” Redden said.
Established by the U.S. Congress in 1975, the Truman Scholarship recognizes outstanding leaders and those wishing to pursue a career in politics or public service. The cash prize of $26,000 assists highly qualified student leaders in completing their graduate studies.
Bailey, currently an intern at the House of Commons in London, was one of 77 students nationwide, from a pool of 609 nominees from 307 American colleges and universities, to receive this scholarship.
Bailey, a triple major in political science, history and African-American studies, is UR’s first Truman Scholar since Robert Wittmann, who won the scholarship in 2000.
Bailey and David M. Iseminger, both Truman Scholarship finalists, had to undergo a rigorous application process consisting of five essays and a policy proposal about a current political issue.
The application was then reviewed by a UR faculty committee who selected students for nomination. A final application contained the completed draft of the application along with recommendation letters from the UR faculty board.
After getting the scholarship, Bailey was extremely satisfied, according to Redden. “I called Jesse in London to notify him that he had won,” she said. “He was ecstatic.”
Another creation of Congress, the Goldwater Scholarships are awarded to undergraduates pursuing careers in mathematics, natural sciences or engineering. The scholarships are the most prestigious of all undergraduate awards in these areas. Galante, Supranowitz and Liang were among 310 students, from a pool of 1,113 nominees, who received the scholarship.
Considering the excessive competition, all recipients were initially surprised by their awards. “I was pretty surprised considering it was a pretty tough competition,” Supranowitz said.
This is the third year in a row that three of the four UR nominees have been selected. Galante, a mathematics major, Supranowitz, an optics major and Liang, a physics major, attributed the success in winning the competitive scholarships to Redden’s help.
“Belinda Redden was an excellent help,” Galante said. “She took care of all the technical issues and gave feedback throughout the year to help me. It was a very good experience working with her.”
Supranowitz added, “I think Belinda Redden definitely does a very good job helping us prepare the application.”
“Yes, I think she [Redden] is a big motivation. She puts in a lot of effort and time,” Liang said. “I wouldn’t even have applied for the scholarship if it weren’t for her.”
Additional reporting by Audrey Ricketts.
Madhur can be reached at smadhur@campustimes.org.
