All about Scholarship

Cuba wants to increase scholarship quota to Jamaicans

2008-01-14T05:37:00.000-08:00

In a bid to further strengthen relations between both Caribbean territories, particularly in the areas of health and education, Cuban Ambassador to Jamaica Gisela Garcia Rivera says her embassy is hoping to send more Jamaican students to Cuba to pursue studies in medicine and other areas of scholarship.

Speaking with the Observer at the Cuban embassy in Kingston on Saturday at a function to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution (and to celebrate the birthday of Cuban national hero, Jose Marti) Ambassador Garcia pointed out that presently there are approximately 27,500 students from 120 countries studying in Cuba. Of that number, more than 400 are from Jamaica.

"Last year, we received 290 applications for scholarships to study medicine, but we could only offer 17 scholarships for medicine and nine for other specialties. So this year, if it's possible, we are hoping to send more students to Cuba and also send some of that 290 that were not successful last year," Garcia told the Observer. "This month, we will start receiving applications for next year."

Garcia also noted that more and more Cuban professionals were itching to come to Jamaica to offer their services in a variety of areas.

"We have about 37,500 Cubans working in different areas in over 70 countries worldwide, with most of them being doctors," the ambassador said.

She said that of that figure, 43 were teachers and 35 were doctors currently working in Jamaica, with the majority employed in northern parishes.

In the meantime, Saturday's food and music festivities at the Cuban embassy on Trafalgar Road in Kingston was attended by Cubans living in Jamaica as well as by Jamaicans who are members of the Cuba Friendship Association.

Matthias Brown, a member of the Westmoreland Cuba Friendship Association told the Observer that he enjoys working closely with the Cubans.

"Even if we had to walk from Westmoreland to come to Kingston, we just had to be here. Our community organisation in Westmoreland has been enjoying a wonderful relationship with the Cuban people. Over the last three years, we have been doing our Bay of Pigs celebration in Westmoreland," Brown shared, as Spanish music blared in the background.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Garcia noted that with parliamentary elections in Cuba set for the 20th of January, she would be hosting a press conference on Wednesday to make a statement about this important process in Cuba.
Source :http://www.jamaicaobserver.com

Yerby Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, Harvard School of Public Health

2007-09-04T16:01:00.000-07:00

The Yerby Postdoctoral Fellowship Program is geared toward expanding
the
diversity of those entering academic public health. The program creates
a
bridge between academic training in health-related disciplines and
entry-level faculty positions at institutions throughout the United
States. Fellows have a home within one of the school's nine academic
departments:

Biostatistics
Environmental Health
Epidemiology
Genetics and Complex Diseases
Health Policy and Management
Immunology and Infectious Diseases
Nutrition
Population and International Health
Society, Human Development, and Health

Candidates for the Yerby Postdoctoral Fellowship Program must have a
doctoral degree. To achieve the goal of increasing the diversity of
academic public health, candidates must also be members of minority
groups underrepresented in public health or first-generation college
graduates.

For more information, please visit
www.hsph.harvard.edu/academicaffairs/yerby.htm

Sperry receives scholarship at CSC

2007-06-02T00:04:00.000-07:00

Carl Sandburg College student from Oneida, was the one student in the state to receive the Mid-America Association of Educational Opportunity Program Personnel Board of Directors Scholarship.

MAEOPP is the regional professional association for the TRIO programs and encompasses a 10-state region.

Each four-year college and community college with a TRIO program is allowed to nominate one student for scholarship consideration. Sperry was selected from the CSC program. MAEOPP then selects one student from each state to receive a scholarship. Grades, co-curricular or community activity involvement, and an essay are factors considered.

As part of the application process, Sperry wrote an essay explaining her accomplishments, her grade point average, to what four-year school she would transfer and in what field she would major, as well as other relevant personal information. Sperry has completed her associate in applied science degree at Carl Sandburg College and will transfer to Kendall College, taking online classes, this summer to major in early childhood education. Sperry was an active member of the TRIO Student Support Services program while attending CSC.
Source :http://www.register-mail.com

Church to recognize three MHS scholarship winners

2007-06-02T00:00:00.000-07:00

Three graduating Middletown High School students have been named Marline Lightford-Davis Memorial Scholarship winners and will be honored at the Tried Stone Baptist Church "Graduation Celebration Day" Sunday.

Grace Campbell, Dorionne Dodson and Rodney Hunter were each awarded the $1,000, non-renewable scholarships for African-American seniors at Middletown High School. A church committee selected them out of a group of approximately 15 students based upon their grade point averages and applications, which allowed the students "to express why they deserve being a recipient," according to Elmon Prier, a teacher at Middletown High School.

Hunter plans to attend the College of Mount Saint Joseph in Cincinnati to major in business, Campbell plans to attend Miami University's Oxford campus to major in microbiology and Dodson will attend Miami University Middletown to major in business.

Tried Stone Baptist Church began awarding the scholarship in 2002 to help more black students go to college. Jerome L. Davis, CEO of Jerome L. Davis Associates in Atlanta, originally donated $15,000 to establish the scholarship in his mother's name. She was a dedicated member of Tried Stone Baptist Church.

"I am extremely proud that Mr. Jerome L. did this," said Prier, who will be the keynote speaker at the ceremony on Sunday. "He invested in our community and gave our children a chance to have a college education and give back to Middletown one day."

Starting in the 2007-08 school year, Davis will increase the scholarship to award four deserving students.
Source :http://www.middletownjournal.com

Switz City Central grad to award scholarship named in his honor

2007-05-23T07:05:00.000-07:00

Otto Hineman hasn't been to a class reunion since he graduated from the old Switz City Central High School 79 years ago.

On June 1, he'll return to the town where he graduated in 1928 to attend his first reunion.

“I didn't know until last year that they had anything like that (a reunion) down there. I'm going to attend this year.” he said.

The 98-year-old Rush County farmer and retired teacher will be the special guest for the Switz City, Central, White River Valley reunion to be staged at WRV school.

The reunion is held every two years.

A scholarship - recently established by the alumni association - has been named in his honor and will be presented to its first recipient this year. The exact monetary value of the new scholarship hasn't been established, but Sonja Hayes, one of the organizers of the alumni event, says the group wants to make it nice and is now accepting donations to benefit the scholarship from any alumni or area businesses.

“We wanted to do something. He (Hineman) is the only member of that first class still living. We are glad he can attend and three of his children are coming with him,” she said.

The recipient of the first Otto Hineman Alumni Scholarship will be Kevin Cross, the son of Dale and Carmen Cross, of rural Sandborn.

Cross, who is also one of two Greene County Lilly Scholars, will attend Purdue University in the fall and major in agriculture education.

The scholarship will be presented during WRV commencement exercises on Saturday and Cross will also get a chance to meet the scholarship's namesake at the alumni dinner June 1.

Hineman, who lives near Rushville, is the last surviving member of the class of 1928 - the first graduating class from the previous Central High School building that was constructed in 1927. The building was demolished and replaced by the current WRV Junior-Senior High School facility during the consolidation that took place in 1990.

Hineman, when contacted at his Rush County farm Tuesday morning by the Greene County Daily World, said he was honored to have a scholarship named after him.

“I'm surprised and happy they thought to do something like that. It's an honor to have something like this named for you,” he said. “I don't know what to say. I am very much surprised.”

Hineman and three of his four children plan to attend the alumni dinner.

“I'm looking forward to it. It will be nice to meet some of the people there,” he said.

He currently lives on his 250-acre farm - on which he still assists with the farming operation that grows corn and maintains a small cattle herd.

Hineman recalled that he attended all 12 years of school at Switz City and played baseball and basketball in high school under coach Jerry Wakefield.

The school principal was Mason Aldridge.

“I remember when the principal handed me my diploma he said I was the best little man he ever seen,” Hineman, who stood 5-8 and weighed 120 pounds during his high school days, said.

He also remembered some of his classmates and friends like Fred Bogard, Mason Holtsclaw, Reid Reagan, James Justice, Harold Nelson, Charles Hollars, Ralph Harper, Bill Atkins, Agnes Gibson, Wilma Swango, Austin Rodenbeck, Carl Neal, Albert Turpin, and Helen Streitimere.

After high school, he worked for one year before enrolling at Indiana State University in Terre Haute in 1930.

He recalls times were tough and he had to work and pay his way through school.

“I would go to college until my money ran out. Then, I came home and worked for farmers,” he said.

Hineman graduated in 1937 with a degree in business and physical education.

His first teaching experience was at Monroe High School in Adams County where he taught business subjects and coached baseball and basketball.

From there he taught at several schools in Johnson County before a farm accident changed things for him.

“I had an accident in 1946 involving a corn picker. I lost three fingers on my right hand so I was unable to type and teach typing. I took some additional training and taught elementary grades after that,” he said.

Hineman received his Master's Degree in education from Ball State University in 1966.

His last teaching assignment was at Neil Armstrong Elementary School in Mooresville - where he served for 10 years as assistant principal and a teacher before retiring in 1974 with 37 years of classroom experience.

Hineman's wife, the former Mable Dierdorf, was from Jasonville. He met her while attending ISU.

His wife died March 24, 2003.

They had four children - Carolyn Hineman Martin, Harold Max Hineman, Kay Jeanne Hineman and Mark Dennis Hineman.

The scholarship recipient ranks third in his class of 68 seniors with a 4.281 grade-point average.

He plans to be a high school agriculture teacher.

“As an agriculture teacher at a local high school, I plan to use my leadership skills and effective techniques of motivation to exert a positive influence in my community. By being a prominent leader in my community, I will promote only clean, powerful and positive activities and practices. I will also strive to generate more authentic leaders that will have the willpower and ability to become well-respected figures in their communities. I believe that my positive attitude during my career as a teacher will motivate pupils to reach their potential and become prominent leaders in their communities,” Cross said.

Cross has a twin brother, Kyle, who will also attend Purdue.

Kevin Cross has been very active in the White River Valley FFA program for the last four years and currently serves as chapter and District VII president. He also serves on the Indiana FFA State Executive Committee and the Indiana FFA State Special Circumstances Committee.

He also has been a member of the WRV Student Council for four years - serving as secretary in 2003-04; the National Honor Society and French Club for four years.

He's also a member of the Switz City Christian Church, where he serves as a church board member and the National Wild Turkey Federation.

Among his volunteer/community activities, Kevin has helped glean vegetables for homeless shelters near Washington D.C. (2006), harvested and donated deer for needy families (2005), assisted with the collecting of fruit for area nursing homes (2006), has worked the Riley Children's Hospital Shoot and the “Lock A Load For Kids” programs at Triple H Gun Club, south of Linton - where he has been employed since 2003.

The banquet reunion event will get underway at 3 p.m. with registration followed by a tour of the current school facility at 4 p.m.

The dinner - catered by the Worthington Assembly of God Church - will begin at 5 p.m. It will feature barbecue or garlic and lemon pepper chicken breasts; ham with pineapple; or pasta with meat sauce; baked or garlic roasted potatoes; corn; green beans; layered salad; fruit salad; homemade bread; strawberry shortcake; angel food cake; cookies, pies and drinks.

A variety of past graduating classes will be honored - 60 years and over; 50 years (class of 1956-1957); 40 years (classes of 1966 and 1967); 25 years (classes of 1981 and 1982); and 10 years (classes of 1996 and 1997).

Cost is $12 per person. The deadline to register has passed, but Hayes said walk-ins will be accepted at the door.

Attendees are encouraged to dress in red, white or blue or in khaki or in a military uniform in support of the country and its troops, Hayes said.

“This year we want to have a patriotic theme,” she said.

For more information, contact Hayes at 659-3527 or 381-1441.
Source :http://www.dailycitizen.com

Scholarship to develop woodland craftsmanship

2007-05-03T18:39:00.000-07:00

AN organic smallholder has won a £2,500 scholarship which will help him develop his hurdle making, hedge laying and woodland management skills

Simon Saggers (pictured, right), from Bassingbourn, near Royston, Cambridgeshire, will receive the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship from The Lord Chamberlain, Earl Peel, at the Royal Warrant Holders’ annual lunch in London in June.

With the award, Simon will be able to offer customers a traditional range of winter woodland services from his Guilden Gate smallholding.

The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) was endowed by the Royal Warrant Holders Association to advance education in modern and traditional crafts and trades in the UK.

Scholarships, open to men and women of all ages, are awarded twice a year.

Since 1991, the trust has made cash awards worth over £1million to 167 craftsmen and women to develop their skills. This spring, seven awards were made totalling £42,500.

Simon, 38, grew up in Bassingbourn, where his family have farmed since the 1600s. When his father retired, Simon set up the Guilden Gate smallholding on five acres of the farm.

“Since 1999 I have created a mixture of vegetable and herb fields, new hedges, an orchard, wildflower meadow, and coppice woodland,” he said.

“I have built greenhouses, soft fruit cages, multi-use barns and an environmentally-sensitive cottage.

“Our wind turbine and solar panel ensure we generate more energy on site than we consume. The holding is off mains water and sewerage, so bills are reduced.

“Generally we have been working to re-establish the type of smallholding that used to be a part of life in every village, but that has sadly all but disappeared in south Cambridgeshire.”

Guilden Gate’s main business is producing a range of products for their popular vegetable box scheme. The farm produces fruit, vegetables, herbs, eggs, honey and woodland products, including willow hurdles.

“Each day is different and I have to try and be a horticulturalist, woodsman, retailer and marketer, landscape gardener, builder, plumber, food packer, electric and water services engineer all rolled into one,” he said.

Winning a QEST Scholarship means Simon can take courses to give him a grounding in the ancient craft of hurdle making and provide new winter skills to complement his ‘summer’ smallholding and horticultural skills. Hurdles are increasingly popular alternatives to mass-produced fencing and screening.

Also, after completing a basic chainsaw course, Simon will have three weeks ‘on the job’ hedge laying tuition with experts so he can embark on his own hedge-laying work.

He is convinced that interest in hedge-laying and hurdle-making will continue to grow.

He hopes to be able to explore other woodland management opportunities as Guilden Gate woodland matures.

QEST trustees look projects which contribute to the pool of talent in the UK and reflect the excellence of British craftsmanship as symbolised by the Royal Warrant of Appointment.

Application forms for scholarships (closing date for summer 2007 scholarships: June 8, 2007; for spring 2008 scholarships: January 18, 2008) may be obtained by sending an SAE (50p) to: The Secretary, The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust, No.1 Buckingham Place, London SW1E 6HR. They can also be downloaded from www.qest.org.uk.

Source : http://www.farmersguardian.com

Scholarship deadline approaching in Pennsylvania

2007-05-02T23:11:00.000-07:00

If you want to apply for the Pennsylvania Dairy Stakeholders new scholarship program you’re running out of time. Applications are due June 1.

The scholarship program was started to encourage outstanding students to study agriculture as a career path. Beginning with the 2007-2008 academic year, the group will offer $5,000 in scholarships on a yearly basis to directly support Student Leader Scholarships.

The purpose of these scholarships is to provide recognition, encouragement, and financial assistance to outstanding students enrolled in academic programs that support the dairy industry.

Selection of the scholarship winners will be based on the completed application within the following weighted criteria: academic performance (30%); apparent commitment to a career related to the dairy industry (30%); evidence of leadership, character, and integrity (25%); and application compliance (15%). Application must be made using the Pennsylvania Dairy Stakeholders Student Leader Scholarship Application form at www.padairystake.org.

Completed applications should be sent to: Pennsylvania Dairy Stakeholders, ℅ N. Alan Bair, 777 West Harrisburg Pike, Middletown, PA 17512.

Scholarship application forms are available at www.padairystake.org or by sending an e-mail request to info@padairystake.org or call (717) 948-6328.

Source : http://www.dairyherd.com

Scholarship to honour ACT police chief

2007-05-01T21:11:00.002-07:00

The ACT government has announced plans to establish a scholarship in memory of Audrey Fagan, the Canberra police chief who took her own life two weeks ago.

Chief minister Jon Stanhope told the ACT legislative assembly yesterday that the scholarship would help Ms Fagan's legacy to endure.

The details are being finalised in consultation with Ms Fagan's family and the Ministerial Advisory Council on Women.

But Mr Stanhope said the scholarship would probably be for tertiary study, open to any Canberra woman working in the areas of care and protection.

“These women may be police officers like Audrey herself,” he said.

“They may be women working in allied health areas, or women providing professional or social support in areas involving domestic violence or victim support.

“By encouraging such women to further study and further professional development, I hope that we may deliver some dividend to the community in Audrey Fagan’s name."

“I hope too that in this way the government will keep fresh and inspirational the image and memory of a woman who gave so much of herself – perhaps too much of herself, as it turned out – to our community.”

The scholarship will be administered through the ACT's Ministerial Advisory Council on Women.
Source : http://ibnnews.org

Humphrey earns scholarship

2007-05-01T21:11:00.001-07:00

The NCAA announced on Tuesday that Gator sharpshooter Lee Humphrey will receive a $7,500 postgraduate scholarship. Humphrey is one of 58 NCAA athletes to receive the award.

Humphrey earned a 3.68 grade point average in applied physiology. He is the two-time winner of the SEC Men's Basketball Scholar Athlete of the Year and earned ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America honors each of the last two years. He also earned a spot on the SEC Academic Honor Roll in each of his four seasons.

As a member of the Gators' back-to-back national championship basketball team, Humphrey averaged 10.3 points as a senior, starting all 40 games. He broke the school's all-time record for three-point shots made, making 288 throughout his career. And earlier this year, he broke the NCAA Tournament's all-time mark for career three-point shots made, knocking down 47 during his four tournament appearances.

Humphrey knocked down eight three-pointers during this year's Final Four, earning him a spot on the All-Final Four Team.

Humphrey is the 32nd Gator to receive the scholarship. The last was women's basketball player Sarah Lowe in 2006. Matt Bonner received the award in 2003.

Source : http://story.scout.com

MSc or PhD in oceanic fluid dynamics-Canada

2007-05-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

Opportunities for graduate studies in the area of oceanic/atmospheric fluid
dynamics.

The area of interest includes both laboratory experiment with
stratified/rotating fluids and numerical modelling. For more details on
current work see: http://www.physics.mun.ca/~yakov

CCAF Hosts Successful Scholarship Luncheon

2007-04-30T21:34:00.000-07:00

The Community College of Aurora Foundation (CCAF) Scholarship Recognition Luncheon was held April 26 at the Hyatt Regency DTC. Denver philanthropist Janet Elway was honorary chair of this year's event, which recognized CCA Foundation scholarship donors and recipients. Elway emphasized the importance of community and paying-it-forward to provide educational opportunities for people who may not otherwise have the chance to go to college.

Ed Greene, CBS4 Meteorologist, served as Master of Ceremonies. Bob LeGare, scholarship donor and CCA alumnus, and Lauren Johnson, United Way Workplace Educational Scholarship Assistance Recipient, were speakers.

LeGare who attended CCA, shared his story about receiving a better education for a successful career at CCA than he had previously received at a 4-year institution. Johnson also shared her story, a single mother who enrolled at CCA to build a better life for herself and her sons. Johnson graduates this spring and has been accepted at the University of Colorado Health Science Center School of Pharmacology.

Last year's Scholarship Luncheon raised over $30,000 for two new scholarships for high school seniors: CCA's Chair's Choice Award, a 2-year $10,000 scholarship, and CCA's Foundation Scholarship, a 2-year $5,000 scholarship over two years.

Jeff Potter, president and CEO for Frontier Airlines, announced the Chair's Choice Award winner as Justin Lewis, a senior at Gateway High School. Potter said Lewis was selected from the applicant pool because of the passion the senior showed toward his school, community and church.

Dale Mingilton, CCA Foundation Board President, announced the CCA Foundation Scholarship winner Kimber Avra, a senior at Hinkley High School. Mingilton said Avra was chosen because she preserved in the face of adversity and demonstrated a commitment to her dreams and goals. With additional donations from Majestic Realty and Kingdom Enlightenment, Samatha Banach from Aurora Central received $2,500 as did Dider Ndekezi from Hinkley High School.

CCA President Linda Bowman announced that Martha Carter-Jackson, CCA Science chair and Chemistry faculty, was the winner of the Bowman Faculty Recognition Award. Bowman said Jackson was an example of the highly qualified teachers at CCA who are committed to giving their students an education that competes or exceeds other colleges. Bowman said the science labs have been equipped better than many four-year institutions due to the CCA Foundation's funding and Jackson's vision.

Over 300 people attended the luncheon including other scholarship recipients and their families, the Honorable Mayor Ed Tauer, Aurora City Council Members, Aurora business and community leaders, representatives from Aurora Public Schools and Cherry Creek Schools, and CCA faculty and staff. The annual event is the Foundation's largest fundraising event for CCA student scholarships.

Source : http://denver.yourhub.com/

OOIDA scholarship fundraiser week scores more than $6,100

2007-04-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

College ain’t cheap. So it’s no surprise that the OOIDA Foundation’s Scholarship Committee is always looking for ways to raise money to benefit Association members’ children, grandchildren and legal dependents who seek to further their education.

In mid-April, the OOIDA Board of Directors met in Grain Valley, MO, for the spring business meeting. And while the board was working hard to plot the Association’s course, the scholarship committee and its supporters worked just as hard behind the scenes to help raise money to assist members’ families with their college expenses.

“We far exceeded what we had hoped to make this year,” said Paula Chambers, scholarship committee member. Paula’s husband, Woody, is general vice president for OOIDA and serves on the board. The Chambers are from Eddyville, KY.

Paula said one of the week’s fundraising projects was as fun for employees as it was profitable for the committee.

Spread out over a dozen tables in the cafeteria at OOIDA headquarters, a craft fair featured handmade furniture, salsa and apple butter, along with jewelry and other crafts donated by board members and employees.

Margo Elrod, wife of Board Member Mark Elrod, spent many hours making wood furniture, including shelves and a shadow box-type coffee table that featured the back window of a Mack truck, which was an attention grabber at this year’s craft show. The Elrods are from Peru, IN.

“My husband was crushing a Mack truck and the back window didn’t break, so he said there was a reason it didn’t break and asked me to make it into a coffee table, but he only gave me three days to do it,” Margo said. “But, it’s all for a good cause.”

Scholarship Committee member Martha Taylor and her husband, John, donated dozens of jars of golden brown apple butter. The Taylors make the homemade sauce every year at their home in Cross Junction, VA. It’s a family tradition, along with trucking.

“This is one of the greatest things that we have accomplished,” she said about the scholarship fund. “We’ve helped a lot of truckers; now we are trying to help their children.”

OOIDA employees pitched in as well and made a handmade quilt that raised $600 for the scholarship fund. OOIDA members were also allowed to make bids on the quilt via the Internet this year.

The handmade quilt consisted of 12 quilt blocks in a trucking theme that included the OOIDA logo and the eagle. Employee Kathy Gaines pieced the top together. Sue Lynch, alternative board member, helped with the needlework, too.

Paula reported that this year’s craft fair netted $4,400. But the fundraisers weren’t only about homemade items.

Board Member Charlie Parfrey of Spokane Valley, WA, organized a golf tournament at Bent Oak Golf Course in Oak Grove, MO, which raised more than $1,100 for the scholarship fund. Teams were made up of Association executives, board members and OOIDA employees.

The committee is already coming up with more ways to raise money for the scholarship fund. The next craft fair is planned for the fall 2008 board meeting. Plans include hosting a chili lunch for the employees of OOIDA. Lesa Godwin, human resources director for OOIDA, and Martha Taylor will be in charge of planning this event.

Joan Rajkovacz, committee member, is in charge of editing a cookbook that will feature OOIDA board members’ recipes, including photos, that may be ready for review at the fall 2007 meeting. Her husband, Joe, is OOIDA regulatory affairs specialist and also serves on the board. They are from Oak Grove, MO.

Board Member Bill Rode, Eagle, ID, is the Scholarship Committee chairman, and he said he’s been amazed with how far the scholarship fund has come since its inception.

“It’s wonderful to check back with these kids and see how far they went with a little financial help,” he said. “For many, it’s the difference between whether or not they can go on to college.”

Bill said he “never fails to be amazed” with the amount of support the committee has received over the years. The fund has awarded more than $105,000 in scholarships since 1997.

The scholarship committee awards a total of five scholarships annually, which are based on grades, extra-curricular activities and an essay question, which on this year’s application, asked applicants ways to improve the public’s image of truck drivers. The first-place scholarship recipient qualifies for $8,000 over four years of college if they maintain a C average, while the other four scholarship recipients qualify for $4,000 spread over four years.

“Our committee started out with $500 and we were like, ‘OK, what do we do now?’ ” Rode said. “Now, we are able to help more and more kids, while promoting a positive image of truck drivers. Giving out scholarships is a good way to do this.”

In July, Land Line media will announce the winners of this year’s scholarships.

Source : http://www.landlinemag.com/

Travel Scholarship for Women

2007-04-26T20:06:00.000-07:00

With the growth of Australia as a tourist destination and the advancement of Australian women as leaders in the industry, MasterCard and U21Global have announced today the second annual MasterCard-U21Global Scholarship Program for Women in Travel and Tourism.

“MasterCard’s important role as facilitator of travel and our commitment to domestic and international travel is the motivation behind our involvement in the scholarship program.

“MasterCard understands the value of travel and tourism to the entire Australian economy and wants to ensure that those working in the industry are provided with the best possible support and training needed to provide an outstanding service,” said Leigh Clapham, executive vice president, Australasia, MasterCard Worldwide.

The scholarship, launched last year, is for women professionals across the travel and tourism industry. It offers a solid platform for women wanting to further their career in this industry and meet the sectors’ demand for better trained professionals, empowering them to stay ahead of industry trends and realise their full potential.

Last year’s Australian scholarship winner was Vanessa Weigall, Regional Manager for STA Travel in Western Australia and South Australia.

The call for entries for the online graduate program received a significant response from a wide spectrum of the industry last year, from hotels and airlines to travel and tour operators in the Asia/Pacific. With the success enjoyed by the program last year, it has now been extended to South Africa, Saudi Arabia and UAE.

The program comprises 20 scholarships for the U21Global Executive Diploma of Business Administration and is intended for graduates who want to develop skills in the management and marketing of tourism and travel. The course can articulate into the University of Nottingham MSc in Tourism and Travel Management which has been developed by Christel DeHaan Tourism and Travel Research Institute, a part of Nottingham University Business School, and U21Global, a leader in quality graduate online education for working executives and professionals.

Organisations from the travel and tourism industry across Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa will be invited to nominate female employees who they believe will most benefit from the learning and exposure offered by such a scholarship. MasterCard and U21Global will institute a distinguished panel of judges to choose the 20 worthy recipients.

“We are excited to extend the reach of this scholarship to South Africa, Saudi Arabia and UAE to allow more women in travel and tourism to benefit from our premium curriculum in business and to stay abreast of industry trends while also managing work commitments and family life,” said Dr Helen Lange, Dean, Business Management Programmes, U21Global. “The overwhelming response to the inaugural program in 2006 gives us reason to believe that this second year of the MasterCard-U21Global Scholarship Program will once again be a resounding success.”

“MasterCard has been long committed to women’s advancement and with the tourism industry being one of the most dynamic economic sectors in Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa, we would like to encourage women in the industry to take this opportunity to upgrade their skills to stay ahead in the evolving tourism landscape,” said Georgette Tan, vice president, Communications, Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa, MasterCard Worldwide.

“Recent MasterCard research shows that despite positive economic growth and the tightening of labor market conditions, women still perceive themselves as not getting the same opportunities as men when it comes to managerial positions and median income. Women from the inaugural program last year have found the course extremely beneficial and we hope more women are able to meet their professional goals through this scholarship,” added Tan.

Women from the program have benefited not only from learning about the diverse aspects of tourism management and its practices but also the special online learning community that is in place, allowing the scholars to have access to a wide range of speakers and mentors, and enhance networking with each other.
Recipients of the scholarship can enjoy the benefit of studying online and can hence better manage their work and educational commitments. Those interested in more information on the scholarships and course components can log on to U21Global’s website www.u21global.edu.sg/mastercard.

UCB Pharma Canada Launches National Scholarship Programs for Students Living With Crohn's Disease and Rheumatoid Arthritis

2007-04-25T19:44:00.000-07:00

Attaining an education is an invaluable asset for most Canadians, but one that is hard enough to obtain without dealing with a chronic illness. With the objective of making education an achievable goal for these students, UCB Pharma Canada announced today the national roll-out of the 2007 UCBeyond Crohn's Disease and Rheumatoid Arthritis Scholarship Programs.

"UCB is dedicated to creating unique programs and tools to aid patients in reaching above and beyond the boundaries of their disease and fulfilling their educational ambitions," says Robert Hamilton, General Manager of UCB Pharma Canada. "We are proud to be announcing this program today, and look forward to enabling patients to achieve their dreams of pursuing a post-secondary education."

The UCBeyond Scholarship Program will award six (6), one-time scholarships of up to $5,000 CDN each to people diagnosed with Crohn's disease and six (6), one-time scholarships of up to $5,000 CDN each to people diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. The winners must demonstrate academic ambition and will use their scholarship towards any post-secondary education of their choice (i.e. university, college, trade school, etc.) for the 2007/08 school year.

The 2007 UCBeyond Scholarship recipients will be chosen by an independent selection committee of leading physicians, nurses and patient representatives from across the country. Applicants will be evaluated based on a one-page essay demonstrating how they go above and beyond their disease, exhibit perseverance and empower others, as well as two letters of personal recommendation. The deadline to apply is July 13, and winners will be announced in August 2007.

"Overcoming the effects of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, rather than letting it control you, can be an extremely difficult task. Students who demonstrate an ability to accomplish this exceptional feat deserve to be recognized and rewarded and we're delighted that UCB Pharma Canada will be doing just that," says Randy Sabourin, National President of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Canada (CCFC).

Anne Dooley, President of the Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance (CAPA), and a member of the rheumatoid arthritis scholarship selection committee adds, "The

UCBeyond Scholarship Program will definitely make a difference in the lives of those living with rheumatoid arthritis, not only by providing assistance to pursue educational goals but also by motivating people to ultimately go beyond the boundaries of their disease."

Other proud supporters of the UCBeyond Scholarship Programs include: The Arthritis Society (TAS), the Canadian Rheumatology Association (CRA), the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology (CAG) and the Canadian Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates (CSGNA).

About Crohn's disease

Crohn's disease is a chronic and debilitating inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract, affecting more than 170,000 people in Canada. The onset of Crohn's disease often occurs between the ages of 15-25 and 45-55. As Crohn's disease is a chronic ailment, people go through unpredictable periods in which the disease flares and causes symptoms. These episodes are followed by times of remission -- periods in which symptoms disappear or decrease and good health returns. Canada has one of the highest incidence and prevalence of Crohn's disease in the world.

About Rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a progressive autoimmune disease which causes chronic inflammation of the joints. It is estimated that 320,000 (1 in 100) people suffer from RA in Canada.3 Prevalence is not split evenly between genders, since women are three times more likely to be affected than men.4

Although it can affect people of all ages, the onset of RA usually occurs between 25-50 years.5 Symptoms of RA may include joint stiffness, joint pain, inflammation of the affected areas and an associated reduction in mobility. These symptoms can be intermittent and vary in severity from patient to patient. In more severe cases RA can eventually lead to disability. RA patients are also at a higher risk of developing other conditions, in particular heart disease, stroke, infections, lung problems and osteoporosis.6

About UCB

UCB (www.ucb-group.com) is a leading global biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the research, development and commercialization of innovative pharmaceutical and biotechnology products in the fields of central nervous system disorders, allergy/respiratory diseases, immune and inflammatory disorders and oncology. Employing over 8,400 people in 40 countries, UCB focuses on securing a leading position in severe disease categories.

About UCB Pharma Canada

UCB Pharma Canada was officially incorporated in November, 2006 with the objective of bringing a new-generation, convenient therapy to the Canadian market for auto-immune, inflammatory diseases. A truly patient-focused organization, UCB Pharma Canada's focus is bringing new and innovative programs to patients, and the specialists who treat them, to help improve the lives of people living with severe diseases.

Scholarship program proposed

2007-04-24T18:52:00.001-07:00

Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted on Monday announced the creation of a $100 million scholarship program for students attending Ohio colleges and universities.

The Choose Ohio First Scholarship will be an amendment to the state operating budget for 2008-09, which is under consideration in the House. The scholarships target students pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering and math — called "STEM" fields — and will take into consideration financial need.

Husted, R-Kettering, also announced a revision to a proposed tuition freeze that Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat, introduced March 15 in his budget recommendations to the House.

"We feel this preserves affordability without sacrificing quality," and would add $134 million to the higher education budget over Strickland's budget, Husted said.

Husted's budget plans met with quick approval by state colleges and universities and Senate President Bill Harris.

"This is a great example of good ideas getting better through the deliberative process," Sinclair Community College President Steven Lee Johnson said. "(It) allows Ohio's colleges and universities the flexibility to prepare financially in the first year of the budget."

Strickland will review Husted's proposal to see how it fits with his goals.

The higher education budget change will be included in House Bill 119, the two-year state budget. The legislation is expected to be passed by the House next month.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7404 or

sirwin@DaytonDailyNews.com.

Michigan Tech grad student wins Google scholarship

2007-04-24T18:50:00.000-07:00

Michigan Tech University student Alicia Thorsen was this close to not applying for the 2007 Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship.

“I just kept thinking, ‘This is a national scholarship; there’s just too many people to compete against,’” she said.

Much to her benefit, though, Thorsen applied last year and was selected as a finalist before applying again this year and winning the $10,000 scholarship.

“I was nervous all week and then I got the call and I was calm ... on the phone,” she said. “And then I got off the phone and started screaming and jumping around.”

She had reason.

According to Tech, the scholarship is given to 20 outstanding female undergraduate and graduate students nationwide who are completing degrees in computer science and related fields.

For the 2006-2007 academic year, the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology received over 250 scholarship applications from students at 115 different schools across the country. Thorsen is the only winner from a Michigan university. Students from Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon and the Georgia Institute of Technology were among the winners.

Thorsen expects to receive her Ph.D. in Computer Science in 2008.

The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology and Google Inc. created the highly competitive and prestigious scholarships to honor the legacy of Anita Borg and her efforts to encourage women to pursue careers in computer science and technology.

“The Anita Borg Scholarship is a living testament to Anita’s vision of supporting and recognizing exceptional women in computer science and technology,” said Telle Whitney, president and CEO of the Anita Borg Institute, in a statement released by Tech. “We are pleased that together with Google, we can help these outstanding young women continue in their chosen fields.”

Thorsen researches parallel algorithms, which are used to link together multiple computers and speed up computations.

She was valedictorian of her graduating class at Fayetteville State University, earning a 4.0 grade point average. She completed an MS in Computer Science at Michigan Tech in 2006 and was also a visiting research scholar at the University of Bergen, in Norway.

In addition to teaching computer science classes at Michigan Tech, Thorsen has led Summer Youth programs for high school students interested in computer science and teaches aerobics classes.

She is convinced that there are other people like her out there who should apply for scholarships, not matter how intimidating it might seem. She said it helped to meet the other finalists for the scholarship.

“Yes, they were smart, intelligent, confident women, “ she said. “but they were normal, like me. People underestimate their self worth ... They think, ‘I haven’t done anything great.’”

The staff in her department think she’s done something great.

“She is a neat person,” said Computer Science Chair Linda Ott in Tech’s release. “Alicia has gone out of her way to encourage other women to pursue computer science. In particular, she really excited the high school girls who enrolled in her Summer Youth program.”

Ott said Thorsen defies the stereotypes associated with her field of study.

“She doesn’t play video games, she’s married, she’s teaching aerobics — and she loves computer science,” Ott said.

“I am pretty girly-girly and proud,” Thorsen said.

Thorsen said one of the best things about the scholarship is that she will be able to take a semester off from teaching and focus on her research. To help pay for school, she earns funds through a teaching assistantship. The money will allow her to pay for the semester without having teach, so she can focus entirely on her research.

“When you’re teaching, there’s barely time to do research,” she said. “Teaching takes a lot of time. You’re got to give the students attention.”

Despite encouragement from her department, Thorsen said she might not go into academia right after she graduates.

“I’ve got my eye on Google,” she said, adding that she will intern there this summer, which was a separate interview and application process than the scholarship. “I want to (get) practical experience and then maybe I’ll go back and be a (professor).”

PhD scholarships - Indonesian Young Leaders Programme - Leiden

2007-04-21T06:10:00.000-07:00

The Indonesian Young Leaders Programme welcomes applications for a PhD
scholarship.
The application deadline is 15 May 2007.

In sum, 15 PhD scholarships will be made available for Indonesian
students to undertake a four year long PhD programme at a Dutch
university: 8 within the realm of Islamic Studies, 7 within other
disciplines. Applicants should have an MA degree relevant to the
proposed topic for the PhD research from either a state sponsored or
non-state sponsored Islamic University.

As a PhD student within this programme, you will work in the
Netherlands for a period of thirty-two months. The remainder of
sixteen months will be used for doing fieldwork in Indonesia. First,
you will create a basis for your research with your Dutch supervisor.
After some twelve months, you will do your fieldwork in Indonesia in
order to return for another twenty months to finalize your thesis.

Requirements

To be eligible for the Indonesian Young Leaders PhD programme, the
candidate must meet the following requirements:

. be an Indonesian national
. have a S2 degree from either a state sponsored or non-state
sponsored Islamic Indonesian University
. willing to take part in the programme fulltime for the complete
duration of the programme, four years
. have a high level of English proficiency (TOEFL 550)
. be in good health
. not be above the age of 40 years (men) or 45 years (women) on the
application deadline

Application Procedure

Writing a thesis proposal is not an easy task, we therefore advise all
candidates to look for a supervisor before writing the application. In
consultation with this proposed supervisor, you can then prepare your
proposal. Should you need any advice from the programme staff, please
do not hesitate to contact us via
youngleaders@let.leidenuniv.nl
.

Please submit the following documents in threefold by 15 May 2007 at
the
latest:

. Application form (soon to be placed online)
. Motivation Statement
. Curriculum vitae
. Proposal for a dissertation - Max. 2000 words (find format on the
website soon)
. A copy of your KTP
. A copy of your passport
. A legalized copy of your birth certificate
. Two recent photographs (3x4; color)
. A certified true copy of your S2 diploma
. A copy of the original of your statements of grades and a
translated transcript
. Two letters of recommendation

Send these documents in threefold to:

Training Indonesia's Young Leaders
P.O. Box 9515
2300 RA Leiden
The Netherlands

Leiden University will create a short-list of candidates, who will be
invited for an interview in Jakarta in May/June 2007. An independent
selection committee will decide by the end of June 2007 upon the final
selection of the PhD students.

PhD in statistical methods applied in bioinformatics.

2007-04-21T05:59:00.000-07:00

Hasselt University announces, within the Center for Statistics, the
following positions (m/f):

Researcher doctoral student (2X2 jaar)

The Bioinformatics Aspects of Mathematical and Statistical Models for
Infectious Diseases

The appointment takes effect from 15.09.2007 for a period of 2 years,
extendable to a total period of 4 years.

Mission

PhD in statistical methods applied in bioinformatics.

The research activity focuses on the development of statistical
methods related to the transmission process of an infectious disease and the
genetic information about the virus which caused the disease. In
particular, the research project will be focused on the connection between
DNA/RNA sequences of the virus, the prevalence of the disease and other
disease parameters. In general, the aim of the research project is to
establish a link between the epidemiology process of the infection and
the genetic information about the virus.

Diploma

Licentiate, Master or equivalent diploma in bioinformatics,
(bio)statistics, mathematics, computational biology, bioengineering.

Profile of the successful candidate
· Candidates with a strong quantitative background
· Be intrinsically motivated, think analytically and
creatively, work in an organised and focused manner
· Enjoy working in an multidisciplinary environment
(statistics, computer sciences, molecular biology, epidemiology)
· Experience in the use of statistical/mathematical software
such as SAS, R, Matlab etc., is a plus
Further information

Prof. dr. Ziv Shkedy, +32 11-26 82 40, email: ziv.shkedy@uhasselt.be

Application

Applications forms can be downloaded at
http://www.uhasselt.be/download/APengelsUH.doc or at
http://www.uhasselt.be/download/APengelsUH.pdf and should be returned
to: Hasselt University, Rectoraat, Campus Diepenbeek, Agoralaan - gebouw
D, B-3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium, rectoraat@uhasselt.be. All required
information must reach the above address on Friday, May 4 2007.

The Walter Mangold Grant 2007

2007-04-21T05:51:00.000-07:00

*GUIDELINES FOR SCHOLARSHIPS FOR OVERSEAS STUDENTS OR ACADEMICS TO
ENGAGE IN EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES IN AUSTRALIA*_
**
*1.* _*Purposes of these Scholarships*_
The Walter Mangold Trust Fund (?the Trust?) has been established to
implement the belief of the late Walter Mangold, that better
understanding between peoples, and consequently lessening of conflict,
can be achieved by improving communication between them. He considered
that the study of languages, and as a consequence the culture
associated

with each language, is one way to attain those outcomes.
* One of the objects of the Trust is the provision of scholarships for
overseas students who apply to come to Australia to advance their
knowledge of English, and to gain an understanding of one or more areas
of Australian culture*.
*2. _Eligibility_*
In 2007 the Trust will have funds available to fund a small number of
grants to further this object.
In 2007 the Trust will be giving priority to applicants from Indonesia,
Vietnam and China and from South American countries where Spanish is
the
common language.
The amounts available in the 2007 grant round range from A$15,000.00 to
a maximum of A$25,000.00 for any specific grant.
Applicants must:

* demonstrate that their study or educational activity in Victoria
may make a significant contribution to their knowledge of English
and aspects of Australian culture which can be applied by them in
their home country;
* be coming to Australia to be enrolled in a tertiary course in
Victoria, or to undertake an educational activity in Victoria,
which furthers the objects of the Trust;
* satisfy and continue to satisfy the visa requirements for entry
into Australia and for remaining in Australia;
* submit a detailed program of study or educational activity, and
be
supported by references as to capacity and character;

Priority may be given to applicants whose financial circumstances would
not otherwise permit them to undertake studies or education activities
in Australia.
*Note:* * It is a condition provided in the Trust Fund Deed that as
part
of their program of study or educational activity a grant recipient
must :*

* *make a publication in Australia, or*
* *deliver one or more lectures in a public or educational
institution in Australia,*

*with the intention of furthering the education, communication and
understanding between peoples and cultures*.
*3. _Conditions_*
3.1 Compliance with the obligation to make a publication or to deliver
one or more lectures in a public or educational institution.
3.2 Payment of the grant must be made to the applicant, in Australia ,
(where appropriate), to an institution or service provider in Australia
to enable the purposes of the grant to be carried out.
*4. _Deadlines for 2007_*
4.1 Applications open on *2 April 2007*.
4.2 Applications must be received by close of business on * 15 June
2007*.
4.3 Grant decisions may be announced 6-10 weeks after the application
closing date of 15 June 2007.
4.4 Grant Agreements will be completed as soon as practicable after the
successful applicants have been notified of the award of a grant.
4.5 Payments will be made on dates and in a manner to be agreed with
the
Grantee.
*5. _How to Apply_*
*Applications must be submitted on the application form which is
downloadable as a Word file under " Application Form" on this website.
The completed application form should be sent by e-mail in Word format
only to:*
studyaustralia@mangoldtrust.org.au

Documents that are to be attached to an application, but cannot be
e-mailed, may be sent by facsimile to +613 9387-1973 or mailed to:
*Grant Applications Section*
*The Walter Mangold Trust Fund*
*PO Box 1074*
*NORTH FITZROY VIC 3068*
*AUSTRALIA*.
*6. _How we deal with your Application_*
6.1 Receipt of your application will be acknowledged by email or in
writing.
6.2 The Trust may require additional information.
6.3 Not all applications considered can be offered a grant, or the
total
amount requested approved.
6.4 All successful applicants will be required to sign a Grant
Agreement
before any part of the grant payment is made.
6.5 All grant recipients are required to provide interim and final
reports as agreed and periodic or final statements of accounts for the
program activities as requested.
6.6 All grant recipients must comply with the conditions imposed in the
Grant Agreement.
6.7 Grants are made directly to the grant recipient unless otherwise
arranged with the recipient.
6.8 Information in applications will be dealt with in accordance with
the Trust?s Privacy Policy and all applicable legislation.
6.9 We will inform all applicants of the result of their application.
6.10 The decision of the Trustee on all applications is final.
6.11 Applications will not be returned to applicants. The Trust
reserves
the right to destroy part or all of the applications received a
reasonable time after the assessment period to which the application
applies.
6.12 Unsuccessful applicants will not automatically be considered as
applications for the next round of grants. You must re-apply for each
round of grants.
Source:
http://www.mangoldtrust.org.au/Text/1166493790812-8517/pC/1166492461562-3686/Grant-Guidelines

Carnegie Mellon University AusAID Scholarships

2007-04-21T05:48:00.000-07:00

Deadline: 30 May 2007

Carnegie Mellon is a top ranking U.S. university. In 2006 the
university opened the Carnegie Mellon Heinz School, in Adelaide,
Australia. The Heinz School is consistently ranked among the top ten
public policy programs in the U.S. and is ranked first in information
technology.

The Commonwealth Government of Australia provides funding for a
limited number of Carnegie Mellon UniversityAusAID Scholarships to
eligible applicants for the following Masters level programs in
Adelaide:

1. Master of Science in Public Policy and Management (MSPPM)
An innovative and distinguished graduate program that prepares
students to advance the public interest by developing exceptional
analytic, quantitative and technical skills.

2. Master of Science in Information Technology (MSIT)
A unique graduate program offering a mix of technology, management and
strategy courses to provide students with an understanding of
information technology from both operational and strategic
perspectives.

The programs are delivered in three semesters over 12 months, full
time. Scholarship recipients will gain knowledge and skills that they
can apply to the development of their home country upon completion of
their study. Scholarships include full tuition, return economy
airfares, a contribution to living expenses and basic medical
insurance.

Australian Leadership Awards Scholarships

2007-04-21T05:46:00.000-07:00

Deadlines: 16 July 2007 (mail application) or 31 July 2007 (online
application)

ALA Scholarships are academically prestigious awards offered to high
achievers from the Asia-Pacific region each year to undertake
postgraduate study (Masters or Doctorate) and a Leadership Training
Program in Australia.

Selection for ALA Scholarships is highly competitive, based on
leadership qualities and on academic excellence.

ALA Scholarships are an investment in the future of the Asia-Pacific
region. In this regard, ALA scholars are therefore required to return
to their home country or the region for two years after they have
completed their studies.

In future years, ALA scholars will belong to a unique group - the
Australian Scholarships Alumni - a network that will maintain strong
and enduring links to Australia. Managed by AusAID as part of
Australia's overseas aid program, ALA Scholarships are open only to
citizens of countries in the Asia-Pacific region with which Australia
has an significant aid program.

Baca selengkapnya di http://www.milisbeasiswa.com

Objectives of ALA Scholarships

ALA Scholarships aim to:

* develop a cadre of leaders advancing regional reform,
development and governance
* increase exchange of knowledge and information within the region
* build common purpose and understanding between Australia and the
region
* build capacity to address priority regional issues
* build effective networks between Australia and the region
* demonstrate the benefits of Australian education through the
provision of high quality education.

Fields of study

Awards are open to all fields of study, however, study programs that
relate to the priority themes of international trade, pandemics,
security and climate change, including clean energy are encouraged.

2008 Endeavour Postgraduate Awards

2007-04-21T05:38:00.000-07:00

Deadlines: mid July (mail application) or 31 July 2007 (online
application)

The Endeavour Postgraduate Awards provide full financial support for
international students for up to 3 years to undertake a postgraduate
qualification at a Masters or PhD level either by coursework or
research in any field of study in Australia.

The Endeavour Postgraduate Awards aim to:
* enable high achieving international students to undertake a
postgraduate qualification either by coursework or research in their
chosen field of study in Australia
* strengthen bilateral ties between Australia and the participating
countries
* showcase Australia's education sector
* strengthen mutual understanding between the people of Australia and
award holders' home countries
* build international linkages and networks.

Baca selengkapnya di http://www.milisbeasiswa.com

Value and Duration

* Funding is available for up to 2 years for a Masters degree and up
to 3 years for PhD courses.
* Funding will be provided to cover the cost of standard Overseas
Students Health Cover (OSHC) for the duration of the award.
* Funds are not available to support accompanying dependants or for
return visits to the home country.
* Award holders must spend a minimum of 12 months and a maximum of
three years at their host institution.

Number of awards

Up to 65 awards will be offered to applicants from participating
countries with atleast

* 21 awards dedicated to Masters degree applicants
* 44 awards dedicated to PhD applicants.

PhD Empirical Economics - Granada

2007-04-18T19:23:00.001-07:00

PhD Empirical Economics

University of Granada (Spain)

NEW PhD PROGRAM IN ECONOMICS

Ph.D. Empirical Economics E2

University of Granada, Spain

The Department of Economics at University of Granada begins in
September 2007 a new doctoral program on Empirical Economics, named
E2. E2 is a new high quality doctoral program intended to educate
social scientists to undertake top research in Economics and
Management. E2 is the perfect environment to develop potential skills
for new graduated students. E2 offers a number of basic courses
tought by professors graduated in leading institutions. Additionally
E2 supports a wide variety of optative course aimed to those students
with major interests in Banking & Finance, Behavioral Economics,
Economic History, Labour Economics, Management, Macroeconomics and
Public Economic.

Further information is available at: http://www.ugr.es/~teoriahe/e2/.
Applicants are encouraged to follow the procedure detailed at E2
webpage

Prof. Pablo Brañas Garza Departamento de Teoría e Historia Económica
Universidad de Granada 18071 Granada, SPAIN http://www.ugr.es/~pbg/
pbg@ugr.es

Application has to be received by 30. June 2007.

MBA Scholarships at Nyenrode Business Universiteit - The Netherlands

2007-04-18T19:21:00.000-07:00

Deadline: 31 May 2007

Sponsored by Nyenrode Business Universiteit

Cedo Nulli Scholarship for Indonesian Talent

Essay topic
Indonesia's role in the global economy: the candidate should discuss
why Indonesia should be viewed as a considerable economic power,
especially in Asia, and how the Nyenrode MBA will help the candidate
to strengthen the country's economic position in a sustainable way.

Baca selanjutnya di http://www.milisbeasiswa.com

5 Entrepreneurial Manager Scholarships

Essay topic
The scholarships are to be presented in the context of the themes
Driven, Sharp and Committed, representing Nyenrode's three core
values. Candidates should indicate why they would be a valuable
addition to the Nyenrode community, and how they identify themselves
in these three entrepreneurial values. Examples of how these values
have been used by the candidate in a professional setting should be
given.

25 MPhil/PhD Studentships at King's College London, UK

2007-04-18T19:17:00.000-07:00

Graduate School studentships
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/graduate/funding/gs.html

As part of our commitment to graduate students, the College will be
offering a total of 25 Graduate School research studentships in the
2007-8 academic year.

2007 Competition

Applications for the Graduate School studentships are currently being
sought from students who intend to undertake research in one of the
following Schools:

School of Humanities
School of Law
School of Physical Sciences & Engineering
School of Social Sciences & Public Policy

Level of Award

Each studentship will cover tuition fees at home/EU level and provide
an annual stipend (£14600 approx. for 2007/08) for up to three years
subject to satisfactory progress.

Eligibility

These studentships are open to home, EU and international students.
Existing research students are not eligible to apply. In order to be
eligible applicants must:

-intend to register for a full-time MPhil/PhD research degree
programme only at King's
-have commenced the admissions application process to one of the
above Schools
-be due to commence a MPhil/PhD research degree programme during
2007/08
-complete and submit a Graduate School studentship application form
by the required deadline

Application process

Candidates should complete the Graduate School Studentship
application form (Word or pdf format) and return it to the Graduate
School Support Office by 1 May 2007. This deadline is absolute; any
applications received after this deadline will not be considered.

Please note

All candidates must have commenced their admissions application
process before submitting a studentship applicatiion
Candidates are ordinarily expected to have applied for relevant
Research Council funding through King's where possible/appropriate
(this does not apply to international students); please contact the
relevant School Office to discuss this further.

All applications received will be acknowledged and candidates will be
notified of the College's decision, following the selection process
undertaken at both School and College level, by mid June 2007.

Health Schools

If you wish to undertake your research within one of the following
Schools within King's, Medicine, Nursing & Midwifery, Dental
instittute or Biomedical & Health Sciences, please contact these
Schools directly for further information regarding Graduate School
studentship funding.

For general information about these studentships and other funding
opportunities please email the Graduate School.

Contact us

Graduate School Support Office
Academic Registry
King's College London
7.38 James Clerk Maxwell Building
Waterloo Road
London SE1 8WA
Email: graduateschool@kcl.ac.uk
Tel: 020 7848 3376/3389
Fax: 020 7848 3366

Master degree of Wireless Systems Scholarship

2007-04-18T19:16:00.001-07:00

Ericsson believes in an "all communicating" world. Voice, data,
images
and video are conveniently communicated anywhere and anytime in the
world, increasing both quality-of-life, productivity and enabling a
more resource-efficient world. Now we are actively seeking more great
minds to make it reality. Move with us into the future.

We invite you to join us in sharing this vision and apply for this
scholarship to pursue Master degree within the area of Wireless
Systems
ms.shtml >, at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm,
Sweden.

Three scholarships are available and competition is very keen.

Applicant Eligibility

1. Applicants must be Indonesian citizens.
2. Must have finished Bachelor (S1) of Electrical/Electronics
Engineering, or Computer Engineering.
3. Courses must have included unit of fundamental mathematics in
linear algebra, Fourier methods, and probability theory.
4. Students must have taken (and passed with distinction) a general
course on Signals and Systems, including material on: continuous and
discrete time signals, sampling, linear filters and systems, and
Fourier methods.
5. Applicants must have good oral and written skills in English, and
a minimum TOEFL score of 600 (245 for computer-based test, or 85 for
Internet-based test) or a minimum IELTS score of 6.5.

Selection and Verification Process

1. Ericsson works with KTH to identify and select scholarship
recipients.
2. Judges decisions are final and no correspondences will be
entertained.
3. The academic year starts in August 2007 and lasts until June 2009
(including examinations).
4. Student should be arrived at KTH in early August 2007.
5. Applicants should be in healthy condition and it is supported by
recommendation letter by the general practitioner from local hospital.

Announcement of the Scholarship Award Recipients

The winner is expected to be in Jakarta on May 29 to receive the
award.

Program Limits

1. Ericsson retains the right to change or terminate this program at
any time, and prior notification will be made accordingly.
2. Ericsson is not responsible for lost applications, lost
verification of enrollment, or information or materials misplaced or
delayed through the mail or other delivery processes.
3. Once submitted, all information and materials become the property
of Ericsson, and will not be returned. All information will be kept
confidential.

How to Apply

Please get the application through ScholarshipApplication.pdf and
follow the instruction.
(Applications & requirements must be received by Ericsson no later
than April 30, 2007)

You must carefully read the terms and conditions and please submit
all the required documents according to the Checklist School of
Electrical Engineering
< http://www.ericsson.com/id/ericsson/events/scholarship/files/Checklis
t_School%20of%20Electrical%20Engineering.pdf >

Send the application to:

PT Ericsson Indonesia
Code: Scholarship

Attn: Yoke Prabandari
Internal Relations Manager

Marketing & Communications Division
Wisma Pondok Indah, 2nd Floor
Jl. Sultan Iskandar Muda V TA
Jakarta 12310 - Indonesia
www.ericsson.com
Office: +62 21 769 2222
Fax: +62 21 769 7288
Email: yoke.prabandari@...

General Conditions of Award:

Participants shall follow the program approved for them. Request for
change of program will not be entertained. Participants should
participate in all activities related to the program. Participants
are not allowed to participate in any political and/or commercial
activities in any capacity whatsoever.

* This award is valid for selected participants only.
* Participants will be required to return to Indonesia upon
completion of the course or at the end of the tenure of the
scholarship whichever is earlier.
* The award may be terminated at any time for the reasons of
unsatisfactory conduct, breaches of the conditions of the award, or
failure to make satisfactory progress.

Terms and Condition Covered by Ericsson:

* A return air ticket on economy class is provided Jakarta -
Sweden - Jakarta. Expenditures such as excess baggage fees and others
related will be borne by the recipients.
* Tuition Fee and daily subsistence allowance will be given by
Ericsson and will be arranged by KTH.
* Selected travel & medical insurance is provided during
recipients stay in Sweden.

PhD Environmental Hydraulic, WAU-NL

2007-04-18T19:09:00.000-07:00

Ph D Environmental Hydraulics
Wageningen University and Researchcentre Chairgroup Hydraulic Water
Management
PhD Environmental Hydraulics
(Gelderland), 38 hours per week
Wageningen University and Researchcentre

Job description Within the NWO Indonesian-Dutch East Kalimantan
Research
Programme, the Mahakam research cluster aims to establish the impacts
of
sea-level rise, climate change, upstream controls and human
intervention on
the Mahakam delta. The PhD student will study the sediment and liquid
discharge distribution over the main distributaries in the delta, as
modulated by the tide. The central aim is to establish general
relations
between channel morphometric properties such as mean depth and surface
width
to hydraulic variables, influenced by the tide. The PhD student will
spend
approximately nine months doing fieldwork, consisting of a.o. acoustic
Doppler current profiling, measurement of sediment transport,
bathymetric
surveying and characterization of bed material and riparian vegetation.
The
PhD student will set up a regional hydraulic model to simulate
discharge and
sediment transport in the tidal river and delta. With a nested model,
the
discharge distribution at a tidally influenced river bifurcation will
be
investigated.

Requirements Required education/skills:
University Graduate
* MSc in Hydraulic Engineering, Fluid Mechanics, Oceanography,
Hydrology
or closely related field
* Experience with field work and hydraulic modeling is preferred
* Good written and oral communication skills in English
* Team player

Job type: Research / Advising
Workfield(s):
- Research trainees, non-tenured lecturers, researchers(Scientific
discipline: Natural Sciences)

Organization Wageningen University and Researchcentre
Chairgroup Hydraulic Water Management

Conditions of employment Estimated maximum salary per month: eur 1500 -
2000
Employment basis: Temporary for specified period
Duration of the contract: 1-4 years
Maximum hours per week: 38
Additional conditions of employment:
Appointment will initially take place for a period of one year to
evaluate
suitability; if suitability is determined to be adequate, the
employment
contract will be extended for 3 years. Salary amount during the first
year ˆ
1956 a month (gross; fulltime employment).

Additional Information Additional information about the vacancy can be
obtained from:

Dr. Ir. A.J.F. Hoitink
E-mail address: ton.hoitink@wur.nl

Application You can apply for this job before 28-04-2007 (dd-mm-yyyy)
by
sending your application to:

Wageningen UR, afd HRM, departement Omgevingswetenschappen
J. Cobben
Postbus 47
6700 AA wageningen
E-mail: vacatures.dow@wur.nl

When applying for this job always mention the vacancy number
DOW-07-HWM-23-J.

2007 CIPE International Essay Competition

2007-04-18T19:07:00.000-07:00

2007 CIPE International Essay Competition
Deadline: 31 May 2007
Theme: Engaging Youth in Reform

Eligibility
Open to students and young professionals aged 18-30. Special weight
will be given to essays submitted by citizens of non-OECD countries.

Young people can be a powerful force for change! As future reformers,
young people (18-30) have innovative ideas on how to solve the
political, economic, and social problems facing their countries.
However, they often lack the voice to bring these ideas to
policymakers. Simply, young people are often regarded as recipients
of reforms, not active participants in the reform process.

CIPE's essay contest gives you the opportunity to share your ideas
about citizenship, democratic and market-oriented reform, youth
leadership, and the ways that your country can create avenues for
youth to participate in the political and economic spheres. We
encourage you to get thinking, get involved, and use your own
experiences to develop concrete solutions to these development issues.

A $1,000 honorarium will be given for each winning essay

April NewsMakers

2007-04-11T21:17:00.001-07:00

Corey Wemple joined the Biwabik office as assistant vice president and consumer lending officer. Previously with Isabella Bank & Trust of Big Rapids, MI, Wemple has more than 12 years experience in real estate and consumer lending.

Catholic Charities Bureau

Gary Valley was promoted to director of bureau housing at the Superior-based nonprofit. He will supervise 26 apartment buildings in 18 communities in northern Wisconsin and Duluth. He joined Catholic Charities in 1998 after serving as a Peace Corps volunteer and as an administrator with USAID in Central America.

Bruce Todd, former manager of Northwest Region Housing, was named assistant director of housing/facilities manager.

Sandy Al-Qudah, was promoted to director of housing counseling. She began her career at Catholic Charities in 1997.

Depot Foundation

Susan Bolinger was named executive director of the Duluth-based nonprofit organization. She previously worked in Washington, D.C. for Citibank, where she was responsible for an annual $1 billion negotiated partnership program.

Fox 21 News

Todd Nelson was hired as chief meteorologist of the Duluth network affiliate’s news team. Nelson was the morning and noon meteorologist at KBJR/KDLH-TV in Duluth. He will continue to give the morning weather forecast on 95 KQDS-FM.

Kraus Anderson

Jarrid Houston was hired as assistant project manager in the Minneapolis-based company’s Duluth office. He worked for Big Lake Construction in Osceola, WI and received his B.S. in industrial technology/construction management from Bemidji State University.

Lake Superior College

Dental hygiene instructor Penny Fudally and sociologist Marlise Riffel were nominated for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Award for Excellence in Teaching. Fudally has been an LSC faculty member for 15 years. Riffel has taught for more than 25 years.

Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation

Joan Gardner-Goodno was hired as the Duluth foundation’s first executive director. She has more than 24 years of nonprofit experience including grants management, nonprofit administration, federal grants program monitoring and evaluation, community collaboration and program development.

Newby, Lingren & Westermann, Ltd.

Attorney Jeffrey Naglosky was hired by the Cloquet law firm. Naglosky obtained his Juris Doctorate from Creighton University School of Law in Omaha, NE with a concentration in criminal law. He worked for Carlton County Court Administration.

Northspan Group, Inc.

Peter Kolar, president of Kolar Autoworld of Hermantown and Wade Pavleck, Koochiching County commissioner, joined The Northspan Group board of directors. The board also named its officers for 2007: Dan Markham of Reuben Johnson & Son, Inc., chairman; Debora Bradt of Republic Bank, vice-chairwoman; and Steve Raukar, St. Louis County commissioner, secretary/treasurer.

The Northspan Group is a Duluth-based private nonprofit development organization that providew professional business and community development consulting services for the region and the Upper Midwest.

Northstar Aerospace

The Duluth aviation company announced these promotions and hires:

• Ken Chipman was hired as vice president, chief financial officer. With more than 20 years of accounting and management experience, he was controller at Grandma’s Restaurant Co. He received his accounting degree from the University of Minnesota Duluth.

• Doug Swanstrom was promoted to vice president of manufacturing. He joined the staff in 2004 as director of quality assurance. He earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Redlands in California.

• Don Winberg was promoted to quality assurance manager. He joined Northstar Aerospace in 2003 as a machinist and later became a supervisor in quality control. He has 17 years of manufacturing experience.

• Susan Taylor was promoted to employment coordinator, human resources.

Northland College

Senior Alison Spaude was selected as the Valerie Chabot Teaching fellow at the Ashland college’s Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute. Spaude will coordinate promotion, program development, and evaluation for the 2007 Apostle Island School.

Points North

The Duluth software company announced these promotions and hires:

• Todd Davis was promoted to director of development.

• Blaine Balavance was hired as an integration specialist.

• Warren Wolfe was hired as channel manager.

PolyMet Mining Corp.

The Vancouver, British Columbia-based company appointed operating and construction staff for NorthMet, its planned nonferrous mineral operation near Hoyt Lakes. Joe Scipioni was named chief operating officer; Phillip Brodie-Hall as project director; and Andrew Clark as project manager.

Brodie-Hall and Clark join the NorthMet team which includes Jim Scott in charge of environmental planning, Don Hunter in charge of mine planning and Steve Ryan in charge of construction labor relations.

Superior/Douglas County Leadership Program

The program named 10 as “Outstanding Douglas County Resident” for 2007.

They are: Louis Andrews, Bud Brand, Kim Bunnell, Linda Hines, Kathy Laakso, Ruth Lintelmann, Jim Manion, Christine O’Neill, Geof Wendorf, and Dan Wicklund.

The 10 were chosen based on nominations submitted by community members outlining the nominee’s volunteerism and community service efforts.

Winners will be honored April 24 at the Superior Moose Lodge.

University of Minnesota Duluth

The university announced its first doctoral program. The Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degree program begins its initial course offerings in August 2007.

Professor Randall Hicks is the new director of the Center for Freshwater Research and Policy. The biology department chairman for eight years, Hicks completed a Ph.D. degree in Ecology at the University of Georgia and did postdoctoral work at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Illinois Natural History Survey before joining the faculty at UMD.

Michael Zgurovsky, rector of the Kiev Polytechnic Institute in Ukraine, met with scientists and administrators at the University and its Natural Resources Research Institute to explore a partnership to further refine his sustainable development gauging matrix. Zgurovsky also met with University of Minnesota Duluth administrators to discuss future cooperative projects in education and science between the two universities.

University of Wisconsin Superior

Bethany Haworth Boerboom, a senior majoring in Transportation and Logistics Management, received the national Louise Moritz Molitoris Leadership Award from the Women’s Transportation Seminar. She will receive a $3,000 scholarship and attend the WTS national conference in San Diego in May to accept the award.

Mary Schoeler was named assistant vice chancellor for instruction and information technology and chief information officer. She was chief technology officer at the State University of New York-Oswego.

Jane Birkholz was named assistant vice chancellor for enrollment management. She was chief student affairs officer at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Wells Fargo

The nationwide bank contributed $10.8 million to more than 1,000 nonprofit organizations and local schools throughout Minnesota in 2006. Contributions in Duluth and Northeastern Minnesota included the Northern Communities Land Trust, University of Minnesota Duluth and the United Way of Greater Duluth.

WesternBank

The Duluth-based bank appointed Steve Decatur to the position of executive vice president. He has more than 30 years of experience in banking and finance, including as president and CEO of U.S. Bank in Duluth.

Wisconsin Nonprofits Association

The founding board of directors met for the first time in early February. A charter membership package will be offered to nonprofits statewide later this spring.

AACR to Present Distinguished Public Service Awards at 2007 Annual Meeting

2007-04-11T21:13:00.000-07:00

PHILADELPHIA, April 11, 2007-- The American Association for Cancer Research will honor Andrew C. Von Eschenbach, M.D., Harold P. Freeman, M.D., and LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr., M.D., for their outstanding efforts in leadership, education and advocacy with two awards at the AACR Annual Meeting 2007.

Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D., will be receive the AACR Distinguished Service Award for exemplary leadership as Director of the National Cancer Institute during a time of flourishing scientific and technological advances with gradually diminishing resources. During his five-year tenure, Dr. von Eschenbach fostered new and productive interagency agreements among the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services which streamlined the development and delivery of new medicines to seriously ill patients with cancer. His insistence upon open lines of communication and transparent governance and administration – particularly through the NCI Cancer Bulletin and other new publications – filled a vital role in keeping the public informed about the work and progress of the Institute. A nationally recognized urologic surgeon and oncologist, founding member of C-Change, former president-elect of the American Cancer Society, and three-time cancer survivor, Dr. von Eschenbach has made an impact on the fight against cancer that extends well beyond the clinical and academic communities.

Harold P. Freeman, M.D., will receive the AACR Public Service Award in recognition for his national leadership in the effort to reduce health disparities in the fight against cancer. Dr. Freeman is the founder, president, and medical director of the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Serving with distinction for more than a decade as the Chairman of the President’s Cancer Panel, Dr. Freeman’s expertise in healthcare administration has contributed enormously to raising awareness of and defining strategies to address critical healthcare issues. In addition, his pioneering research in the patient navigator concept has made significant inroads into cancer health disparity issues.

LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr., M.D., will receive the AACR Public Service Award in recognition of his leadership in the fight against cancer through excellence in teaching, research, scholarship, patient care, and public service . Dr. Leffall is the Charles R. Drew Professor at the Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C. A renowned surgeon and compassionate physician, he has served as president of several major national and international organizations, including the Society of Surgical Oncologists, the American College of Surgeons, and the American Cancer Society. Through his service on the National Cancer Advisory Board, as Chairman of the President’s Cancer Panel, and as Founding President and Chairman of the Board of C-Change.Dr. Leffall has received numerous awards and honors for his contributions to the national campaign for cancer awareness.

The AACR Public Service Award and the AACR Distinguished Service Award will be presented at 7:00 a.m. Sunday, April 15, during opening ceremonies of the 2007 AACR Annual Meeting. Members of the media registered for the meeting are welcome to attend.

###

The mission of the American Association for Cancer Research is to prevent and cure cancer. Founded in 1907, AACR is the world's oldest and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research. The membership includes more than 24,000 basic, translational, and clinical researchers; health care professionals; and cancer survivors and advocates in the United States and more than 70 other countries. AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise from the cancer community to accelerate progress in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer through high-quality scientific and educational programs. It funds innovative, meritorious research grants. The AACR Annual Meeting attracts more than 17,000 participants who share the latest discoveries and developments in the field. Special Conferences throughout the year present novel data across a wide variety of topics in cancer research, treatment, and patient care. AACR publishes five major peer-reviewed journals: Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research; Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; and Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. Its most recent publication, CR, is a magazine for cancer survivors, patient advocates, their families, physicians, and scientists. It provides a forum for sharing essential, evidence-based information and perspectives on progress in cancer research, survivorship, and advocacy.

Contact:
Angela DeCicco
215-440-9300 ext. 104
decicco@aacr.org

... to boldly go where no class has gone before

2007-04-11T21:06:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wandered into space during English class?

Most of us are guilty of this habit. But, on your way to other worlds, has Spock ever lectured you on theories of philosophy?

This space odyssey figure might be accomplishing just that at Georgetown University's "Star Trek and Philosophy" class in Washington, D.C. In this course, students can expect to question the possibility of time travel, ponder the ethical questions of human computers, and maybe even psychoanalyze Capt. Kirk.

Many colleges are now offering similar -- and interesting -- variations on subjects that can sometimes seem mundane.

For example, students are no longer flocking to the typical Chemistry 101 class at Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Md., but are flooding "The Science of Harry Potter" course. And at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., professors are taking social sciences to new levels with "Real Fakes," a class strictly reserved for America's obsession of everything from cosmetic surgery to the Osbournes to artificial intelligence.

But are these classes just easy alternatives, or are they strategically challenging students with unique subject matter?

The hope is that appealing courses are going to attract and engage students even before class begins. Prof. George R. Plitnik, the mastermind behind "The Science of Harry Potter" at Frostburg, has even had to expand his program to accommodate the students' appetite. The syllabus, however, still promises to be as challenging as the subject is charming, and students will be expected to evaluate the books' magic by grounding their own knowledge in the scientific veracity.

Not every college student is a Potter fan, but the course is unique in that it can open minds to the way we interpret the abstract. It challenges students to muse over the imaginary and pose them against reality in order to gain a dynamic understanding of any subject. In this sense, Plitnik's classes rouse both traditional learning and traditional thinking in a setting where students might be more eager to expand their template of knowledge. By spicing up the learning system, these "unique" classes might intrigue students in fields they previously deemed too lackluster or arduous.

On the other hand, these somewhat bizarre-sounding courses still cost precious scholarship money, government grants and funding from the college itself. With some students repaying their education loans decades after graduation, is it fair that their money might be going to classes like "Ghost Hunting 101" at Lane Community College in Eugene, Ore.?

Teaching curriculum devoted to the possibility of flying broomsticks and chasing Casper might be entertaining, but some argue there is little value in such knowledge in the "real world." Oppositions to such courses argue that intellectual professors should be focusing their education on areas more applicable to life after college.

Some courses might have applications hidden beneath obscurity, but others are obviously geared toward specific majors. In Iowa City, Iowa, the University of Iowa's course "American Vacation" explores how race, class and history affect the vacations Americans take. While many students might find the option both informative and interesting, the class's scope is geared for majors in advertisement, family planning and sociology.

Other programs can be utilized by a much larger spectrum. Students searching for a viable alternative to the conventional English 101 class can enroll in "Art of Walking" offered at Centre College in Danville, Ky. Undergrads must be prepared to dive into the literary likes of Friedrich Nietzsche and Immanuel Kant, but they also need to bring their Nikes. Walking with their professor and his dog most of the semester, students discuss the conceptual transcendence walking can give philosophers and literally follow the habits of such writers, but they also get some fresh air and hopefully a fresh perspective on classic literature.

Finding new ways to teach the same subject matter can add vigor to traditional themes. Some may even make complex disciplines more palatable. This doesn't have to equate with juvenile Shakespeare books, but if walking helps students understand literature by literally putting them in the philosophers' shoes, then perhaps we should be promoting untraditional courses more often.

Locally, Yakima Valley Community College offers some intriguing classes, too. "Anthropology 198: Youth Subcultures" takes an analytical approach to viewing the mindsets, actions and trends in prominent youth subcultures with a focus on skinheads, mods, goths and punks. The three-credit course in social sciences explores the influences that help shape these subcultures and how they can in turn pressure greater cultures. An experiential focus is incorporated within the syllabus along with documentaries, performance footage and musical impacts.

"The Bible as Literature" is another three-credit alternative. This English selection takes a deep look at the famous book from a literary standpoint. It's not Sunday school though; you study the cultural influence, artistry and philosophical impact the Bible has had on a global scale.

Other in-state options are more peculiar. For example, have you ever put extensive thought into how mountains move, why we pursue happiness, or even what really happens when you get old and wrinkly? At The Evergreen State College in Olympia, professors direct a course titled the "Extraordinary Science of Everyday Experience: A Day in the Life" in which students can expect to answer these questions and many like them through a comprehensive exploration behind everyday experiences. The course is especially creative in that most of the program involves the journey of two hypothetical people who are experiencing the world while students try to analyze their events and predict how they will turn out. Students can pose questions about almost any occurrence, but they're challenged to comprehend them through the scientific method. Suddenly, simple happenings like sleeping become much more complex when students are asked to elucidate the scientific reasoning behind exactly how and why organisms rest.

Classes like this can invigorate young minds to start questioning the workings of nature and probe the bigger questions. It may be obscure, but some argue it might also be more effective because of it.

Some organizations, however, fear that such bizarre-sounding classes are not only useless to the participants, but are actually detrimental to our education system. Each year, the Young America's Foundation compiles the "Dirty Dozen," a list of the oddest and most disconcerting college offerings according to their standards. This year, the Virginia-based Web site awarded Occidental College of Los Angeles and its course -- "The Phallus," a study of the science and theory surrounding the male physiology -- as the No. 1 "troubling" class offering.

Other courses that made the list include "Queer Musicology" at University of California-Los Angeles and "Whiteness: The Other Side of Racism," offered by Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass.

The titles of these classes are surprising to many; some are appalled by the subject matter while others are intrigued by the angle of vision. But where do the classes stand in the greater context?

"The Phallus" is understandably sparking skepticism, but the study is logically placed as part of the comprehensive curriculum of Occidental's Women Studies/Gender Studies. The college maintains the class as one part of a wider field of study that entails a disciplinary emphasis on gender issues. Some advocates support the college's stance on gender majors and argue that just because a class is controversial doesn't mean society should shy away from exploring it. In contrast, others question the credibility in receiving course credit for learning about cultural integration of the male genitalia.

The Dirty Dozen compilation includes classes at some of America's most honored universities, including Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and University of California-Berkeley. Even our own University of Washington in Seattle made No. 6 with its option "Border Crossings, Borderlands: Transnational Feminist Perspectives on Immigration." The foundation says the college is out-of-line with its alternative take on national security and that such teachings are "troubling instances of leftist activism supplanting traditional scholarship."

Are liberal college teachings overstepping boundaries, dumbing down our educational curriculum? I would have to disagree. On the basis of a dynamic education, shouldn't we support learning alternate views of dealing with such critical issues as border security? Similarly, I don't know the underlying motives of the University of California-Los Angeles or Mount Holyoke College, but I do know they have aided in opening the discussions of racism and sexuality to a larger arena of learning.

The foundation's Web site proudly displays a flowing American flag banner and rants about the fallacies of studying Marxism and even Swarthmore College's "Nonviolent Responses to Terrorism" in Swarthmore, Pa.

But perhaps the organization is flying its flag too far from the principles of democracy. Obviously, these ideologies are contestable "right" answers to solving the world's problems, but aren't they at least worth knowing, understanding? How can we disclose the value of these courses if we refuse to even consider their applicability as alternative thinking?

If led by the right professor, I think Spock and stimulation can coincide in the classroom. College courses that are controversial or entertaining don't have to translate to uninformative or simplified education. And, who knows, maybe the next breakthrough in psychological reasoning is resting in the cockpit of the starship Enterprise, hypothetically speaking, of course.

Scholarship Gala to Honor Chostner, Moore

2007-04-11T21:01:00.000-07:00

Two Puebloans and a Foundation that has benefited numerous community entities will receive President’s Medallions for Distinguished Service as part of the 2007 President’s Scholarship Gala to be held on Friday, April 27. The evening’s theme, “Dreamcatchers,” focuses on raising funds to lessen the barriers that may keep students from achieving their dreams.

The Gala will begin at 6 p.m. in the Occhiato University Center Hearthwell Lounge with cocktails, a silent auction, and performances by The Thundering Earth Singers and The Many Rivers Singers and Groupo Tochli. The entire evening’s expenses are underwritten by donors, guaranteeing that all proceeds directly benefit future generations of CSU-Pueblo students through merit scholarships. Major underwriters include, Community Banks of Colorado, Legacy Bank, My Friend the Printer, RMC Distributing, and U.S. Bank.

Dreamcatchers generally symbolize the web of life, capturing good ideas while filtering bad thoughts out through a center hole. A Native American theme will permeate the event reflected in the evening’s décor, cuisine, entertainment, and silent auction selections.

After dinner, CSU-Pueblo President Joseph Garcia will present community member Jeff Chostner, former Library Dean Beverly Moore, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation with President’s Medallions for Distinguished Service. The President’s Medallion recognizes individuals or organizations that set high standards of ethics and values to serve as examples for CSU-Pueblo students and the campus community as a whole through their profession, exceptional service, and/or contributions to humanity. Recipients must support the University’s continual progress toward future goals and achievements and/or make significant contributions as an advocate of post secondary education.

According to Garcia, Jeff Chostner’s actions reflect a desire to better this community and the region. Chostner publicly supports the business sector, education, the arts, and athletics, and the impact of his generous contributions of time and financial resources to the University has been wide spread. Chostner will receive the President’s Medallion for Distinguished Service to the Community.

“By establishing the Julietta Chostner math scholarship in his mother’s honor, Chostner stands as a role model for all to emulate by allowing future generations of students an opportunity to find success,” Garcia said. “Chostner also has inspired students through his willingness to serve this country in the Air Force and the community through the City Council and now the County Commission.”

Athletics Director Joe Folda said he would consider Beverly Moore to be “the number one fan of Thunderwolves athletics” based on her attendance at men’s and women’s athletic events and her financial generosity. Moore has contributed more than $25,000 since 1985 to the Thunderwolf athletic program, Colorado Music Fest, and the Pueblo Symphony. In more than three decades with the University Library, she exhibited significant leadership and dedication to the success of University students and faculty alike. Moore will receive the President’s Medallion for Distinguished Service to the University.

Since 1982, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation has awarded $14.6 million through 821 grants to 191 organizations working across the spectrum of community needs in Pueblo County. In the past three years, an average of 51 grants has been made annually from a budget of $800,000 per year. The Foundation will receive the President’s Medallion for Distinguished Service to Education.

The Packard Foundation has funded nearly $800,000 in grants since 1987 to projects all across the CSU-Pueblo campus from the Buell Communications Center and Hasan Amphitheatre to Colorado Music Fest, the HSB Healy Center, and our First-Year Experience Project. The local grantmaking program in Pueblo, where David Packard was born and raised, has been a part of the Foundation’s work since 1977. The mission of the program is to enrich the lives of local residents, working in partnership with nonprofits and community leaders. Since 1985, about 13 percent of grant budgets, or nearly $2 million, has gone to educational entities in Pueblo County, including the CSU-Pueblo Foundation, Pueblo Community College, Pueblo City Schools, and Pueblo School District 70.

Tickets for the 2006 President’s Scholarship Gala are $100 per person or $1,000 for a corporate table of 8. To participate as an attendee or a silent auction contributor, contact the CSU-Pueblo Foundation at 719-549-2442.

Recognizing Creative Destruction

2007-04-11T21:00:00.000-07:00

If Joseph A. Schumpeter were alive on commencement day, he would no doubt be surprised: The sight of Bill Gates speaking from the steps of Memorial Church to a sea of crimson would puzzle the Austrian economist and former Harvard professor. Schumpeter had predicted that entrepreneurs like Gates, though the lifeblood of a market economy, would only find hostility in halls of academia.

Schumpeter’s diagnosis of capitalism’s ills missed the mark, yet his remarks on the academy’s disdain for entrepreneurs were dead on. From the Trotskyite editors of the Partisan Review to Lawrence H. Summers’ recent detractors, self-styled intellectuals and academics have long bristled at market principles. For them, admiration for entrepreneurship is no more than vulgar hero worship, straight from an Ayn Rand novel.

Then it’s hardly surprising that commencement has long served as a soapbox for statesmen, academics and the occasional man (or woman) of letters; corporate titans have been consciously excluded—including from the list of honorary degree recipients. Since 1950, the only corporate leader to address departing graduates has been IBM president Thomas Watson Jr. in 1981. In light of this, Gates’ selection is somewhat of an anomaly.

Of course, the senior class chose Gates for his giving, rather than his earning. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, both in scope and reach, has revolutionized philanthropy. Yet his conversion is no different from the type of reputation redemption mastered by monopolists like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller—neither of whose avarice was dignified with an honorary degree. What has changed?

Part of it is the softer edge of technology. Few people believe that Microsoft’s dubious dealings in the 90s were truly acting against the public interest. Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page unseated MSN and Yahoo with a mere algorithm—proof of the economy’s democratic nature. Tech fortunes just seem less exploitative, built on mainframes and lines of code rather than the backs of unskilled laborers.

Another is the growing realization that money talks—in all languages. Private foundations can often avoid the bureaucratic mess that plagues public funds, and more effectively stomp out developing world maladies. Even NGOs extol the virtue of profit through microfinance. Social enterprises ensure that each dollar of goodwill can go further. For do-gooders and techies alike, entrepreneurship is almost a religious calling.

This hasn’t always been the case, at least at the College. Indeed, Harvard Student Agencies (HSA) was founded in 1957 to employ scholarship students, not train startup founders. A September 1967 Crimson article cited “the average Harvard student’s apparently natural disdain for business” as the source of campus antipathy to HSA. Budding entrepreneurs had hurdles to jump through trying to innovate. Gates, for one, allegedly went before the Administrative Board for commercially using University computers. And HSA, with its tight monopoly of campus services, rather than fostering innovation, only ended up stifling it.

Things have started to change for the better. In 2000, the Harvard College Dean’s Office lifted its ban on students operating for-profit businesses on campus. Prior, startups had to keep day-to-day operations out of dorms or their founders would face the Administrative Board. The wild successes of Sparknotes and Facebook proved that students had a knack for Internet novelties. Just this fall, the University allowed Dormaid’s laundry service to compete with HSA’s.

Yet these developments occurred with little infrastructural support. The Harvard College Entrepreneurship Forum (HCEF), founded last fall, is trying to fill this gap. HCEF co-founder and vice-president Michael Segal ’09, who is also a Crimson editor, cited the need for a “culture of entrepreneurship” to match the likes of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford. Segal said that there is no shortage of ideas or interest—noting the attendance of up to 60 undergraduates at the club’s inaugural events—just one of support for their realization.

Purists might scoff at entrepreneurship, saying it has no place at a liberal arts college, and that undergraduates should wrestle with life’s big questions now, and later scheme how to make a quick buck.

Such a view, however, is silly. Harvard is right to uphold pedagogical purity—forcing students to take accounting at MIT, for example. Yet students cannot live on Plato and Proust alone. If the hordes of economics concentrators are any sign, there is no lack of interest in the market. So, just as campus publications hone the skills of budding journalists, similarly should seed grants or non-interest loans from the administration nourish students’ brilliant ideas.

You don’t need Steve Jobs, the flamboyant founder of Apple, to convince you that entrepreneurship is primarily about creativity. With some more institutional support, aspiring venture capitalists might try the exciting (though precarious) world of self-employment before turning to the world of high finance.

And market-skeptics, those who despise their I-banking peers, should take heart that entrepreneurs are revolutionaries of sorts, who shun conformity and yearn for the “creative destruction” that Schumpeter saw at the heart of capitalism’s dynamism. Hopefully, that is what the Class of 2007 will take away from this year’s commencement.

Education Calendar

2007-04-11T20:55:00.000-07:00

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Education Calendar

All submissions for the Education Calendar must be received by the Bulletin at least three days before an event in order to ensure they are included in the daily listing. To submit information or photos for the Education Calendar, please e-mail schools@norwichbulletin.com

BOZRAH

Fields Memorial School, 8 Bozrah St. Ext., 887-2561:

Registration packets for incoming kindergarten students are available. Children must be 5 on or before Dec. 31 in order to attend the fall 2007 session. Call Mrs. Jurczyk at 887-2561 for more information.

The next preschool screening will be Friday for Bozrah residents who are between 3 and 4 years old. If you have a child in this age range, call Mrs. Jurczyk at 887-2561 to schedule an appointment for your child. Screening appointments will be scheduled beginning at 9 a.m.

COLCHESTER

Bacon Academy, 611 Norwich Ave., 537-23785:

Volunteers are needed to help with the senior barbecue June 8. For information, e-mail George Breault at george.breault.jr@snet.net or the Grad Night Committee at gradnight07@hotmail.com

The next grad night committee meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the faculty lounge. Meetings are held at 7 p.m. every Wednesday.

Colchester Elementary School, 315 Halls Hill Road, 537-0717:

Kindergarten story times will be held from noon to 12:30 p.m. Wednesday and May 9 for Colchester children ages 4-5 who will be entering kindergarten during the 2007-08 school year. Teachers and administrators will meet with children, read stories and help children become familiar with the school. Parents and children may attend as many story times as they like. Registration not required.

Colchester Board of Education, 127 Norwich Ave., Suite 202, 537-7267:

The monthly informal meet-and-greet event for community members and parents interested in asking questions and learning more about the community schools will be held at 6:30 p.m. April 30 in Town Hall room 1 with Superintendent Karen Loiselle and First Selectman Stan Soby.

DANIELSON

Killingly High School, 79 Westfield Ave., 77-6620:

Killingly High School Project Grad 2007 pasta dinner will be held from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. April 28 at the Brooklyn Firehouse, 15 S. Main St. $8 for adults, and $5 for children younger than 6. Tickets available at all Killingly schools and at the door.

Quinebaug Valley Community College, 742 Upper Maple St., 774-1130 and 729 Main St. Willimantic, 423-1824:

Easter egg hunt sponsored by the Soldiers' Angels of Northeast Connecticut will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday on the Danielson campus.

A tour and information session for prospective students will be held at 5 p.m. Wednesday on the Willimantic campus. For information, call 423-1824.

A tour and information session for prospective students will be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday on the Danielson campus. For information, call 774-1130.

The Kids Academy School Break Week programs for children ages 6-14 will be held April 16-20 on the Danielson campus. For information or to register, call 774-1133.

EAST LYME

East Lyme High School, 30 Chesterfield Road, P.O. Box 210, 739-6946:

The class of 2007 is sponsoring a recycling program to raise funds for its drug- and alcohol-free graduation party. Students will collect old cell phones and used ink cartridges throughout the spring. A drop box is in the high school main office on Chesterfield Road in East Lyme. E-mail Michele Joy at landjoy@aol.com for further information.

The East Lyme High School Drug- and Alcohol-Free Graduation Party Committee is asking for donations to support an all-night, alcohol-free, drug-free, safe and supervised party June 22 after graduation ceremonies. Contributions may be mailed to East Lyme Senior Class Party, P.O. Box 941, East Lyme, CT 06333. To donate door prizes for the graduation party, call Dan Holle at 859-3173 or e-mail dholle1958@yahoo.com or call Michele Joy at 739-8894 or e-mail landjoy@aol.com

LEDYARD

Juliet W. Long School, 1854 Route 12, Gales Ferry, 464-2780:

"Macbeth" will be presented as the fifth annual Shakespeare play at 7 p.m. Friday. The event is free and open to the public.

LISBON

Lisbon Central School, 15 Newent Road, 376-2403:

The school is establishing a preliminary count for the 2007-08 kindergarten and preschool classes. To register for kindergarten, a child must be 5 by Jan. 1, 2008. Children from infants through 5 years old, born before Jan. 1, 2004, can be preregistered for preschool. Registration forms may be picked up in the main office.

MIDDLETOWN

State Department of Education's Bureau of Health and Nutrition Services and Child/Family/School Partnerships, 25 Industrial Park Road, 807-2073:

The state Department of Education is looking for qualified local sponsoring organizations to give children free meals through the 2007 federal Summer Food Service Program for Children. Local sponsors may include public or private nonprofit school food authorities; state, local, municipal or county governments; residential public or private nonprofit summer camps; public or private nonprofit colleges or universities participating in the National Youth Sports Program; and private nonprofit organizations. For information, call Susan Bohuslaw at 807-2073.

MONTVILLE

St. Bernard School, 1593 Norwich-New London Turnpike, Uncasville, 848-1271:

Mothers are invited to a presentation by Dr. Roni Cohen-Sandler, best-selling co-author of "I'm Not Mad, I Just Hate You," regarding parenting, especially mother-daughter relationships at 7 p.m. April 25 in the auditorium. Pre-registration is $5 before April 20. Door tickets $7. Make checks payable to St. Bernard School.

NEW LONDON

Connecticut College, 270 Mohegan Ave., 447-1911:

The fourth annual Conn Film Festival will hold five film screenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. through Friday. The event is free and open to the public. For information, call 439-2301.

Connecticut College Dance Department Senior Thesis Concert will be held at 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday in the Palmer Auditorium. General admission $12, students and seniors $6, 439-2830.

NORWICH

British American Preparatory School, 21 Fairmount St., Norwich, 823-7098:

Registration for the 2007-08 school year is open. Visits by prospective parents and registration hours are from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. every school day, or evenings by appointment. For information, or to arrange a visit to the school, call 823-7098 or visit www.britishamericanprepschool.org

The school has a limited number of scholarships for children 7 to 9 years old. These are awarded initially for one year, but may be extended based on the progress of the student. Awards are made based on academic promise measured by examination. The value of the award will depend upon the family's financial status. For information, call 823-7098 or visit www.britishamericanprepschool.org. The 2007 scholarship examination will take place Saturday. Children will be given age-appropriate tests in math and English, as well as verbal and nonverbal reasoning. The closing date for applications is today. For information and an application form, call 823-7098.

Norwich Public Schools, 90 Town St., 823-4245:

Norwich Public Schools holds meetings at 6 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of each month in the Kelly Middle School library. The next meeting will be April 24. For information, call 823-4245 or e-mail pwaubin@norwichpublicschools.org

Sacred Heart School, 15 Hunters Ave., Taftville, 887-1757:

Registration for the 2007-08 school year is open. Open houses will be held from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. every Thursday. Registration hours are from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. every school day, evening hours by appointment only. For information or to arrange a visit to the school, call 887-1757 or visit www.sacredhearttaftville.org

Three Rivers Community College, 7 Mahan Drive, 886-0177:

Three Rivers is opening to the public an environmental issues seminar class offered through the college's environmental engineering technology program. The two-credit class will be taught by guest lecturers who will speak on a wide range of locally relevant environmental topics. Classes meet from 6 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. Thursdays at the Thames Valley campus, room 102.

Children First Norwich/School Readiness Council Collaborative is sponsoring a Truck Day at 10 a.m. April 28 at Three Rivers Community College, Mohegan campus. An array of large trucks, tractors, backhoes and activities is planned. For information, call Sherry Filiatreault at 823-3782.

PLAINFIELD

Plainfield High School, 105 Putnam Road, P.O. Box 218, Central Village 564-6422:

Spring vacation runs Monday through April 20.

SALEM

Salem School, 200 Hartford Road, 859-0267:

Kindergarten registration packets are available for pick-up in the main office between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Children must be 5 on or before Jan. 1, 2008. For questions, call 859-0267, Ext. 3207.

SPRAGUE

Sprague Public Schools, 25 Scotland Road, 822-8264:

Preschool screenings will be held from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. May 17. The screening is open to all 3- and 4-year-old children in Baltic, Hanover and Versailles. For information, call Sheilagh Morgan at 822-8264, Ext. 193.

THOMPSON

Mary R. Fisher Elementary School, 785 Riverside Drive, North Grosvenordale, 923-9142:

Preschool data is being compiled for the 2007-08 school year. Children 4 years old on or before Dec. 31 are eligible for the 4-year old program. For information, call the school office at 923-9142 or 923-2301 by May 25. Your child must be screened in order to be considered for the program. The program is tuition-based. All preschool children must be residents of Thompson.

WARWICK, R.I.

New England Institute of Technology, 2500 Post Road:

The "Tech Nite" open house will be from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. today. For directions to the college, visit www.neit.edu or call 467-7744 or 1-800-736-7744.

WINDHAM

Eastern Connecticut State University, 83 Windham St., Willimantic, 465-5000:

Eastern Connecticut State University presents "Nothing Short of Waterworks" Wednesday through Sunday at the Harry Hope Theatre in Shafer Hall. Admission is $5 for Eastern students and children younger than 12; $10 for faculty, staff, alumni, senior citizens and other students; $12 for general public. For reservations or ticket information, call the box office at 465-5123.

AHEAD

The R.I.S.E.N. program at Sacred Heart School, 50 Sacred Heart Drive, Groton, will host its third annual golf tournament June 1 at the Shennecossett Municipal Golf Course. R.I.S.E.N. is a special education program for children within the Diocese of Norwich and is dependent on grants, donations and other financial support. For information or to register, call 449-8302 or e-mail RISEN@SacredHeartGroton.org

Integrated Day Charter School in Norwich is planning a celebration of its 10th anniversary May 17-19. Check the school's Web site, www.idcs.org, for updates on the celebration as details develop.

SCHOLARSHIPS

The Debra Schoonmaker Ferraro Scholarship has been established to award an annual scholarship to a Ledyard High School senior who exemplifies courage and determination. Donations can be sent to the attention of Pat Blodgett, c/o Ledyard High School, 24 Gallup Hill Road, Ledyard, CT 06339 and are tax deductible. Checks may be made out to the LHS Debra Schoonmaker Scholarship Fund. For information, call Amanda Olsen Fagan at 287-0720 or aolsen@ledyard.net

The Rotary Club of Ledyard is accepting applications for Rotary International Scholarships for study abroad. An ambassadorial scholarship is available for one academic year of study in a foreign university. Another scholarship is available for three months of intensive foreign language study abroad. The one-year program will be funded up to $25,000 and the three-month study can cover up to $12,000. Successful applicants for the World Peace Scholarship are to pursue a two-year master's program in peace studies and conflict resolution at one of seven Rotary Centers for International Peace. For information, call Robert Sampson of the Ledyard Rotary Club at 464-0433.

All students living in Montville planning to attend post-high school education full-time are eligible to apply for an Isaac Emerson Palmer Scholarship. Special consideration is given to those planning to seek practical education in technical institutions of higher learning and trade or technical schools. Students must live in Montville, be younger than 25, be a graduate of Montville High School or school of equal rank and be applying as a full-time student in a school of higher learning for practical education. Applications are available in the career resource center and main office at Montville High School and in the mayor's office at Town Hall. Applications also are available in Adobe PDF or Microsoft Word for downloading by visiting the March Web page of the Counseling & Career News: www.montvilleschools.org/highschool/ Guidance/News/March.htm

The Ledyard Women's Club is accepting applications for its annual $1,000 scholarship. The scholarship is awarded to a high school senior who lives in Gales Ferry or Ledyard. Applications may be picked up in the guidance offices of Ledyard High, Norwich Free Academy, St. Bernard, Grasso Tech and The Williams School. Applications also are available online at www.theledyardwomensclub.com and must be received by April 20.

Three Rivers Community College is accepting applications for two foundation scholarships -- the Liberal Arts and Sciences Merit Scholarship and the Engineering and Technology Merit Scholarship. Applications must be postmarked no later than April 20 and received by the scholarship committee no later than April 27. Each scholarship provides full tuition and fees for two consecutive semesters and will be renewed annually provided the student maintains a 3.25 grade point average. Scholarships are based on merit and evidence of need. For information or an application, students should call the Office of Institutional Advancement at 885-2657 or their high school guidance counselor. Applications also are available at the Office of Institutional Advancement, 574 New London Turnpike, Norwich, CT 06360.

The Williams Memorial Institute Pre-1955 Alumnae Association will offer three $1,000 scholarships in June. Applicants must be graduating seniors in high school who are direct descendants of a school graduate or student who attended before 1955. Only those planning to start higher education in the fall as a full-time student are eligible. Applications are available through senior class advisers or guidance departments in area high schools. Applications must be submitted by April 30. For information, call Alma Ruggiero at 443-5602.

The Faith Trumbull chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution will offer $500 scholarships to graduating seniors at the following high schools: Bacon Academy, Griswold, Montville, Norwich Free Academy and St. Bernard. Scholarships will be awarded based on school record, financial need, clarity of college goals and personal potential. Applications are available from the guidance department of each school. Application deadline is April 30. For more information, call Doris Curtis, scholarship chairman, at 444-7275.

The town of Pomfret is offering a $500 community service scholarship. Applicants must be seniors in high school or enrolled as a post graduate in high school (full-time) or an undergraduate student in college (minimum of nine credits per semester) and have lived in Pomfret a minimum of five years. For information, call 974-1423. The deadline for application is May 11.

Fastenal Co. is offering a July internship at the Bobby Hamilton Racing Inc. shop, a team in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, in Mount Juliet, Tenn. Two automotive technical students will work with the crew July 9-13 preparing the No. 18 truck for a July 14 race in Sparta, Ky. The two students also will work with the pit crew during the Sparta race. Applicants must be at least 18 and have graduated between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2007, with a technical degree in the automotive trade. They are required to have passed at least two ASE tests before June 30. Visit www.ase.com for test dates and registration. Applications are being accepted through April 30 online at www.fastenalracing.com. Winners will be notified the first two weeks in May. For information, call Kate Hazelton, strategic accounts marketing associate, at (507) 313-7082 or e-mail khazelto@fastenal.com

Chapman Technical High School Alumni Association and the William H. Chapman Foundation are offering eight or nine $750 scholarships. Applications are available from the William H. Chapman Foundation, P.O. Box 1321, New London, CT 06320.

Dunkin' Donuts franchisees will award 100 $1,000 scholarships to qualified high school seniors in Connecticut. This year, the application process will be online at www.dunkindonuts.com/scholarship. The scholarships will be awarded to seniors who plan to enroll full time at an accredited two-year or four-year college, university or vocational-technical school in the fall. Recipients will be selected on the basis of character: positive academic record, demonstrated leadership, commitment to school and community activities and experience in the work environment. In addition, full-time and part-time employees of Dunkin' Donuts franchisees who meet the scholarship requirements are eligible. The terms, requirements and application information are available at www.dunkindonuts.com/scholarship, Connecticut Dunkin' Donuts shops or by calling the Connecticut Association of Schools at (203) 250-1111.

College aid tilts more to merit than to need

2007-04-11T20:47:00.000-07:00

BROCKPORT — In college, Kaylea Happell has learned the intricate theories and practical applications of political science and international relations. And she has done it on someone else's dime.

The senior will graduate debt-free from the State University College at Brockport this spring, largely because of its Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence program. It covers tuition, room costs, mandatory fees and most meals for high school valedictorians and salutatorians with a 96 average or better and SAT scores of at least 1250.

"If you're first or second in your class, this is a pretty good deal," said the senior from Chautauqua County. "You don't have to pay for your education."

Scholarships and aid directly from colleges once were reserved for the neediest students. But increasingly over the past 20 years, schools have covered some or most of the costs for their best and brightest.

Brockport spends more than $2.5 million a year on its top merit scholarships, all of which cover huge chunks of the cost of attendance. Rochester Institute of Technology's Presidential Scholarship provides up to $10,000 a year, based on students' high school academic records and recommendations. And all freshmen admitted to St. John Fisher College are considered for Fisher merit scholarships, most of which are $8,000 to $10,000 a year.

Countless organizations and groups also offer college scholarships tied to good test scores or grades. And more than a dozen states have broad merit programs, usually offering some tuition and fee money for students with at least a B average, although New York does not.

But the growth of college "merit aid" is causing some controversy.

Hamilton College in Oneida County got national attention last month when it announced that it would end merit aid, focusing its institutional financial aid on the neediest students. Meanwhile, the University of Rochester has been scaling back how much it spends on merit aid as it boosts need-based aid.

"Merit alone isn't a problem," said Don Emmons, dean of admissions and financial aid at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. "If you're using merit money at the expense of not enough need-based money, that's where it appears to be problematic."

Growth of aid

According to a U.S. Education Department analysis of 2003-04 financial aid, more students from the richest quarter of New York families got merit grants, usually in the form of scholarships, than did families in the poorest quartile. The well-off students also got bigger merit aid packages — $5,400 on average, compared to $3,800 for the bottom quartile, the department found. Meanwhile, as need-based aid rose 41 percent nationally during the 1990s, merit aid spiked more than 200 percent, according to the National Association of State Financial Aid Administrators.

Individual colleges generally don't divulge how much they spend on merit and need-based aid because it is closely held competitive information, said Donald E. Heller, senior research associate with Pennsylvania State University's Center for the Study of Higher Education.

For the students who get scholarships for their smarts, merit aid is both a reward for effort in high school and a way to benefit the college overall.

Having more top students "pushes people to want to strive for better things, higher grades," said Ines Nam, a SUNY Brockport senior from Argentina and a Distinguished Scholars aid recipient. "Overall, it raises the level of the school."

For colleges, merit aid is also a means to attract students, most of whom apply to multiple colleges and sometimes negotiate the best financial aid packages from competing schools.

At Nazareth College, where 23 percent of the school's financial aid goes to "no need" or merit students, "the money is not necessarily being taken away from somebody else," said Tom DaRin, vice president for enrollment management.

"If we went solely need-based, do we have the resources to meet the full need of our applicants? The answer is no," he said. "We are trying to take the dollars we have and spread them out among as many students as we can impact."

Rolling back

At Hamilton, the cut in merit aid means more money going toward need-based aid, said Monica Inzer, dean of admission and financial aid. However, it won't be a huge change; the college estimates that about 5 percent of its $21 million financial aid budget was spent on merit aid.

"Everybody who gets into Hamilton is a high-level student, has a high-level GPA," Inzer said. "There's been this reaction from bloggers and different people to say this means you're going to take money from hardworking great students and give it to other people who don't work hard and are poor. They're all great students."

Whether other schools follow Hamilton's lead, "it's really early to say," said John R. Smith, associate director of financial aid at Roberts Wesleyan College.

Four years ago, UR was spending more than a third of its $9 million aid budget on merit aid, said Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Jonathan Burdick. Today, the university is spending roughly $2 million of a $19 million aid budget, with the rest going for need-based aid. "We're pretty aggressive that some low-income students are going to have access to this place," Burdick said.

UR has stopped providing an automatic $5,000 to every New York resident who attends. It also has ended a commitment to give a scholarship to every high-performing student, and about 80 percent of UR's incoming students qualify now.

"It made no sense to be locking in a scholarship program for virtually the entire pool of applicants," Burdick said. "We still give scholarships to a lot of the best students."

Brockport started its array of merit scholarships about a decade ago, and they probably played a role in making admission to the college increasingly competitive, said J. Scott Atkinson, director of financial aid.

The fall 2003 freshman class, which included Happell and another current senior, Erin Doring, helped move Brockport into Tier 2 of SUNY's ranking of selectivity, up from Tier 3.

Doring, 22, of Colonie, Albany County, was already a fan of SUNY Brockport, seeing it as not too big and not too small with a good psychology program. But the Presidential Scholarship she was offered meant other schools fell by the wayside.

As one of four sisters in college, "I wanted to help in whatever way I could" with the costs, said Doring. "In my mind, I felt like I needed (the scholarship). In reality, maybe not."

Happell was more interested in UR but would have faced $22,000 in loans yearly: "I went, 'Huh, free school.' The idea of not having any (debt) after four years ... was pretty good."

MDANEMAN@DemocratandChronicle.com

College aid needed

2007-04-11T18:57:00.000-07:00

DEAR BRUCE: I am a junior in college with a cost of $25,000 a year. My parents make $65,000 a year, and there are five of us in the household. They are making payments monthly on the tuition bill, and it is leaving them with a negative balance in the account every month. I have an $8,000 scholarship and a grant for $1,500 if the school decides I really need it.

(I‘ve been fighting that battle for the past year.) I have student loans, but I still have to come up with $10,000 a year. I work two jobs and pay for my car, books, clothes and nearly everything else. When I ask the school for more financial aid, they tell me there is none. I go to a large private college, and I‘ve been on the dean‘s list for the past three semesters. Any ideas what I could possibly do to get more financial help? I want to take the burden off my parents. I want my sisters to be able to enjoy things and not always be told there is no money for stuff they would like. It makes me feel guilty. -- S.H., via e-mail

DEAR S.H.: You are to be commended for working so hard to get through school. I have little to offer, other than seeing if you can qualify, not for grants or financial aid, but rather for more loans. I realize that makes it tougher when you finish school, but who said it should be easy? You have another year and half, and it seems to me there‘s little you can do since you‘re already working two jobs and paying for most of your expenses. I surely would not burden your parents with another loan. It‘s hard for me to understand why there wouldn‘t be more student loans available. While that may be hard to swallow, you are the beneficiary. Good luck, and it is commendable for you to be thinking of your sisters.

DEAR BRUCE: We are a married couple with no kids. Our only assets: a home, its contents and our vehicles. What are the best documents to have in order to avoid possible snags when it comes to legal fees, courts and taxes? Do we need a living trust and a will, or is everything just automatically transferred to the spouse in the state of South Carolina? We do have kids, but not with each other. We want to leave everything to one another and not have the kids trying to get their share while one of us is living. -- D.W. in South Carolina

DEAR D.W.: You are a prime example of why everyone needs a will. While you have certain combined assets, in most states, the children will get a share of the estate if you don‘t have a will leaving everything to the surviving spouse. What you need is a simple ”reciprocal“ will. It shouldn‘t cost you more than a few hundred dollars. It is absolutely imperative you have one so your affairs can be handled the way you would like. The will can provide, upon the death of the second spouse, that the assets are divided among the surviving children however you choose. That is entirely up to you.

-- Send your questions to: Smart Money, P.O. Box 2095, Elfers, FL 34680. E-mail to: bruce@brucewilliams.com. Questions of general interest will be answered in future columns. Owing to the volume of mail, personal replies cannot be provided.

Robin Wong '07 Receives Fulbright Scholarship to China

2007-04-11T18:30:00.000-07:00

Robin Wong, a candidate for May graduation from Hamilton College, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to China. She plans to study attitudes toward aging in China to investigate the relationship between age identity, life satisfaction and positive mental health. In her proposal Wong says, "Maintenance of an identity younger than one's actual age has been correlated to positive well bring in the U.S. but may bit hold true for adults in a collectivist culture such as China. Both explicit and implicit measures are necessary for a more complete view of age identity."

Wong, a psychology and Chinese major at Hamilton, participated in the Associated Colleges in China program in 2005, and studied at the City University of Hong Kong in 2006. She is a member and past secretary of the Asian Cultural Society at Hamilon and member and past treasurer of the Tae Kwon Do club. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in 2006. In 2004 she received the Award for Excellence in Chinese Language and Literature at Hamilton.

The purpose of the Fulbright Program is to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries through the exchange of persons, knowledge and skills. The program is designed to give recent college graduates opportunities for personal development and international experience.

It offers invaluable opportunities to meet and work with people of the host country, sharing daily life as well as professional and creative insights. The program promotes cross-cultural interaction and mutual understanding on a person-to-person basis in an atmosphere of openness, academic integrity and intellectual freedom. The primary source of funding for the Fulbright Program is an annual appropriation made by Congress to the Department of State. The U.S. Student Program awards approximately 900 grants annually and currently operates in more than 140 countries worldwide.

Students and Families Encouraged to Consider Responsible Money Management

2007-04-11T18:28:00.000-07:00

RESTON, Va., April 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- April is National Financial Literacy month, and Sallie Mae, the nation's leading saving- and paying-for-college company, reminds consumers that it is never too early - or too late - for them to learn more about financial planning and effective money management.

"It is always a good time to start being a savvy consumer," said Martha Holler, spokesperson, Sallie Mae. "Budgeting your money, borrowing student loans wisely and weighing your best financial options for college payment will help save money on the cost of college and keep you out of financial trouble down the road."

Sallie Mae is committed to promoting financial literacy and smart money management, and recommends the following resources for students and families eager to make sound fiscal choices:

Be Debt Smart

Sallie Mae's educational 'Be Debt Smart' campaign provides consumers with various tools and resources that encourage smart borrowing and recommend ways to establish and maintain good credit through responsible financial habits. The 'Be Debt Smart' Web site offers free resources designed to educate consumers from high school through college graduation and beyond. To learn how to 'be debt smart', visit http://www.salliemae.com/BeDebtSmart.

529 College-Savings Plans

Sallie Mae's Upromise 529 college-savings plans allow individuals to save money in a tax-deferred account to be used for higher education costs. Money can be withdrawn at any time, however, only money that is used for qualified higher education expenses are free of federal income tax. Today, families have more than $100 billion invested in 529 plans across the country. To learn more about 529 college-savings plans, visit http://www.upromise.com/.

Scholarships

CollegeAnswer.com, Sallie Mae's planning- and paying-for-college Web site, makes it simple for families and students to do their scholarship homework and search for 'free money' - grants and scholarships - to pay for college. The Web site gives students free access to the largest online scholarship search service, with a database containing more than 2.4 million scholarships worth in excess of $15 billion. Visit http://www.collegeanswer.com/ for more information.

SLM Corporation (NYSE: SLM) , commonly known as Sallie Mae, is the nation's leading provider of saving- and paying-for-college programs. The company manages $142 billion in education loans and serves nearly 10 million student and parent customers. Through its Upromise affiliates, the company also manages $15 billion in 529 college-savings plans, and assists more than 7.5 million members with automatic savings through rebates on everyday purchases. Sallie Mae and its subsidiaries offer debt management services as well as business and technical products to a range of business clients, including higher education institutions, student loan guarantors, and state and federal agencies. More information is available at http://www.salliemae.com/. SLM Corporation and its subsidiaries are not sponsored by or agencies of the United States of America.

Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/827187.html

Goldwater award goes to students

2007-04-11T18:21:00.000-07:00

Scholarship to allow three University students to conduct research with awards of $7,500

Shea Connelly, Cavalier Daily Senior Writer

Three University undergraduate students will be able to pursue scientific research after being awarded thousands of dollars in recognition of their achievements in math, science and engineering.

Second-year College students Jennifer Cano and Sean Cantrell and third-year Engineering student Gary Shambat have been named recipients of the Barry M. Goldwater scholarship for 2007.

According to Gerald Smith, president of the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program, the scholarship grants undergraduate students $7,500 a year for up to two years. Applicants must be in the fields of the "hard sciences": mathematics, biology, physics and engineering.

Michael Timko, professor of biology and the University's faculty representative for the Goldwater Scholarship, said the selection process begins with universities choosing four students to nominate.

The University solicits applications from students in all departments of science, engineering, math and computer science.

According to Shambat, one of the award recipients, the application consisted of transcripts, recommendations and essays. The applicants had to write personal essays and a technical essay on a particular subject within their research field, Shambat said.

The applications are received by a group of faculty who then select the four University nominees.

Once the foundation receives applications from all the nominees, academics from across the country evaluate the applicants.

Smith said the competition is becoming "very fierce, indicating the high caliber of students."

According to Smith, the foundation normally receives about 1,100 to 1,200 applications and awards around 300 scholarships.

"Even though the budget is for 300, we can afford a few over that number because of the caliber of nominees that we get," Smith said.

Smith added that schools can only have up to four recipients of the award, so having three recipients "is terrific."

University students suceeding in a national competition reflects positively on the University, Timko said, but is ultimately a credit to the students.

According to Shambat, the Goldwater Award is the engineering or science equivalent of the Truman and Marshall Awards.

"It's a prestigious thing to get for undergraduate research," Shambat said. "The total number of recipients is 300 so having three from just one university is having one percent of the recipients. It's pretty impressive."

Area students, teachers to be honored

2007-04-11T18:19:00.002-07:00

OREGON -- The Herb Kohl Educational Foundation will hold a luncheon to honor the achievements of southern Wisconsin students and teachers on Saturday, April 14, at Oregon High School.

On March 1, the Wisconsin Newspaper Association and the Herb Kohl Educational Foundation announced the recipients of $1,000 Initiative Scholarships, Excellence Scholarships and Fellowships. The Herb Kohl Foundation Fellowship rewards teachers who have demonstrated superior ability to inspire love of learning in their students, have motivated others and have provided meritorious service both inside and outside the classroom.

The Herb Kohl Foundation Excellence Scholarship was established by Herb Kohl to provide scholarships to graduating Wisconsin high school students who have demonstrated academic excellence, outstanding leadership, citizenship, community service, integrity and other special talents.

The Herb Kohl Initiative Scholarship was established to recognize students who have demonstrated a high level of motivation to achieve, have shown strong promise for achieving success in college and beyond, have overcome significant personal obstacles or adversity and have not yet received other academic based scholarships.

Sen. Kohl will make formal award presentations to the recipients at the luncheon. The $1,000 Excellence and Initiative Scholarship grants are issued to the postsecondary institution that each student will attend. Each teacher receives a $1,000 Fellowship and an additional $1,000 grant is awarded to the teacher's school for use in innovative educational projects. The Oregon event is the fourth of five regional award programs. The reception is scheduled to begin at noon Saturday, April 14, at Oregon High School, 456 N. Perry Parkway. The award program will commence at approximately 1 p.m.

Area recipients are:

Excellence Scholarship, CESA 2

* Kristen Hendrickson, Monroe, Monroe High School, Monroe;

* Lauren Wells, Brodhead, Evansville High School, Evansville;

Excellence Scholarship, CESA 3

* Kalee Crist, Darlington, Darlington High School, Darlington;

Initiative Scholarship, CESA 2

* Melissa Babler, Monticello, Monticello High School, Monticello;

Initiative Scholarship, CESA 3

*Tyrell Cushman, Blanchardville, Pecatonica High School, Blanchardville.

Donation creates three $5,000 scholarships

2007-04-11T18:19:00.001-07:00

Three Muskegon County high school graduates each year will receive $5,000 scholarships for higher education under a new scholarship program.

The Ray B. Smith Rotary Memorial Scholarship was outlined for Muskegon Rotarians by Jeffrey Smith of Norton Shores, whose father, a longtime Cleveland Rotarian, died last year, leaving him $130,000.

In turn, Smith and his wife Sue have added to that and donated $200,000 to the Community Foundation for Muskegon County, which will administer the scholarship grants program and screen and select the three winners each year.

Student Leaders Win Environmental Scholarship

2007-04-11T18:17:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON, April 10, 2007 -- Sixteen college students from around the country have been selected to study conservation in the United States and Brazil through an environmental leadership program developed by Nissan North America and World Wildlife Fund.

Now in its second year, the Nissan-WWF Environmental Leadership Program provides student leaders the opportunity to examine environmental issues and become effective advocates for conservation. The program is part of a $1 million partnership between NNA and WWF which will also help support WWF field conservation projects in the United States and Brazil.

Each winner of the Nissan-WWF Environmental Leadership Award receives a $5,000 cash prize and will participate in an Environmental Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C. and Nashville, Tenn., and a research expedition in Brazil. The award recipients represent a diverse range of backgrounds and were selected based on their demonstrated leadership, academic achievement, and commitment to the environment.

"This is an opportunity for students to experience many different sides of conservation, from on-the-ground field work to policy-making to corporate environmental stewardship," said Nissan vice president Dominique Thormann. "We are proud to support WWF's conservation work for the second year, and to hopefully inspire a new, diverse group of future environmental leaders."

Each winner will be invited to attend an Environmental Leadership Summit in Washington and Nashville, June 18-23. The first part of the Summit will take place in the nation's capital, where the students will learn about conservation and environmental policymaking. They will visit institutions like the Environmental Protection Agency, the World Bank and Capitol Hill, and participate in personal development seminars and cross-cultural training activities to help prepare them for leadership roles in the global community.

In Nashville, they will participate in volunteer activities, learn about clean technology and tour a Nissan manufacturing facility. The students will also learn about Nissan's Green Program 2010, which focuses on reducing carbon dioxide emissions, minimizing exhaust emissions and accelerating recycling efforts.

The students will take a two-week field trip to Brazil in August, where they will work side-by-side with local conservation scientists, explore the Amazon rainforest by boat and participate in local cultural activities. Carbon emissions from all program air travel will be offset by investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

"Last year, students commented on the enormous impact this program had on their personal and professional lives. For many, it was instrumental in shaping their understanding and awareness of environmental issues," said Shaun Martin, WWF's director of conservation leadership programs. "We're pleased the program will continue this year and are eager to be the vehicle for a new group of talented youth to learn about these important issues. We're confident they will make real contributions to conservation in the future."

As part of its $1 million grant, Nissan will support WWF conservation programs in the United States and Brazil. In the United States, Nissan will continue to support WWF's Southeastern Rivers and Streams Support Fund, which awards grants for grassroots projects to clean up polluted watersheds in Tennessee and Alabama. In Brazil, the donation will help fund regional conservation work in the Brazilian Amazon, which is plagued by illegal logging, slash-and-burn agriculture and other human impacts.

Nissan and WWF first launched the Environmental Leadership Program in 2006. Last year's student winners received a $5,000 prize, attended a four-day Environmental Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C., and traveled to South Africa for a two-week research expedition.

Student honored with rare scholarship

2007-04-11T18:15:00.000-07:00

A University of Tennessee student recently received a major foreign language scholarship.

Kimberly Bartholomew, a sophomore in French and psychology, has been granted one of the four prestigious 2007 Joseph Yedlicka Scholarships by Pi Delta Phi, the National French Honor Society.

The scholarship enables the society’s student members to study French in a French-speaking country by paying the school’s full tuition. This summer, Bartholomew will spend six weeks in Avignon, France, studying the language, literature and civilization at the Institute for American Universities.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and studying abroad has been something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, so I am so excited to have the chance to do it,” she said.

Bartholomew has been studying French since she was in the seventh grade. She saw the enthusiasm and accomplishments of her high school teacher and realized the importance of studying a foreign language. Thus, she decided to major in French in college and advanced so fast that she started taking upper-level French courses during her freshman year.

Even though she currently maintains an impressive grade point average, Bartholomew said she was amazed when she heard that she would receive the award.

“The only word to describe how I felt initially to be awarded this scholarship is ‘shocked.’ It isn’t offered to many students, and it is available to all Pi Delta Phi members across the country, so it was a very unexpected honor to receive it. But after I got over my initial shock, I was ecstatic,” Bartholomew said.

Her speaking skills have already landed her a spot in Pi Delta Phi and another French organization, Alpha Gamma.

Pi Delta Phi was based out of the University of California-Berkeley in the early 1900s, and every year, it grants the scholarship to four students from different schools around the country.

Learning a second language in the United States has recently come under attack. Some states do not consider teaching a second language a necessity. Thirty states do not require students to take a foreign language class to graduate high school. Georgia is currently debating the requirement.

“Those years of foreign language in high school do a lot of good,” Doris Kadish, a University of Georgia professor of French, said in a press release. “Students come to college so much better prepared to study and to express themselves. You learn a lot about your own language by studying other languages.”

Bartholomew agrees that learning a second language, even if it’s not to the level of fluency, is important.

“I think learning another language and studying abroad are great ways to learn about a culture that is very different from my own. It makes me see things from a different perspective, and I think it’s important to be able to experience firsthand that not everyone has the same way of life as I do. I also think learning a second language is a lot of fun, and it’s great sometimes to know that I can say things that most other people wouldn’t understand at all.”

Bartholomew, who wants to teach French at the high school level, plans to enter the master’s program for education at UT after earning her bachelor’s degree.

She was nominated for the Joseph Yedlicka award by Modern Foreign Languages professor Christine Holmlund, who is also the moderator of the UT chapter of Alpha Gamma.

“Kim immediately stood out as one of the very best of 15 quite strong students I taught in a conversation and composition class (French 334). Her writing and command of grammar were impressive,” Holmlund said in an e-mail interview. “(Receiving) a 95 on the midterm and a 97 on the final — the highest grades in the class — says a good deal. I am not an easy grader.”

Lilly scholarship clears path for Carmel senior

2007-04-11T18:14:00.000-07:00

Joanna Fritz raised her daughter Alissa to care about other people, to serve her community and to always try her best.

The Carmel mom is proud of the 18-year-old senior at Carmel High School. Her daughter has been a mentor to mentally disabled people and volunteered at church camps in Arkansas and North Carolina.
Alissa raised nearly $1,000 while dancing for six hours in Carmel High's dance marathon benefiting Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. She served food at a church every Friday last summer.
Alissa is in the school's honors program, has been involved in student government and works part time for Carmel Clay Parks and Recreation.
All of her work is finally paying off, she said.
Fritz has been named a Lilly Endowment Community Scholar and has been offered a full ride to the Indiana college of her choice. She'll also receive $800 annually for required books and equipment.
"To me, this is hands-down the best thing that has ever happened to me," said Fritz.
"It means going to college and not having to worry about student loans," she said.
Fritz said her interview, in which she talked about her compassion for others, which she learned from her mom, might have given her an edge.
Joanna Fritz, a single mom, called the scholarship "an absolute blessing" for the family. Alissa's dad is Mark Fritz, Fishers.
With all of her activities, Alissa said it's been difficult to keep up her grades. "It's great to feel like you've accomplished something with all of your hard work."
She said being involved in Young Life, a Christian inter-denominational group, has been the backbone that's helped her through hard times, especially when her brother, Nick, died at age 23.
Before being notified of the scholarship, Fritz planned to attend Indiana University because, she said, it made the most sense financially. Because she didn't have much money put away for college, she applied for several scholarships and grants.
"I wanted to do it on my own," she said.
With the scholarship offer, she's rethinking her college choice and has applied to Butler University, a school that had not been an option before.
Butler's physician assistant program, in which Alissa was interested, is $28,140 for tuition for the 2007-08 school year, according to Courtney Tuell, director of public relations for Butler.
IU's tuition is about half of Butler's, said Fritz, who would study counseling or nursing if she goes to IU. Like other recipients of the scholarship, she takes Advanced Placement classes and expects to graduate with honors.
Her scholarship was not only based on commitment to community, volunteerism, academic achievement, financial need and demonstrated leadership, but also on an interview and two essays. In one essay, she wrote, "Service is a daily commitment and part of my life."
Fritz is one of four Hamilton County recipients of the scholarship program in its 10th year. The Independent Colleges of Indiana administers the program locally, which includes participation by Central Indiana Community Foundation.

The Sixth Round of Research Fellowship Program of AMAN

2007-04-11T18:13:00.000-07:00

The Asian Muslim Action Network (AMAN), with the support of
Rockefeller Foundation is pleased to announce the sixth round of Research
Fellowship program for young Muslim scholar in Southeast Asia.

Themes of this round are :
- Popular Islam
- Globalisation and Identity Politics
- Islam and Changing gender reality
- Islamic values. economic activities and social
responsibilities

Candidate must be from countries like Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia,
Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Phillipines and women are strongly
encouraged
to apply. Proposal in the field of Islamic values, economic activities
and social responsibilities will be given priority for this round.

Closing date of application is 30 November 2007, for futher information
visit our website http://fellowship.arf-asia.org/ If you are
interested to apply, please send us research proposal (problem statement,
objective, methodology, expected impacts) and application form (also
available on the website).

Please, forward and distribute this information to all your collegues
from your networks, who could benefit this program. If you have any
question about this program, feel free to contact us.

Warm Regards,

Dwi Rubiyanti Kholifah (Ruby)

Program Cordinator of Research Fwllowship
Program Islam in Southeast Asia: Views from Within
AMAN
House 1562/113, Soi 1/1 Mooban Pibul, Pracharaj
Road,Bangkok 10800, Thailand
Tel: 66-2-9130196, Fax: 66-2-9130197
Email: aman@arf-asia.org

PhD Studentship in Patient Communication

2007-04-11T18:12:00.000-07:00

WC-PCR funded PhD Studentship
Warwick Medical School

Warwick Medical School with Coventry University offers a PhD
studentship
funded by Warwick and Coventry Primary Care Research on The
acceptability
and impact of on-line self-assessment as an adjunct to face to face
care in
general practice.

The PHD studentship will involve a three-year investigation into the
implementation and impact of a general practice-based system of
innovative
on-line self-assessment. The investigation will look at the advice and
structured email / on-line communication between patients and their
general
practices, including an exploratory trial of how this affects patient
experience and decision-making and the use of general practice
resources.
This work is associated with a broader research programme that focuses
on
redesigning health care processes in ways that involve IT to enable
improved
access; more effective information sharing and coordination of care;
enhanced collaboration between health care professionals and patients;
and
more cost- and clinically-effective management of demand.

The research programme will provide scope for the student to develop
literature searching and synthesis skills, qualitative and quantitative
research skills, project management, trial design and implementation
skills.
You must have or expect to receive a first or upper second class degree
in a
social or behavioural science; it is preferable that you have a MSc in
a
relevant subject.

The studentship is available for a period of three years, and includes
payment of tuition fees and a postgraduate stipend of £12,300 per
annum. You
will be based at Warwick, with supervision provided jointly between the
two
universities.

The studentship is available to UK, EU and International candidates.
International candidates (outside EU) would be required to pay the
difference between UK/EU Tuition Fees and International Tuition Fees.
It is
a requirement that overseas students pass an IELTS of TOEFL English
language
proficiency test. Further information on the language proficiency
requirements can be found at:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/academicoffice/postgrad/onlineformhelp/language/

For informal enquiries please contact Professor Jeremy Dale:
jeremy.dale@warwick.ac.uk

Interview Date: Early May 2007

Click here for further
detailsof
the post.

Click here for an application
form.
To receive a hard copy application pack, please contact Personnel
Services,
on +44(0)24 7652 3685 (24 hour answerphone), or by e-mail to
Recruit@warwick.ac.uk.

An application form must be completed if you wish to be considered for
this
post. Please note that the hard copy application pack and the on-line
application pack are the same.

*Please quote job vacancy reference number WMS03-047.*

*The closing date/time for applications is 17:30 (British time) on
Thursday
19 April 2007.*

For further details on how to apply
for a post at Warwick, the
employee
benefits that we offer,
information
on Warwick people , what it is
like working
at Warwick , and more, please
see our
jobs introduction page .

*The university values diversity.*

RCUK Fellowship in Health Economics and Public Health

2007-04-11T18:11:00.000-07:00

The University of York is one of the leading research-based
universities in
the UK. Building on a record of sustained excellence in teaching and
research in its forty years, the University has embarked on a major
programme of expansion, which will involve the significant growth of
many
academic departments.

As part of this expansion, the University has
successfully bid for 7 RCUK Fellowships. Five Fellowships were
appointed in
October 2006. The prestigious RCUK Fellowships were introduced to
provide a
strong career path for outstanding researchers through the transition
to
independent academic positions. The Fellowships offer the opportunity
of a 5
year period to concentrate on establishing a strong personal research
profile, followed by a transfer to an established academic post,
subject to
successful completion of probation. Training will be provided for the
transition, and teaching responsibilities will be introduced
progressively.

The Fellow will undertake research to advance methodologies to inform
and
evaluate public health policy through the application of economic
principles. The empirical analysis of non-experimental sources of data
will
form a key component to the research programme. You will hold a higher
degree in health economics, economics or another quantitative subject
and it
is desirable that you will have completed or are close to completing
PhD
studies or have similar research experience. Strong quantitative skills
and
experience of using large and complex datasets are essential.

More details of the Centre can be found at www.york.ac.uk/inst/che.

Salary will be within the range: £25,889 - £31,840 per annum. The
post is
available from 1st October 2007.

Interviews will be held on *1 June 2007*.

Closing date for applications: *12 noon on Monday, 30 April*.

For further particulars and details of how to apply, please see our
website
at: http://www.york.ac.uk/admin/persnl/jobs/ or write to the Personnel
Office, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, quoting
reference
number *BR07122*.

The University of York is committed to diversity and has policies and
developmental programmes in place to promote equality of opportunity.
It
particularly welcomes applications from ethnic minority candidates.

ERA Announces Winners of Scholarship Program, Three Grants Totaling $30,000

2007-04-09T16:57:00.000-07:00

For the fourth consecutive year, ERA Franchise Systems, Inc., in conjunction with its parent company, Realogy Corporation, announced the winners of the ERAR Scholarship Grant Program.

Each winner received a $10,000 scholarship to further their academic pursuits. Brenda W. Casserly, president and CEO of ERA Franchise Systems, Inc, and Alex Perriello, president and CEO of the Realogy Franchise Group, were on hand to present the scholarship grants to the three winners:

* Ryne Pruitt of Vilonia, Arkansas, a senior at Vilonia High School and son of James and Julie Pruitt, both with ERA Henley Real Estate
* Zeryab Kahn of Newburgh, Indiana, a senior at Castle High School and son of Bushra Khan of ERA First Advantage Realty, Inc.
* Dana Eppers of Dickson, Tennessee, a freshman at Nashville State
Community College and the daughter of Linda Eppers of ERA Real Estate Professionals

"Once again, ERA Real Estate is thrilled to award scholarships to help further the education of bright and hard-working individuals," said Casserly. "I congratulate these fine young men and women on their superb academic achievements and commitment to community endeavors. ERA Real Estate is proud to be able to give back to our extended ERA family and help them to achieve their goals."

The grant program was open to children, grandchildren or legal wards of real estate professionals affiliated with the ERA system. Eligible candidates were required to have a current cumulative GPA of 3.3 or higher (on a 4.0 scale), demonstrate financial need and reflect the same ideals for which ERA professionals are well known: leadership, volunteerism and a commitment to life-long learning.

For more information, visit http://www.era.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

For 50 children, a two-wheel surprise

2007-04-09T16:56:00.000-07:00

A shiny new bicycle was the last thing on the minds of 50 children from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Florida on March 29. But when they arrived at Orlando World Center Marriott Resort & Convention Center, that's what was waiting for each of them.

Host Hotels & Resorts Inc., owner of Orlando World Center Marriott, surprised the children with the new bikes at its annual general managers conference, which took place at the local property last month.

The 250 hotel executives at the conference competed during team-building activities for points to win prizes -- bikes to be given away to local children. The give-away was a surprise to the kids as well as the hotel executives.

"It was amazing," said Kevin Jacobs, Host Hotels' vice president of investor relations. " . . . Most of the general managers didn't know it was going to happen, so it was pretty emotional actually. . . . People started encouraging the kids to ride the bikes and so, before you knew it, the kids were riding the bikes all over the room."

Briefly . . .

The Blue Foundation for a Healthy Florida, the philanthropic arm of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, has given $71,000 to Hope and Help Center of Central Florida Inc. The money will establish the HELP (HIV Education, Linkage and Prevention) Project of Sanford, an outreach education, counseling and testing program for minority women at high risk of HIV and AIDS infection. . . .

Tri-City Electrical Contractors Inc. of Altamonte Springs awarded two $2,500 scholarships through its annual scholarship program to high school seniors who are the children or grandchildren of Tri-City employees. Each scholarship covers four years of undergraduate study, for a possible total of $10,000. . . .

The Orlando Magic Youth Foundation's Black Tie and Tennies Charity Gala generated about $500,000 this year, including a match of 50 cents for every dollar raised during the night from the McCormick Tribune Foundation. The 800 guests contributed in a variety of ways, including table sponsorships, auctions, valet service, karaoke sessions and autographs. Mirabilis Ventures Inc. of Orlando was the presenting sponsor this year. The money raised will go to Central Florida nonprofit organizations through grants to be awarded in July. . . .

Wharton-Smith Inc., a Sanford construction company, donated $250,000 to Seminole Community College through the SCC foundation's annual Dream Auction. The money will establish the Wharton-Smith Center for Construction in the school's new Center for Economic Development at Heathrow. The facility will provide education and training opportunities for students and professionals in the construction industry. . . .

Volunteers from Rogers, Lovelock & Fritz Inc., a Winter Park architecture, engineering and interior-design firm also known as RLF, recently participated in the Society of St. Andrew's Gleaning Network by teaming up with local high-schoolers to pick 2,000 pounds of citrus that would have gone unused. The oranges were then distributed by the society to local food kitchens and Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. The Society of St. Andrew is a national organization with an office in Orlando. . . .

The Nemours Foundation sponsored the Capitol Steps for Kids program at the 12th annual Children's Week in Tallahassee on March 27. The event, which promoted healthy, active lifestyles, had more than 2,000 children participate, all of whom received pedometers from Nemours. . . .

The Florida Public Relations Association's Orlando-area chapter raised about $25,000 at its annual Roast & Toast on March 3. The funds will go toward student scholarships for the Nicholson School of Communication at the University of Central Florida and the Organizational Communication Program in the Hamilton Holt School of Rollins College in Winter Park.

I2lifeeducation.com Releases College Grants, Scholarships Report

2007-04-09T16:54:00.000-07:00

I2lifeeducation.com, a premier education website, announced they are offering a complimentary report on college grants, scholarships and federal student loans to help students and parents find the necessary funds in the face of rising education costs.

"Everyone understands the importance of getting a good education. Getting that university degree can improve your life and advance your career, there’s no doubt about that. This guide will help students and parents find and apply for college grant money, public and private scholarships as well as federal student loans, to help lighten some of the burden associated with financing a higher education." Said Louis, spokesperson for http://www.i2lifeeducation.com.

Each year, colleges raise their tuition fees which can put a serious burden on those who are already in college and those who are preparing to go. This can lead to many questions including the ability to pay for tuition, room and board, books, and other living expenses.

College grants, student loans, and scholarships are the best ways to find the money to pay for college.

In this revealing report, students and parents will learn:

1. Where to go for useful college grant money and scholarship information;

2. How to apply for these awards, and federal student loans that you will have to repay after you have graduated;

3. How to lower the student loan amount by donating your time after graduation.

Getting accepted into the university of your dreams is intimidating enough without thinking about ways to pay for it. That’s where this "How To Find Money For College" report comes in.

To receive your complimentary guide on college grants, scholarships and student loans, simply go to http://www.i2lifeeducation.com and type in your first name and email address.

About i2lifeeducation.com

http://www.i2lifeeducation.com is an education website providing information and resources covering all realms of education - adult, business, child, continuing, distance, music, online - and including education careers and financial aid.

I2lifeeducation.com is part of the i2life (Dedicated To Life ™ ) Network, a family of quality sites in the Home & Family, Health and Recreation arena.

About This Release
If you have any questions regarding information in these press releases please contact the organization listed in the press release. Issuers of press releases and not PR Leap are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.

College grants under attack

2007-04-09T16:52:00.002-07:00

A House of Delegates committee will take up a bill today that would bar lawmakers from knowingly doling out scholarships to their relatives or the family members of colleagues. But even if the General Assembly approves the changes, critics say, the measure will do little to curb a practice that they say amounts to political patronage.

The legislature's scholarship program has long been debated in Annapolis, with some lawmakers pushing to abandon what they call an antiquated system that invites cronyism, perceived or real. Others defend the practice as a tool to aid deserving constituents who could not afford college otherwise.

Last month, the state Senate approved a bill that would restrict how lawmakers award the scholarships. That measure comes before the House Ways and Means Committee today.

The Sun reported three years ago that several legislators had awarded scholarships to the relatives of colleagues and other politically connected people.

Senators each get $138,000 to distribute annually in their districts while delegates each get $34,488.

"It's amazing when you think about it," said Sen. Allan H. Kittleman, a Howard County Republican and critic of the program. "You get $138,000 a year. For a five-year period, that's more than $500,000. With that much money, you can make every person happy. The recipients' parents, sisters, brothers - they all remember that scholarship. You'll never need to campaign again."

Scholarship defenders insist that the program is worthwhile.

Sen. Jennie M. Forehand, a Montgomery County Democrat who voted for the new restrictions, said she assigns a committee to review applications and make recommendations for awards. Guidance counselors in high schools throughout her district have also alerted her to extraordinary circumstances facing students. Forehand said she has made awards to many needy students, including a homeless man who attended Montgomery College.

"When people look at this and they say, 'Oh, it's so terrible and it's so unethical,' they just don't understand the difference this could make in a student's life," she said. "Some of these students don't have anything. You have a student with a lot of potential, but even $2,000 at a community college won't cover the cost of everything."

Forehand sponsored a bill, which the Senate passed unanimously, to increase the maximum award of Senate scholarships from $2,000 per year to the full cost of tuition and fees at the Maryland school the recipient attends. The change makes the awards similar to the House version of the scholarships. Currently, the Senate awards range from $200 to $2,000 a year.

The state's 2008 budget includes $11 million in taxpayer-funded scholarships for the General Assembly to distribute, representing about 10 percent of state-funded financial aid. Lawmakers can dispense the awards as they wish, as long as recipients are Maryland residents who attend a state college or university. Senators must consider financial need, but there is little oversight in determining how they do so.

In raising questions about the scholarships, Kittleman is following in the footsteps of his father, the late Robert H. Kittleman, who worked for 20 years as a delegate and senator to prevent lawmakers from giving out scholarships with few criteria or restrictions.

He said that he thinks most lawmakers have good intentions when awarding scholarships but that even a perceived conflict of interest can be damaging.

"I don't know of any legislator who would do it purely to buy a vote, but there is a perception out there," said Kittleman, the Senate minority whip.

The Senate voted 39-8 last month to keep lawmakers from awarding money to their relatives or the family members of colleagues, with some lawmakers objecting to an effort to "legislate common sense."

Sen. Bryan W. Simonaire, an Anne Arundel County Republican who sponsored the measure, said he hoped that it would reinforce the integrity of the scholarships.

"If there were no abuses in the past, it wouldn't be necessary," said Simonaire, a freshman senator. "Certainly there's no majority of senators or delegates doing this, but if it happens one time, it's one time too many."

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, a Prince George's Democrat who voted against the legislation, called Simonaire's measure a "bad bill."

"Nobody does that anyway," Miller said. "Here's someone new to the legislature casting disparagement on all of us who have served honorably for decades."

But some lawmakers have awarded scholarships to relatives of their colleagues.

Several years ago, Sen. Nathaniel J. McFadden gave $2,100 to the daughter of Del. Talmadge Branch, a fellow Baltimore Democrat. McFadden said he did not know the student was Branch's daughter.

"I had no clue whatsoever who that young lady was," McFadden said yesterday. "It's impossible to know every Branch, every Harrison in your district."

McFadden, who voted against Simonaire's bill, said lawmakers should know better than to knowingly give scholarships to family members.

"Anyone who's dumb enough to give it to a relative or a political operative, well that's just common sense," he said.

McFadden called the scholarships "one more tool for an elected official to help move a family forward."

"You'd be surprised by the number of people I hear from who don't have family help or family support," he said. "They look to their elected officials for help."

House Speaker Michael E. Busch, an Anne Arundel County Democrat, called Simonaire's measure a "common sense bill" that is likely to pass in the House. In previous years, the House has passed measures to abolish the program, but the efforts died in the Senate. Busch said he doubts the Senate would alter its previous positions on the issue.

"The fact of the matter is, the Senate is more vested in this than we are," he said.

Kittleman said he hopes the bill to prohibit lawmakers from offering scholarships to their relatives is a step toward eliminating lawmakers' authority over the awards altogether.

But watchdog groups say the change is so incremental it does little to confront the overarching concerns about favoritism.

"There's still a lot of room for legislators to use this as a fund to reward donors, friends and people they want favors from," said Mary Boyle, a spokeswoman for Common Cause. "We don't have problems with needy Maryland students receiving scholarships, but it's just not appropriate for legislators to be handing out free gifts to whoever they want with little oversight."

Maryland's practice of awarding scholarships dates to 1872, when full-tuition scholarships were established at St. John's College, according to the Maryland State Archives. An educational commission would select two students from each Senate district, with the advice from senators.

Similar awards were later established at other universities. The program took on its current form in 1967, said Helen Szablya, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Higher Education Commission.

Twenty Maryland lawmakers have divorced themselves from the process and turn over their awards to the commission to distribute.

Three delegates - including Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg, a Baltimore Democrat - hand over their scholarship money for specific awards.

Rosenberg directs his allotment of scholarship money to the state's loan assistance and repayment program, which helps people pursuing a career in public service repay their academic debt.

He said he would support a bill to bar lawmakers from awarding scholarships to their relatives and that removing lawmakers from the awarding process would "professionalize" the program.

Said Rosenberg: "It's up to our constituents to judge us on how we handle the money."

By the numbers

The Senate has passed a bill to prohibit lawmakers from awarding scholarships to their relatives or to the families of their colleagues. The measure represents the latest effort to modify a controversial program that allows legislators to make direct educational grants to college students. Here are some key figures associated with the program:

Annual cost: $11 million

Share of Maryland financial aid: 10 percent

Amount per senator: $138,000 annually

Amount per delegate: $34,488 annually

Maximum scholarship amount: $2,000 a year in the Senate; cost of attending school in the House

Materials Expert Wins Top UC Davis Teaching Prize

2007-04-09T16:52:00.001-07:00

In his research, Zuhair Munir has shown the influence of electric fields in creating new, unique materials. In his teaching Munir, distinguished professor of chemical engineering and materials science at the University of California, Davis, seems to create his own personal field that allows students to grow and find their own way to the answers.

Now the "Zuhair Munir effect" has been recognized with the award of the UC Davis Foundation Prize for Undergraduate Teaching and Scholarly Achievement. The prize includes a cash award of $35,000, thought to be the largest of its kind in the nation.

The award was announced this morning by Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef during Munir's class, "Introduction to Materials Science." A gala dinner to celebrate the award will be held May 10.

"Zuhair Munir is an outstanding scholar known all over the world. Still, he is dedicated to engaging students at the very beginning of their careers right here at home," said Chancellor Vanderhoef. "He encourages them to reach for the stars. He truly represents the best of UC Davis."

Added Meg Stallard, chair of the UC Davis Foundation Board of Trustees, "This prize was created to celebrate the very best in teaching and scholarship at UC Davis, and the board is proud to recognize Professor Munir with this honor."

The endowment that supports the prize was established in 1986 with the aim of raising the university's profile among peer institutions by celebrating and honoring a UC Davis faculty member who combines extraordinary scholarship with outstanding undergraduate teaching. Throughout the years, the fund has been augmented by gifts from several sources.

"Professor Munir's scholarly research in materials is world class, and his dedication to students is legendary. I continue to learn from him, and his leadership as former dean is deeply appreciated in our college. We are fortunate to have him as one of our faculty," said Enrique Lavernia, dean of the College of Engineering.

Munir always makes a point of teaching a large undergraduate class in introductory materials science.

"Undergraduates are more open, more interested in pursuing different ideas -- they have not focused so much. I enjoy seeing them get excited about topics," he said.

Introducing materials science to sophomores means covering a lot of fairly dry stuff. To make it more digestible, Munir likes to make connections that make the material relevant to students. For example, old-style tin roofing would crumble in winter, because cold weather caused a change in the crystal structure of the metal. Graphite, or "pencil lead," is chemically identical to diamonds -- it's just a question of how the carbon atoms are arranged.

And the students respond. Some of their comments from evaluations of recent classes: "the best lecturer I've had at Davis," "he cares greatly for his students," "a fun and interesting course," and "one of the best professors I've had."

Munir's classroom extends into his laboratory. He encourages undergraduates to work in his lab, believing that this is the best way to encourage them to go on to careers in science. Doing bench research demystifies science for undergraduates, Munir said -- a crucial step in luring undergraduates into graduate studies. It shows them the limits of knowledge and the potential for discovery.

"They realize that graduate students -- even their professor! -- do not know everything," Munir said.

Daniela Fredrick, who began work in Munir's lab as an undergraduate six years ago and is now studying for her doctorate under his supervision, said of her mentor, "He doesn't lead you or hold your hand, he definitely gives you the opportunity to try to understand the problem -- he gets excited when a student comes up with the answer by themselves."

Munir gives undergraduates the sense that their ideas are important to him, and that instills confidence, said Javier Garay, now an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at UC Riverside, who also joined Munir's lab as an undergraduate.

"Working with him, seeing his interaction with the grad students, gave me confidence that I could see myself there," said Garay, who went on to take his Ph.D. with Munir.

"It was a great culture to work in," said Indira Samarasekara, president of the University of Alberta, Canada, who studied for her master's degree with Munir more than 30 years ago. "He knows how to nurture people, foster excellence, foster collaboration."

Munir's philosophy of teaching is one passed down from his doctoral adviser and mentor, UC Berkeley emeritus professor Alan Searcy, who says he learned it from his own teachers.

"You try to get students to think, to ask questions, and you give them the best answer you can," Searcy said. "If you can get graduate students doing that, they do the same thing to each other."

And by his example, it is a philosophy that Munir has passed on to a new generation. Garay said that as he builds his research group, he is trying to involve undergraduates and foster the same environment where all can feel that they are making a contribution.

Of his former students who have done well, Munir said, "It's something I don't think I can take the credit for, but I like to think I had something to do with it."

One of those former students is Samarasekara. In 1975, she was a Hayes-Fulbright scholar from Sri Lanka, with the pick of U.S. universities open to her. Munir's personal touch was a key factor in choosing UC Davis for her master's degree, she said.

"While demanding extremely high standards, he recognized that students sometimes need help," she said. "There is no question that those 18 months were really important to me -- it turned me on to research and to study for a Ph.D., and eventually become a university president, and it also showed me how to foster collaboration when I started my own research group."

Munir grew up in Baghdad, Iraq, but left the country in his teens. He received all three of his academic degrees from UC Berkeley: a bachelor's in chemical engineering in 1956, a master's in materials science in 1958 and his doctorate in materials science in 1963. He taught at San Jose State University and Florida State University before joining UC Davis in 1972 as a professor of materials science.

He served as associate dean for graduate studies in the College of Engineering from 1980 to 2000. One of his achievements was to establish the Minority (later renamed "Mentoring") Opportunity for Research in Engineering program, which provided grants for undergraduates to pursue research projects in engineering.

In 2000, he was appointed as dean of the college, serving until 2002. He was promoted to distinguished professor in 2003.

Munir has been fascinated by the science of materials since his own undergraduate days. Advances in making new materials or new refinements of existing materials have enabled spectacular progress in technology -- in building the vehicles, machines and devices that have changed how people live, travel, work and play.

Earlier in his career, Munir became interested in how electric fields affect evaporation from single crystals on surfaces. That work won him the National Science Foundation's "Creativity in Research Award" twice, in 1982 and 1985.

In the mid-1980s, Munir was one of the first U.S. scientists to work on "combustion synthesis" or "self-propagating high-temperature synthesis," a technique developed from Soviet rocket technology.

In combustion synthesis, a powdered mixture is ignited, and a hot molten combustion wave moves rapidly through the mix, leaving a new material behind.

The process can be used to make materials with a wide range of properties -- hardness, heat resistance, electrical conductivity, transparency, magnetism -- depending on the starting material and the reaction conditions.

Applying his earlier work, Munir found that these combustion reactions could be modified and controlled with electric fields.

In 2000, Munir and Ben Shaw, professor of mechanical and aeronautical engineering at UC Davis, won a grant from NASA to study combustion synthesis under electric fields aboard a special aircraft that simulates weightlessness. Students from Munir's lab, including doctoral candidate Fredrick, graduate student Cosan Unuvar and undergraduate Jennifer Sween, have now flown twice on NASA's "Vomit Comet," carrying out a packed schedule of experiments on each mission.

Munir virtually invented a field of research, Searcy said.

"Before Zuhair, exothermic reactions were just a darned nuisance -- he learned to control such reactions and make them an important area for study," he said.

Munir's research is at a fundamental level, but the techniques that he has developed could lead to new ways to make unique materials for all kinds of applications -- high-temperature turbine blades, optical components for lasers, electrical conductors or insulators. Recently, the university filed a patent application for a form of cubic zirconia developed in his lab that could be used in fuel cells to generate energy at room temperature using water as fuel source.

In his spare time, Munir can usually be found birdwatching, hiking, or photographing wildflowers. As dean, he installed a hummingbird feeder outside the dean's office window. He reads widely, especially histories, and classical music is always playing in his office.

Among many honors, Munir was named the Distinguished Research Lecturer by the UC Davis Academic Senate in 2006. The award is the highest distinction bestowed by the faculty on their peers. He received the Outstanding Educator Award from the American Ceramic Society in 2004, and the society's prestigious John Jeppson Medal in 2005.

He has traveled extensively, visiting China several times at the invitation of the Ministry of Metallurgy and Industry. He has been a visiting professor at institutions in Italy, Germany, England, Mexico, Japan, Brazil and Singapore.

Although past the normal retiring age, Munir certainly shows no signs of slowing down. He typically works six days a week and recently submitted a major grant proposal to the National Science Foundation, with collaborators in Germany.

"If you enjoy what you are doing, why retire?" Munir said.

Easing college costs for fallen troops' families

2007-04-09T16:50:00.000-07:00

Nicole Smith's stepfather died in Iraq just three weeks before her 17th birthday, a loss that more than three years later carries both emotional and financial repercussions.

The 20-year-old still feels the void of losing a parent, but the frustration is compounded as she struggles to continue her schooling in a higher education system that has become increasingly expensive.

Smith has scrambled to pay tuition and fees at a community college for more than a year. Despite a $2,000 scholarship, she said she remains on the verge of not making it.

"It's to the point where I can't afford it," she said.

Her hardship could be eased by a proposal in Washington state that would provide free tuition for children and spouses of eligible veterans.

The bill by Sen. Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, would require state colleges and universities to waive costs for spouses and children of active-duty and National Guard members killed, disabled, captured or missing in action.

The only concern, said House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, could be the financial impact when it's not clear how many people would benefit from the bill. "There's a lot of unknowns there."

The bill cleared the Senate easily and on Thursday unanimously passed the House. It now goes back to the Senate for concurrence on a minor amendment added by the House.

If it passes, Washington would join 28 other states with similar tuition waiver bills.

"It shouldn't matter how much it will cost, this is the right thing to do," Hewitt said.

For Smith, a tuition waiver would mean not having to borrow a couple hundred dollars from her mother every month or so. And she wouldn't have to depend entirely on her fiance to pay bills.

But for now, everything she makes from her part-time job at Old Navy in Puyallup goes to help pay for a 15-credit course load at Tacoma Community College.

The two-year school wasn't Smith's first choice.

She'd originally enrolled at Central Washington University, but the $15,000-per-year cost was too high for the family to bear since losing her dad, a Fort Lewis Stryker Brigade soldier who died in Iraq on Dec. 8, 2003.

With his salary, Smith said she probably would have been able to draw financial aid. But since her mom invested the money from her dad's life insurance, Smith was deemed ineligible for federal aid.

Smith said costs at her community college are almost $6,000 a year. Even with the $2,000 scholarship, it remains difficult.

"I barely, barely make it," she said.

The proposal would help Smith and an unknown number of others like her pay for school without the financial strain.

"I wouldn't have to worry ... 'Am I going to be able to pay for tuition? Am I going to be able to go this term?' " she said.

Smith wants people to understand that the sacrificing never stops for survivors, who are often left behind by the system. She has spoken in favor of the bill, hoping to reprove misconceptions that she's just looking for a handout.

A few simple steps and some tough questions can help families tackle the cost of college

2007-04-09T16:48:00.000-07:00

More than 2 million Americans have just three weeks to make what will probably be one of the biggest financial bets of their lives: where to go to college.

Unfortunately, the odds of making a mistake are high because many colleges and lenders fail-sometimes intentionally-to provide the basic information students need to keep college costs within their budgets. Many schools, for example, ignore at least the spirit of vague federal laws requiring them to give students plenty of warning about scholarship details and total costs. And the New York State attorney general has launched an investigation into whether colleges and lenders have been illegally steering students and parents away from the cheapest education loans. Such tactics can be especially effective on college applicants, most of whom are young adults whose biggest previous financial decision may have been which sneaker to buy.

The costs of making a mistake have never been higher. About 40 percent of all students drop out of college and so get little career or earnings boost-but are often left with big bills. And this year's freshmen will face the risk of the biggest bills in history, as colleges around the country are raising tuition to new records. The California State universities' fees will jump 10 percent this fall; the University of Kentucky's, 9 percent. Even accounting for increases in federal Pell grants and other financial aid, students at public universities will probably have to scrape together about $14,000 from their own families next year, up several hundred dollars from last year. Meanwhile, students who get no scholarships and choose to pay the sticker prices of the most expensive private universities will have to pony up more than $50,000.

But the payoff to making a good decision is still lavish. Those who choose the right college, and make the grades and payments to receive a degree, earn about 40 percent more than those who drop out of college. That kind of jackpot is what is inspiring Olga Nuñez, 23, to ask plenty of questions about the financial aid offer she expects from a community college in New Jersey. She's being careful this time around because of the blunder she made at 20, when she was thrilled to get a small scholarship from private Wheelock College in Massachusetts. She didn't notice then that much of the rest of her aid package was loans. And she didn't check out the school to see if she'd be comfortable there. After just one year of feeling isolated and becoming alarmed by her new college debts, she dropped out. "Now I have almost $15,000 in loans," she says.

"This time, I'm going to do it right."

Financial aid experts and students like Nuñez say that a few hours of research and some simple strategies are all it takes to tilt the odds in students' favor.

Step 1. When Joe Paul Case, director of financial aid at Amherst College, helps friends decide which college to choose, he says the first step is to figure out just how much each college is going to cost. So he sits down with all the student's financial aid award letters, a big pad of paper, and a pencil. He draws a grid, writes the name of each school at the top of a column, and then starts to tear his hair out. The very first and most important number-the total cost of a year at the school, including tuition, fees, room, board, books, travel, and other reasonable expenses-is often left off award letters and college websites. Many schools reveal their total costs only upon request, so that their high prices don't scare applicants away. "They don't want to have confrontations with families" about costs but instead want students to get excited and say, "Oh, look how much scholarship there was," Case says.

Once over the excitement, families can call the schools and ask for the total cost of attendance or estimate it by adding about $3,700 to tuition, fees, room, and board. To get the net out-of-pocket costs for the first year, just subtract grants and scholarships from each school's total cost. Loans and work-study jobs are often good deals, but they still eventually come out of the pocket of the student or parent.

Experienced students warn against stopping there, however. The goal isn't just to pay for freshman year but to get the student through to a degree. And that means asking the school-and the student-tough questions. Andrew Blucker, a freshman at Tennessee Tech, now realizes every student should investigate the rules for and likelihood of renewing each scholarship, for example. Money awarded because of a student's need, such as Pell grants, won't be renewed if the income of the student or parent gets a sudden boost. And Blucker was shocked to learn how easy it is to lose merit scholarships. He is about to become one of 50 percent of Tennessee HOPE scholarship recipients who lose them because of low grades after just one year. "College was quite a bit more difficult than I expected," Blucker says. It's more difficult than most students expect. Tennessee's research shows that more than 60 percent of students who leave high school with a B-plus grade-point average end their freshman year with a sub-B average. That's a warning to students who accept scholarships that require maintaining high grades in college.

How long? In addition, figuring out the cost of a degree means asking how long it will take the student to get through the coursework. Most college students now take at least five years. But there's a great variation from school to school, as a few quick clicks on the federal government's College Opportunities Online Locator website (http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/cool/index.aspx) show.

Alas, once they've figured out their bottom line, most families are unpleasantly surprised. The ugly reality is that most colleges feel they simply can't afford to provide enough aid for every student. And that leaves students who can't afford college with two solutions: cut their costs, and raise extra funds. But the way students make up the cash shortages can influence their chances of graduating.

A growing number of students are saving money by living at home and spending the first couple of years in low-priced community colleges. Those students need to be especially disciplined, however, because many community colleges have a low rate of transferring students on to four-year schools.

Raising cash can also be tricky. Working no more than 15 hours a week can earn students about $2,000 over a school year, enough to cover books and extra expenses. Better yet, studies show the discipline of a part-time job improves grades. But working more than that tends to steal time away from homework and is associated with a higher dropout rate.

Nearly 7 percent of college students also raise extra cash through private scholarships from charities, clubs, and businesses. But the biggest prizes go to the early birds. Only a handful of contests are still accepting applications in April.

One of the most effective ways to get more aid is to call, write, or, best of all, visit the aid offices of the student's top-choice school. Students who can supply good reasons and evidence for needing more money can ask for a "professional judgment review" of their award. Job loss or unusual but necessary costs such as hospital or funeral bills are the kinds of factors that tend to win the most additional aid, officers say. Unwillingness to divert money from payments on the Hummer or beachfront vacation home typically won't win sympathy or money. Students or parents who have low-balled their income or savings on financial aid applications should not appeal. Officials taking a harder look at a family's finances can-and sometimes do-reduce aid.

A growing number of schools are also receptive to appeals based on offers from competing schools. Some universities, such as Carnegie Mellon and Harvard, encourage students to give them a chance to match other colleges' awards. (They may not respond to offers from schools they don't compete with, however.) Other schools prefer to be approached more diplomatically.

It took Janean Laidlaw of Williamstown, Mass., five hours of scouring through websites and college catalogs to figure out the real costs of the eight schools her son, Hal, got into in 2003. And then she discovered that Hal's top choice, Swarthmore, would cost the family $16,000, or as much as 22 percent of the family's after-tax income, and was thousands of dollars higher than his other choices. So she wrote a letter noting that other schools had been more generous, wondering if those schools "had looked at us differently," and explaining it would be difficult for the family to live on three-quarters pay. After an initial rejection, Swarthmore offered to replace Hal's loans with grants. Though sorely tempted, in the end, Hal chose to study math and computer science at Princeton, a less expensive option. Now a senior, Hal is being recruited by tech companies, and the Laidlaws' oldest daughter just received a nice offer from Columbia. "We're very lucky," Laidlaw says. Of course, the Laidlaws also put in the effort to increase the odds that financial aid luck would favor them.

Considering Aid Offers?

--Find out the college's total cost of attendance.

--Deduct grants and scholarships to calculate your out-of-pocket cost.

--Determine what the requirements are to have a scholarship renewed for subsequent years.

--Figure out how long it's likely to take to get a degree. Most students now need at least five years.

--Weigh the savings from living at home for two years and going to community college vs. the chance that you won't transfer to a four-year school.

--Decide how many hours a week you could work at a job without hurting your grades.

--Look for last-minute scholarships with late deadlines.

--Appeal to the college financial aid office for a better deal if your family has evidence of greater need.

If You're Running Behind...

It's not too late to apply for college scholarships. U.S. News has compiled a list of eight scholarship programs suitable for last-minute applicants, with deadlines ranging from April 30 through September 17 and awards of $300 to $10,000. Most require an essay: Questions include "What is the future of the printed book?" and "If you could trade places with someone for 24 hours, who would it be and why?" The list is available at usnews.com/lastminute.

College aid tilts more to merit than to need

2007-04-09T16:47:00.002-07:00

In college, Kaylea Happell has learned the intricate theories and practical applications of political science and international relations. And she has done it on someone else's dime.

The senior will graduate debt-free from the State University College at Brockport this spring, largely because of its Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence program. It covers tuition, room costs, mandatory fees and most meals for high school valedictorians and salutatorians with a 96 average or better and SAT scores of at least 1250.

"If you're first or second in your class, this is a pretty good deal," said the senior from Chautauqua County. "You don't have to pay for your education."

Scholarships and aid directly from colleges once were reserved for the neediest students. But increasingly over the past 20 years, schools have covered some or most of the costs for their best and brightest.

Brockport spends more than $2.5 million a year on its top merit scholarships, all of which cover huge chunks of the cost of attendance. Rochester Institute of Technology's Presidential Scholarship provides up to $10,000 a year, based on students' high school academic records and recommendations. And all freshmen admitted to St. John Fisher College are considered for Fisher merit scholarships, most of which are $8,000 to $10,000 a year.

Countless organizations and groups also offer college scholarships tied to good test scores or grades. And more than a dozen states have broad merit programs, usually offering some tuition and fee money for students with at least a B average, although New York does not.

But the growth of college "merit aid" is causing some controversy.

Hamilton College in Oneida County got national attention last month when it announced that it would end merit aid, focusing its institutional financial aid on the neediest students. Meanwhile, the University of Rochester has been scaling back how much it spends on merit aid as it boosts need-based aid.

"Merit alone isn't a problem," said Don Emmons, dean of admissions and financial aid at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. "If you're using merit money at the expense of not enough need-based money, that's where it appears to be problematic."

Growth of aid

According to a U.S. Education Department analysis of 2003-04 financial aid, more students from the richest quarter of New York families got merit grants, usually in the form of scholarships, than did families in the poorest quartile. The well-off students also got bigger merit aid packages — $5,400 on average, compared to $3,800 for the bottom quartile, the department found. Meanwhile, as need-based aid rose 41 percent nationally during the 1990s, merit aid spiked more than 200 percent, according to the National Association of State Financial Aid Administrators.

Individual colleges generally don't divulge how much they spend on merit and need-based aid because it is closely held competitive information, said Donald E. Heller, senior research associate with Pennsylvania State University's Center for the Study of Higher Education.

For the students who get scholarships for their smarts, merit aid is both a reward for effort in high school and a way to benefit the college overall.

Having more top students "pushes people to want to strive for better things, higher grades," said Ines Nam, a SUNY Brockport senior from Argentina and a Distinguished Scholars aid recipient. "Overall, it raises the level of the school."

For colleges, merit aid is also a means to attract students, most of whom apply to multiple colleges and sometimes negotiate the best financial aid packages from competing schools.

At Nazareth College, where 23 percent of the school's financial aid goes to "no need" or merit students, "the money is not necessarily being taken away from somebody else," said Tom DaRin, vice president for enrollment management.

"If we went solely need-based, do we have the resources to meet the full need of our applicants? The answer is no," he said. "We are trying to take the dollars we have and spread them out among as many students as we can impact."

Rolling back

At Hamilton, the cut in merit aid means more money going toward need-based aid, said Monica Inzer, dean of admission and financial aid. However, it won't be a huge change; the college estimates that about 5 percent of its $21 million financial aid budget was spent on merit aid.

"Everybody who gets into Hamilton is a high-level student, has a high-level GPA," Inzer said. "There's been this reaction from bloggers and different people to say this means you're going to take money from hardworking great students and give it to other people who don't work hard and are poor. They're all great students."

Whether other schools follow Hamilton's lead, "it's really early to say," said John R. Smith, associate director of financial aid at Roberts Wesleyan College.

Four years ago, UR was spending more than a third of its $9 million aid budget on merit aid, said Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Jonathan Burdick. Today, the university is spending roughly $2 million of a $19 million aid budget, with the rest going for need-based aid. "We're pretty aggressive that some low-income students are going to have access to this place," Burdick said.

UR has stopped providing an automatic $5,000 to every New York resident who attends. It also has ended a commitment to give a scholarship to every high-performing student, and about 80 percent of UR's incoming students qualify now.

"It made no sense to be locking in a scholarship program for virtually the entire pool of applicants," Burdick said. "We still give scholarships to a lot of the best students."

Brockport started its array of merit scholarships about a decade ago, and they probably played a role in making admission to the college increasingly competitive, said J. Scott Atkinson, director of financial aid.

The fall 2003 freshman class, which included Happell and another current senior, Erin Doring, helped move Brockport into Tier 2 of SUNY's ranking of selectivity, up from Tier 3.

Doring, 22, of Colonie, Albany County, was already a fan of SUNY Brockport, seeing it as not too big and not too small with a good psychology program. But the Presidential Scholarship she was offered meant other schools fell by the wayside.

As one of four sisters in college, "I wanted to help in whatever way I could" with the costs, said Doring. "In my mind, I felt like I needed (the scholarship). In reality, maybe not."

Happell was more interested in UR but would have faced $22,000 in loans yearly: "I went, 'Huh, free school.' The idea of not having any (debt) after four years ... was pretty good."

Find scholarships to help pay for college

2007-04-09T16:47:00.001-07:00

New York | This month, high school seniors around the country are anxiously awaiting thick envelopes signaling acceptance from the schools of their choice. But getting in is just half the battle.

After the excitement of acceptance wears off, the reality of paying for that primo education will surely set in. And though students will also receive financial aid packages, those are likely to be comprised primarily of loans.

But don't worry - there is still time to find free money. Though many scholarship deadlines have passed for this year, enterprising students can unearth a few more. And remember, college lasts four years (or more) - you can seek scholarships during your entire college tenure.

Here's where to look:

Start with local money. Check with your high school guidance counselor's office, which will have information about scholarships for students graduating from local high schools. Sometimes county offices or libraries will publish booklets of scholarships available to residents of specific towns, counties or states. Competition for a local scholarship is going to be less fierce simply because there will be fewer people eligible for it.

Head for the big boys. National organizations and corporations offer major scholarships, as well. Popular ones include Coca-Cola, Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) and Siemens.

Tap parents' networks. What organizations are parents affiliated with? Many of them, whether they are religious, fraternal, community service or professional ones, offer scholarships to members' children. And don't forget parents' employers for scholarships or tuition reimbursement programs.

Scour the Web. There are several free scholarship search services available, including FastWeb.com and SRNExpress.com. Just remember that you should never have to pay to find scholarship information. If you do, it's probably a scam.

Talk to your college or university. Many institutions will make a list of scholarships available to accepted students. Don't ignore it. They are often so specific or narrow that the competition may not be very strong. For example, an alumnus might be offering a scholarship to a student who comes from a specific county and is interested in photography.

Salmah Y. Rizvi Named a 2007 Truman Scholar

2007-04-09T16:46:00.001-07:00

Salmah Y. Rizvi has been named a 2007 Truman Scholar. Rizvi, who is from Laurel, Md., is one of 65 students from 56 U.S. colleges and universities to have received the prestigious award, which is given to extraordinary juniors committed to careers in public service.

Scholars receive $30,000 for graduate study and are eligible for priority admission and supplemental financial aid at premier graduate institutions. They also receive leadership training, career and graduate school counseling, and access to special internship opportunities within the federal government. Recipients must be U.S. citizens, have outstanding leadership potential and communication skills and be in the top quarter of their classes. Another Johns Hopkins student, Sarah David, received the award in 2006.

The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, which announced its latest group of scholars on March 27, was established by Congress in 1975 as the federal memorial to America's 33rd president.

This year's winners will meet in May for a weeklong leadership development program at William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo., and receive their awards in a special ceremony at the Truman Library in Independence, Mo., on May 20.

Rizvi, 20, is a Hodson Trust Scholar at Johns Hopkins, majoring in international relations and anthropology. She would like to pursue a doctorate in law and a master's degree in public policy with a concentration in Islamic legal studies. Rizvi plans to continue translating and analyzing intelligence information at the Department of Defense, where she has spent the past three summers as an intern focused on language analysis. Later, she hopes to pursue a public service career with the State Department working on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.

Rizvi is the co-founder and chair of VisionXchange, a service and international relief organization on the Homewood campus. The group's goal, she says, is "to raise a lot of money for good causes while having an awesome time as well." VisionXchange has hosted a number of fun, stunt-based events to raise money for charity, including Top Model contests to raise awareness about human trafficking; College Idol contests to address the child soldier situation in northern Uganda; Shots for Shots, a basketball-themed fund-raiser pitting students against professors to benefit the Measles Initiative; and an attempt to set a new benchmark in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most couples simultaneously on blind dates.

Rizvi has been a student representative on the university's Diversity Leadership Council, a dancer on the Bhangra Dance team and an executive board member for the Johns Hopkins University Muslim Student Association and the Foreign Affairs Symposium.

Last semester, Rizvi lived and worked in Washington, D.C., as an Aitchison Fellow. There, she served as deputy director for the International Consortium on Fundamental Rights, an initiative housed by the Institute on Religion and Public Policy. Sponsored by the institute, Rizvi traveled to Rome and helped organize the fourth annual Interparliamentary Conference on Human Rights and Religious Freedom.

She has traveled extensively as a student ambassador promoting peace and stability and teaching international humanitarian law in such countries as Uganda and Iceland. As an active member of the Muslim-American community, Rizvi has also interned for the Muslim Public Affairs Council, published a number of papers regarding Islamic politics and volunteered with various Muslim organizations. She teaches Islamic history every Sunday at her local mosque, Idara-E-Jaferia Center in Burtonsville, Md.

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Behind the Scenes: The Quest for a Prestigious Scholarship

A Marshall, a Mitchell, a Truman, a Luce and a Gates--five big awards so far during the 2006-2007 academic year, with the possibility of more good news to come when the Fulbright Scholars are announced later this spring and summer.

That Johns Hopkins is home to so many scholarship winners each year is a credit to its well-rounded, top-notch students. But it's also a nod to the behind-the-scenes guidance provided by John Bader, associate dean for academic programs and advising in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. Each year, Bader said, his coaching process begins with one-on-one meetings with anywhere from five to 20 scholarship candidates who have the ambition and wherewithal to compete for national scholarships.

"I'll get to know them and help them figure out how to market themselves," Bader said. "So much about winning is finding out what is unique about you and how to pitch it to a scholarship committee."

From there, Bader helps students apply for the scholarships that are the best fit. Much of the focus is on essay writing, the amount and intensity of which varies from scholarship to scholarship. With the help of Sydney Green, administrative coordinator and longtime member of the Office of Academic Advising, mock interview panels consisting of faculty members and often including President Brody, are convened to pitch tough questions and offer feedback. All the while, Green makes sure the students' application paperwork is in order and filed in a timely fashion.

Bader, who traveled to India on a Fulbright Scholarship he received when he was at Yale, said that all the work that goes into the application process is beneficial, regardless of the outcome.

"Win or lose, the students are gaining important skills, whether they are pitching themselves for jobs or they go on to apply for other grants," Bader said. "Several who lose one award will go on to win another because they gain experience the first time around."

Though Bader and Green are based at Homewood, their help extends to the university's other divisions. Officially speaking, Bader's not a scholarship recruiter (a position at some other universities), though he encourages students to seek his guidance if they are applying for awards. "I work with a small stable of students, all of whom are self-electing, and I welcome others to come and talk to me," Bader said. "We can work on several projects to find the right fit for them and increase the odds that they'll win something."

The extra work paid off for 2007 Truman winner Salmah Rizvi. Bader recalled that Rizvi wasn't feeling well during either her mock interview or her real interview and that she was also one of the last candidates to go before the official panel, timing that compounded her nerves and her symptoms.

"Whether you are sick or not, no one is going to take mercy on you, and we didn't either in our practice sessions," Bader said. "I think the mock interview helped her think through how she could manage her energy and grit it out."

When the coaching comes to an end the big interview day arrives, Bader and Green cross their fingers and send the students into their interviews, hoping for the best.

"We get everyone to the point where they are in the best position to win, and that's what a good coach does," Bader said. "You hope they make the free throws, and if they don't, you hug them anyway, and if they do, you celebrate with them."

Education Calendar

2007-04-09T16:45:00.000-07:00

All submissions for the Education Calendar must be received by the Bulletin at least three days before an event in order to ensure they are included in the daily listing. To submit information or photos for the Education Calendar, please e-mail schools@norwichbulletin.com

BOZRAH

Fields Memorial School, 8 Bozrah St. Ext., 887-2561:

Registration packets for incoming kindergarten students are available. Children must be 5 on or before Dec. 31 in order to attend the fall 2007 session. Call Mrs. Jurczyk at 887-2561 for more information.

The next preschool screening will be Friday for Bozrah residents who are between 3 and 4 years old. If you have a child in this age range, call Mrs. Jurczyk at 887-2561 to schedule an appointment for your child. Screening appointments will be scheduled beginning at 9 a.m.

COLCHESTER

Bacon Academy, 611 Norwich Ave., 537-23785:

Volunteers are needed to help with the senior barbecue June 8. For information, e-mail George Breault at george.breault.jr@snet.net or the Grad Night Committee at gradnight07@hotmail.com

The next grad night committee meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the faculty lounge. Meetings are held at 7 p.m. every Wednesday.

Colchester Elementary School, 315 Halls Hill Road, 537-0717:

Kindergarten story times will be held from noon to 12:30 p.m. Wednesday and May 9 for Colchester children ages 4-5 who will be entering kindergarten during the 2007-08 school year. Teachers and administrators will meet with children, read stories and help children become familiar with the school. Parents and children may attend as many story times as they like. Registration not required.

Colchester Board of Education, 127 Norwich Ave., Suite 202, 537-7267:

The monthly informal meet-and-greet event for community members and parents interested in asking questions and learning more about the community schools will be held at 6:30 p.m. April 30 in Town Hall room 1 with Superintendent Karen Loiselle and First Selectman Stan Soby.

DANIELSON

Killingly High School, 79 Westfield Ave., 77-6620:

Killingly High School Project Grad 2007 pasta dinner will be held from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. April 28 at the Brooklyn Firehouse, 15 S. Main St. $8 for adults, and $5 for children younger than 6. Tickets available at all Killingly schools and at the door.

Quinebaug Valley Community College, 742 Upper Maple St., 774-1130 and 729 Main St. Willimantic, 423-1824:

Easter egg hunt sponsored by the Soldiers' Angels of Northeast Connecticut will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday on the Danielson campus.

A tour and information session for prospective students will be held at 5 p.m. Wednesday on the Willimantic campus. For information, call 423-1824.

A tour and information session for prospective students will be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday on the Danielson campus. For information, call 774-1130.

The Kids Academy School Break Week programs for kids ages 6-14 will be held April 16-20 on the Danielson campus. For information or to register, call 774-1133.

EAST LYME

East Lyme High School, 30 Chesterfield Road, P.O. Box 210, 739-6946:

The class of 2007 is sponsoring a recycling program to raise funds for its drug- and alcohol-free graduation party. Students will collect old cell phones and used ink cartridges throughout the spring. A drop box is in the high school main office on Chesterfield Road in East Lyme. E-mail Michele Joy at landjoy@aol.com for further information.

The East Lyme High School Drug- and Alcohol-Free Graduation Party Committee is asking for donations to support an all-night, alcohol-free, drug-free, safe and supervised party June 22 after graduation ceremonies. Contributions may be mailed to East Lyme Senior Class Party, P.O. Box 941, East Lyme, CT 06333. To donate door prizes for the graduation party, call Dan Holle at 859-3173 or e-mail dholle1958@yahoo.com or call Michele Joy at 739-8894 or e-mail landjoy@aol.com

GALES FERRY

Juliet W. Long School, 1854 Route 12, 464-2780:

"Macbeth" will be presented as the fifth annual Shakespeare play at 7 p.m. Friday. The event is free and open to the public.

LISBON

Lisbon Central School, 15 Newent Road, 376-2403:

The school is establishing a preliminary count for the 2007-08 kindergarten and preschool classes. To register for kindergarten, a child must be 5 by Jan. 1, 2008. Children from infants through 5 years old, born before Jan. 1, 2004, can be preregistered for preschool. Registration forms may be picked up in the main office.

MIDDLETOWN

State Department of Education's Bureau of Health and Nutrition Services and Child/Family/School Partnerships, 25 Industrial Park Road, 807-2073:

The state Department of Education is looking for qualified local sponsoring organizations to give children free meals through the 2007 federal Summer Food Service Program for Children. Local sponsors may include public or private nonprofit school food authorities; state, local, municipal or county governments; residential public or private nonprofit summer camps; public or private nonprofit colleges or universities participating in the National Youth Sports Program; and private nonprofit organizations. For information, call Susan Bohuslaw at 807-2073.

MONTVILLE

St. Bernard School, 1593 Norwich-New London Turnpike, Uncasville, 848-1271:

Mothers are invited to attend a presentation by Dr. Roni Cohen-Sandler, expert speaker and best-selling co-author of "I'm Not Mad, I Just Hate You," regarding parenting, especially mother-daughter relationships at 7 p.m. April 25 in the auditorium. Pre-registration is $5 before April 20. Door tickets $7. Make checks payable to St. Bernard School.

NEW LONDON

Connecticut College, 270 Mohegan Ave., 447-1911:

Poetry reading by award-winning poet Karl Kirchwey will be held at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the Shain Library. The event is free and open to the public. For information, call 439-2350.

The fourth annual Conn Film Festival will hold five film screenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. today through Friday. The event is free and open to the public. For information, call 439-2301.

Connecticut College Dance Department Senior Thesis Concert will be held at 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday in the Palmer Auditorium. General admission $12, students and seniors $6, 439-2830.

NORWICH

British American Preparatory School, 21 Fairmount St., Norwich, 823-7098:

Registration for the 2007-08 school year is open. Visits by prospective parents and registration hours are from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. every school day, or evenings by appointment. For information, or to arrange a visit to the school, call 823-7098 or visit www.britishamericanprepschool.org

The school has a limited number of scholarships for children 7 to 9 years old. These are awarded initially for one year, but may be extended based on the progress of the student. Awards are made based on academic promise measured by examination. The value of the award will depend upon the family's financial status. For information, call 823-7098 or visit www.britishamericanprepschool.org. The 2007 scholarship examination will take place Saturday. Children will be given age-appropriate tests in math and English, as well as verbal and nonverbal reasoning. The closing date for applications is Tuesday. For information and an application form, call 823-7098.

Integrated Day Charter School, 68 Thermos Ave., 892-1900:

The preschool lottery will be held at 4 p.m. today at the school.

Norwich Public Schools, 90 Town St., 823-4245:

Norwich Public Schools holds meetings at 6 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of each month in the Kelly Middle School library. The next meeting will be April 24. For information, call 823-4245 or e-mail pwaubin@norwichpublicschools.org

Sacred Heart School, 15 Hunters Ave., Taftville, 887-1757:

Registration for the 2007-08 school year is open. Open houses will be held from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. every Thursday. Registration hours are from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. every school day, evening hours by appointment only. For information or to arrange a visit to the school, call 887-1757 or visit www.sacredhearttaftville.org

Three Rivers Community College, 7 Mahan Drive, 886-0177:

Three Rivers is opening to the public an environmental issues seminar class offered through the college's environmental engineering technology program. The two-credit class will be taught by guest lecturers who will speak on a wide range of locally relevant environmental topics. Classes meet from 6 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. Thursdays at the Thames Valley campus, room 102.

Children First Norwich/School Readiness Council Collaborative is sponsoring a Truck Day at 10 a.m. April 28 at Three Rivers Community College Mohegan campus. An array of large trucks, tractors, backhoes and activities is planned. For information, call Sherry Filiatreault at 823-3782.

PLAINFIELD

Plainfield High School, 105 Putnam Road, P.O. Box 218, Central Village 564-6422:

Spring vacation is April 16-20.

SALEM

Salem School, 200 Hartford Road, 859-0267:

Kindergarten registration packets are available for pick-up in the main office between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Children must be 5 on or before Jan. 1, 2008. For questions, call 859-0267, Ext. 3207.

SPRAGUE

Sprague Public Schools, 25 Scotland Road, 822-8264:

Preschool screenings will be held from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. May 17. The screening is open to all 3- and 4-year-old children in Baltic, Hanover and Versailles. For information, call Sheilagh Morgan at 822-8264, Ext. 193.

THOMPSON

Mary R. Fisher Elementary School, 785 Riverside Drive, North Grosvenordale, 923-9142:

Preschool data is being compiled for the 2007-08 school year. Children 4 years old on or before Dec. 31 are eligible for the 4-year old program. For information, call the school office at 923-9142 or 923-2301 by May 25. Your child must be screened in order to be considered for the program. The program is tuition-based. All preschool children must be residents of Thompson.

WARWICK, R.I.

New England Institute of Technology, 2500 Post Road:

The "Tech Nite" open house will be from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday. For directions to the college, visit www.neit.edu or call 467-7744 or 1-800-736-7744.

WINDHAM

Eastern Connecticut State University, 83 Windham St., Willimantic, 465-5000:

Eastern Connecticut State University presents "Nothing Short of Waterworks" Wednesday through Sunday at the Harry Hope Theatre in Shafer Hall. Admission is $5 for Eastern students and children younger than 12; $10 for faculty, staff, alumni, senior citizens and other students; $12 for general public. For reservations or ticket information, call the box office at 465-5123.

AHEAD

The R.I.S.E.N. program at Sacred Heart School, 50 Sacred Heart Drive, Groton, will host its third annual golf tournament June 1 at the Shennecossett Municipal Golf Course. R.I.S.E.N. is a special education program for children within the Diocese of Norwich and is dependent on grants, donations and other financial support. For information or to register, call 449-8302 or e-mail RISEN@SacredHeartGroton.org

The Historically Black College Alumni of New London will hold the 15th annual Black College Tour April 17-22. The tour includes visits to Howard University, Cheyney State University and Lincoln University. For more information, call HBCA tour representatives Ms. Patterson at 445-5470 or Mr. Fonville at 848-1847 or e-mail at hbca_nl@yahoo.com

Integrated Day Charter School in Norwich is planning a celebration of its 10th anniversary May 17-19. Check the school's Web site, www.idcs.org, for updates on details of the anniversary celebration as they develop.

SCHOLARSHIPS

The Debra Schoonmaker Ferraro Scholarship has been established to award an annual scholarship to a Ledyard High School senior who exemplifies courage and determination. Donations can be sent to the attention of Pat Blodgett, c/o Ledyard High School, 24 Gallup Hill Road, Ledyard, CT 06339 and are tax deductible. Checks may be made out to the LHS Debra Schoonmaker Scholarship Fund. For information, call Amanda Olsen Fagan at 287-0720 or aolsen@ledyard.net

The Rotary Club of Ledyard is accepting applications for Rotary International Scholarships for study abroad. An ambassadorial scholarship is available for one academic year of study in a foreign university. Another scholarship is available for three months of intensive foreign language study abroad. The one-year program will be funded up to $25,000 and the three-month study can cover up to $12,000. Successful applicants for the World Peace Scholarship are to pursue a two-year master's program in peace studies and conflict resolution at one of seven Rotary Centers for International Peace. For information, call Robert Sampson of the Ledyard Rotary Club at 464-0433.

Chapman Technical High School Alumni Association and the William H. Chapman Foundation are offering eight or nine $750 scholarships. Applications are available from the William H. Chapman Foundation, P.O. Box 1321, New London, CT 06320.

All students living in Montville planning to attend post-high school education full-time are eligible to apply for an Isaac Emerson Palmer Scholarship. Special consideration is given to those planning to seek practical education in technical institutions of higher learning and trade or technical schools. Students must live in Montville, be younger than 25, be a graduate of Montville High School or school of equal rank and be applying as a full-time student in a school of higher learning for practical education. Applications are available in the career resource center and main office at Montville High School and in the mayor's office at Town Hall. Applications also are available in Adobe PDF or Microsoft Word for downloading, by visiting the March Web page of the Counseling & Career News: www.montvilleschools.org/high-school/Guidance/News/March.htm

The Ledyard Women's Club is accepting applications for its annual $1,000 scholarship. The scholarship is awarded to a high school senior who lives in Gales Ferry or Ledyard. High school seniors may pick up applications in the guidance offices of Ledyard High, Norwich Free Academy, St. Bernard, Grasso Tech and The Williams School. Applications also are available online at www.theledyardwomensclub.com and must be received by April 20.

Three Rivers Community College is accepting applications for two foundation scholarships -- the Liberal Arts and Sciences Merit Scholarship and the Engineering and Technology Merit Scholarship. Applications must be postmarked no later than April 20 and received by the scholarship committee no later than April 27. Each scholarship provides full tuition and fees for two consecutive semesters and will be renewed annually provided the student maintains a 3.25 grade point average. Both scholarships are based on merit and evidence of need. For information or an application, students should call the Office of Institutional Advancement at 885-2657 or their high school guidance counselor. Applications also are available at the Office of Institutional Advancement, 574 New London Turnpike, Norwich, CT 06360.

The Williams Memorial Institute Pre-1955 Alumnae Association will offer three $1,000 scholarships in June. Applicants must be graduating seniors in high school who are a direct descendant of a school graduate or student who attended before 1955. Only those planning to start higher education in the fall as a full-time student are eligible. Applications are available through senior class advisers or guidance departments in area high schools. Applications must be submitted by April 30. For information, call Alma Ruggiero at 443-5602.

The Faith Trumbull Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution will offer $500 scholarships to graduating seniors at the following high schools: Bacon Academy, Griswold, Montville, Norwich Free Academy and St. Bernard. Scholarships will be awarded based on school record, financial need, clarity of college goals and personal potential. Applications are available from the guidance department of each school. Application deadline is April 30. For more information, call Doris Curtis, scholarship chairman, at 444-7275.

The town of Pomfret is offering a $500 community service scholarship. Applicants must be seniors in high school or enrolled as a post graduate in high school (full-time) or an undergraduate student in college (minimum of nine credits per semester) and have lived in Pomfret a minimum of five years. For information, call 974-1423. The deadline for application is May 11.

Fastenal Co. is offering a July internship at the Bobby Hamilton Racing Inc. shop, a team in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, in Mount Juliet, Tenn. Two automotive technical students will work with the crew July 9-13 preparing the No. 18 truck for a July 14 race in Sparta, Ky. The two students also will work with the pit crew during the Sparta race. Applicants must be at least 18 and have graduated between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2007, with a technical degree in the automotive trade. They are required to have passed at least two ASE tests before June 30. Visit www.ase.com for test dates and registration. Applications are being accepted through April 30 online at Fastenalracing.com. Winners will be notified the first two weeks in May. For information, call Kate Hazelton, strategic accounts marketing associate, at (507) 313-7082 or e-mail khazelto@fastenal.com

As part of a community partnership program and a continued commitment to local education, Dunkin' Donuts franchisees will award 100 $1,000 scholarships to qualified high school seniors in Connecticut. This year, the application process will be online at www.dunkindonuts.com/scholarship. The scholarships will be awarded to high school seniors who plan to enroll in a full-time undergraduate course of study at an accredited two-year or four-year college, university or vocational-technical school in the fall. Recipients will be selected on the basis of character: positive academic record, demonstrated leadership, commitment to school and community activities and experience in the work environment. In addition, full-time and part-time employees of Dunkin' Donuts franchisees who meet the scholarship requirements are eligible. The terms, requirements and application information are available at www.dunkindonuts.com/scholarship, Connecticut Dunkin' Donuts shops or by calling the Connecticut Association of Schools at (203) 250-1111.

United States Golf Association awards new round of 84 grants

2007-04-09T16:44:00.002-07:00

The United States Golf Association (USGA) has awarded a new round of 84 grants totaling $1,675,964 to non-profit organizations that will reach nearly 50,000 economically disadvantaged children and individuals with disabilities.

The awards are part of the USGA's effort to create opportunities in people's lives through golf. Grant monies can be used for instruction, golf course and range access, equipment or construction of golf facilities.

"The values that are inherent to the game of golf are transferable to areas of personal development that reach far beyond the golf course" said USGA President Walter Driver. "The programs we have supported over the past 10 years have demonstrated golf's potential to change lives time and time again. We know these newly supported programs will continue that good work."

The USGA has awarded nearly $55 million since 1997 through its "For the Good of the Game" grants initiative.

Kimberly Brown, a young woman in her 20s who is assistant director of The First Tee of Greater Seattle (TFTGS), knows firsthand that golf has the potential to change lives. She was involved in a USGA-funded program as a youngster in Montclair, N.J. After college, she was a Fellow administrator in the USGA grants program for two years. She now works for a program that has been the recipient of USGA funding.

"We are so grateful for the support of the USGA. Its support has been invaluable in establishing ourselves in the Seattle community," said Brown. "After starting with fewer than 250 participants in 2003; we now reach 1,200 kids annually. There is no way we could have accomplished this without the generosity of the USGA."

This time around, another Seattle-based program got a helping hand. The Seattle Junior Golf Foundation received a $27,500 grant.

Another program that will benefit from USGA funding is the Bergenfield (N.J.) Public School District. The new program there will use a $14,000 grant to help introduce students with Autism to golf as a way to strengthen their social skills and cognitive abilities.

"What makes golf the perfect challenge for students with this disability is that it is a game that dares each participant to continuously compete against oneself," said Superintendent Dr. Michael Kruchar. "Every player has an opportunity to be a winner. The course will represent a spectacular and safe learning environment for children who have been trapped inside a variety of walls for too long."

In Chicago, the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Foundation will receive $44,000 in funding to support its summer caddie program, which enters its 16th year in 2007. It is designed to help economically-disadvantaged young people obtain job experience, earn income and gain self-reliance. So far, 368 scholars have participated in the caddie program and 86 caddies have gone on to receive the prestigious Chick Evans Scholarship that underwrites college tuition.

The USGA will also support the development of youth through the Texas Golf Association Foundation's new TGA Works internship program with a $28,000 grant. The initiative will introduce 20 Dallas-area youths to careers in the golf industry through placements in TGA-member golf club pro shops, clubhouses and maintenance crews. During their 10-week internships, participants will also have access to free golf instruction, equipment and playing opportunities.

"We are very proud of the USGA's support for the TGA WORKS program," said Winfield Padgett, president of the TGA Foundation. "The goals of TGA WORKS are parallel with the Foundation's mission to not only expose young people to the game, but also introduce them to the many possible career opportunities in the golf industry.

Here is a complete list of the 84 programs receiving funding across the country:

Challenge Alaska, Inc. Anchorage, Alaska $11,500

Huntsville Metropolitan Youth Golf Foundation Huntsville, Ala. $10,000

Tennessee Valley Jazz Society Huntsville, Ala. $10,000

Sylacauga Alliance for Family Enhancement Sylacauga, Ala. $8,000

Southern Arizona Junior Golf Association Tucson, Ariz. $11,250

East Bay Golf Foundation Concord, Calif. $95,000

Mosquitos Eastside Action Club, Inc. Ripon, Calif. $2,700

Lake Chabot Junior Golf Academy San Leandro, Calif. $14,000

Girls Incorporated of Greater Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, Calif. $4,000

Boys & Girls Club of Southwest County Temecula, Calif. $4,000

Yreka Family YMCA Yreka, Calif. $2,500

Boys & Girls Clubs of the San Luis Valley Alamosa, Colo. $14,000

LPGA Foundation Daytona Beach, Fla. $185,000

The First Tee of Jacksonville, Inc. Jacksonville, Fla. $20,000

Florida Adaptive Golf, Inc. Sarasota, Fla. $50,000

Gulf Coast Academy of Science and Technology Spring Hill, Fla. $2,600

Walton Foundation Augusta, Ga. $9,660

Decatur County of Georgia Bainbridge, Ga. $5,550

The First Tee of Columbus Columbus, Ga. $10,000

Boys & Girls Club of Rome, Inc. Rome, Ga. $8,000

North Shore Junior Golf Association Waialua, Hawaii $50,000

Idaho Youth Ranch Inc. Boise, Idaho $14,650

Idaho Youth Golf Association, Inc. Boise, Idaho $17,300

The Daniel Murphy Scholarship Foundation Chicago, Ill. $44,000

Dreams for Kids Inc. Chicago, Ill. $12,370

George Bell Youth Opportunity Fund Libertyville, Ill. $3,350

Patriots' Gateway Community Center Rockford, Ill. $15,000

Rockford Park District Rockford, Ill. $15,000

Boys & Girls Club of Springfield Springfield, Ill. $15,000

Blackford County Community Foundation Hartford City, Ind. $8,000

Damar Services Inc. Indianapolis, Ind. $10,500

Positive Swing Southport, Ind. $30,000

Arkansas City Recreation Commission Arkansas City, Kan. $2,000

Wichita Junior Golf Foundation Wichita, Kan. $18,000

TFT, Inc. Pineville, Ky. $57,000

Youth Golf Coalition Louisville, Ky. $40,000

Northeast Louisiana Youth Golf Academy Monroe, La. $40,000

Northwest Louisiana Youth Golf and Education Foundation Shreveport, La. $25,000

Public Schools of Brookline Brookline, Mass. $14,000

Children & Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Landover, Md. $6,750

Northern Maine Development Commission, Inc. Caribou, Maine $5,500

Traverse City Junior Golf Association Traverse City, Mich. $15,000

Chillicothe Middle School Chillicothe, Mo. $4,150

Triple "A" Youth Foundation St. Louis, Mo. $20,000

Eagle Mount Billings Billings, Mont. $5,120

Walter T. Morgan Service Foundation, Inc. Cornelius, N.C. $10,000

City of Franklin, Parks and Recreation Department Franklin, N.H. $1,500

Bergenfield Public School District Bergenfield, N.J. $14,000

The ARC of Atlantic County, Inc. Egg Harbor Tnshp, N.J. $5,000

Boys and Girls Clubs of Gloucester County, Inc. Glassboro, N.J. $2,500

Gloucester City School District Gloucester City, N.J. $12,500

Metropolitan Golf Association Foundation Elmsford, N.Y. $22,500

Mount Vernon Boys and Girls Club Mount Vernon, N.Y. $6,784

The First Tee of Akron Akron, Ohio $12,500

Edwin Shaw Hospital - Challenge Golf Akron, Ohio $8,700

Hamilton County Park District Cincinnati, Ohio $5,000

Mound Street Military Academy Dayton, Ohio $4,000

Northern Ohio Hemophilia Foundation Independence, Ohio $5,340

Whittier Middle School Lorain, Ohio $640

Youth Development Corp of Southwestern Ohio Loveland, Ohio $3,100

Malta-McConnelsville Rotary McConnelsville, Ohio $6,750

Ohio Junior Golf Association Norwalk, Ohio $20,000

The First Tee of Tulsa Tulsa, Okla. $3,000

City of Waurika Waurika, Okla. $1,800

City of Waurika Waurika, Okla. $1,250

Heart of Variety Fund Philadelphia, Pa. $20,000

Fairway Outreach, Inc. Columbia, S.C. $50,000

SharedCare Myrtle Beach, S.C. $13,000

City of Chattanooga Parks and Recreation Chattanooga, Tenn. $5,150

Mid-South Junior Golf Association Memphis, Tenn. $50,000

Mid-South Junior Golf Association Memphis, Tenn. $125,000

The Greater Brownsville Junior Golf Foundation, Inc. Brownsville, Texas $30,000

Texas Golf Association Foundation Dallas, Texas $28,000

Youth Sports Council of Fort Worth Fort Worth, Texas $30,000

Grand Prairie Independent School District Grand Prairie, Texas $3,500

Young Women's Christian Assoc. of Lubbock, Texas, Inc. Lubbock, Texas $6,000

YMCA of Port Arthur Texas Port Arthur, Texas $20,000

The Texas Educational Foundation San Marcos, Texas $15,000

Southern Texas PGA Foundation Spring, Texas $40,000

Boys & Girls Club of Utah County Provo, Utah $11,000

National Alliance for Accessible Golf Bloomington, Va. $25,000

Golfers Social Foundation Palmyra, Va. $10,000

Seattle Junior Golf Foundation Seattle, Wash. $27,500

Learning Through Golf Foundation Green Bay, Wis. $20,000

USGA Grants Initiative: A Capsule History

The USGA is the national governing body of golf in this country and Mexico, a combined territory that includes more than half the game's golfers and golf courses.

The USGA works to make the game of golf affordable and accessible. Since 1997, the grants initiative has traditionally focused on programming for economically disadvantaged kids and individuals with disabilities. The USGA Executive Committee has extended this grants initiative to the end of the decade, bringing total anticipated USGA support to $65 million to provide financial support and assistance to deserving golf programs.

Beyond its Grants Initiative, the USGA partners with national organizations to promote affordable and accessible facility development, course access, girls' golf and initiatives for individuals with disabilities.

For more information on the USGA Grants Initiative, contact the Grants office at (719) 471-4810 or visit the Grants Section of the USGA Web site at www.usga.org.

Media Contact:

Craig Smith

csmith@usga.org

Web address: www.usga.org

USGA phone: (908) 234-2300

How to save money on your college education, before, during and after

2007-04-09T16:44:00.001-07:00

In this multi-part personal finance series, readers will learn various ways to help save money for a college education, from off-the wall-scholarships and 529 programs, to the right time to refinance your loans, parents and students alike who read this series will find something to help reduce the costs of a higher education before, during and after it takes place.

Part 1: Scholarships

I graduated from St. John's University in New York by the skin of my teeth -- not because of my grades, but because my family could barely afford the $14,000-a-year tuition. If it was not for the help of several scholarships, I would not have graduated from the prestigious university, which includes notable alumni such as the "Voice of the Yankees" Robert Shappard, former New York State Governor Mario Cuomo and NBA star Ron Artest.

To qualify for a scholarship, one does not need to be a math genius or a star quarterback. What you need is an imagination, the ability to write a few essays and some luck.

When it comes to needing money for higher education, it's everywhere. You just need to know where to find it.

Many parents don't realize there are private scholarships for just about everyone -- from future electricians to red-haired children. Ask your school guidance office if there are any local scholarships earmarked for students in your town, your particular school or even in the child's major. You'd be surprised to find how much money is out there -- and how easy it is to earn.

Many scholarships like to see students who are giving back to their local community. Volunteering for an organization is something that goes a long way on your essay, but the organization itself may even offer scholarships to those who offer a hand. The only downfall is that most private scholarships fall in the $500-$2,000 range, an amount that is paltry compared to the costs of most universities in this day and age. Of course, when it is free money, every dollar counts.

The Search for Scholarships

Before the internet, finding a scholarship was a nightmare. Students had to work through dictionary-sized manuals looking for a potential award. Today, there are a handful of free sites that have databases -- such as Fastweb, CollegeBoard and Salle Mae's College Answer -- which make this tedious research much easier. While these databases are not perfect, the search engines are so much easier than thumbing through a scholarship directory.

You can find money from the strangest places. Here are a few interesting examples:

* If you're tall, Tall Clubs International offers a $1,000 scholarship, the Kae Sumner Einfeldt Scholarship, eligible to women over 5'10 and men over 6'2.

* Skateboarders can apply for the Patrick Kerr Skateboard Scholarship. One individual will receive a $5,000 scholarship while three others will each receive a $1000 scholarship.

* The U.S. Bowling Congress provides several scholarships for bowlers.

Finaid provides a large list of unusual scholarships here.

I graduated from college with the help of the Boy Scouts of America and its National Eagle Scout Scholarship. Other organizations provide scholarships to Eagle Scouts as well, see a list of them here and here. Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas offers the Lyle Scholarship, a fully-paid four-year scholarship for Eagle Scouts majoring in Computer Science, Engineering, or Mathematics. At the time of this article, Lamar had received only one application for this year's annual scholarship.

Your employer, unions and various clubs are also great resources for scholarships. Scholarship America, which only gives money to students who live in their area, provided $185 million in scholarships last year though its local chapters. But be warned, parents need to watch out for scams. Plenty of companies around the nation offer ways to find parents guaranteed scholarship funds for money upfront. This is something you could have done for free on your own. Keep in mind, you're looking for free scholarship money -- you've got some hefty bills coming up in the next few years.

SME Education Foundation awards 2007 scholarships

2007-04-09T16:43:00.001-07:00

The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) Education Foundation recently announced the winners of its annual Directors and Family Student Scholarships. The top award, the SME Family Scholarship, will provide four years of full tuition for high school senior Levi Gamble, of Ramona, Calif., to help fund his undergraduate degree in engineering. Monica Denis, a senior at Michigan’s Kettering University, and Tristan Wagner, a senior at Oregon State University, each received the SME Education Foundation Directors Scholarship, a one-year award that will help fund the completion of their degrees.

The winners were honored at the SME Annual Meeting and Leadership Luncheon, held at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

"One of the most important tasks we can accomplish is to provide support for outstanding students who want to become tomorrow’s manufacturing engineers," said Glen Pearson, president of the SME Education Foundation. "We are proud to offer both financial support as well as our heartfelt encouragement to these deserving, bright students. We believe that the contributions they will make to engineering will ensure a vibrant, healthy future for our industry and our world."

The SME Education Foundation was created by SME in 1979 as a means to transform manufacturing education and enhance manufacturing engineering technology curricula in North American colleges and universities. As a wholly owned subsidiary of SME, governed by its own board of directors, the mission of the SME Education Foundation is to serve the manufacturing community by providing support to the advancement of manufacturing education.

Since 1980, the foundation has provided more than $19 million in cash grants, scholarships and awards. Based upon industry identified competency gaps in the Manufacturing Education Plan, the Foundation has awarded over $15.5 million in grants to 30 colleges and universities in North America since 1998.

Not only does Levi Gamble cite his dad’s bicycle-powered, can-crushing machine as one of his favorite childhood engineering memories, he also credits his father with inspiring him to pursue a manufacturing engineering career.

“I was proud of him as I saw that my father could make something from an idea in his mind,” says Levi. “And that made me think that I could, too.”

With the support of the SME Family Scholarship, Levi will begin that dream this fall, majoring in manufacturing engineering technology and minoring in business management at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash. Levi’s goal is to own and operate his own manufacturing business. Levi graduated with honors from Heritage Christian School in San Diego. In addition to earning exceptional grades and taking a heavy load of advanced math and science courses, Levi has already begun compiling a manufacturing engineering resume, with work at Quatro Composites, where he has worked in several areas of the manufacturing process for the past four years.

Children or grandchildren of SME members are eligible for the Family Scholarship. It provides up to $20,000 annually, renewable up to three times based on continued academic excellence, for a total award of up to $80,000. The recipient must be a graduating high school senior or undergraduate student with no more than 30 credit hours, maintain a grade point average of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, have a minimum SAT score of 1,000 or ACT of 21 and be pursuing a degree in manufacturing engineering, technology or a closely related engineering field of study at an accredited college or university in the United States or Canada.

About the SME Directors Scholarship and Recipients
Monica Denis of Clarkston, Mich., will graduate in 2008 with a dual degree in industrial and mechanical engineering from Kettering University. After graduation, Monica plans to continue her studies with a master’s degree in business at the University of Michigan, and then she intends to go to work at a place where she can “make a difference.”

“I want to be able to improve the efficiency of the company,” says Monica. “Whether it is through shortening standard time on a specific machine, rotating operators to produce the most production per hour, creating the most efficient layout for machinery locations or making sure operations are within ergonomic windows.”

In addition to working several campus jobs to help pay her tuition, Monica has also honed her professional skills in numerous internships at General Motors’ Toledo powertrain plant and structural development labs. Monica devotes her spare time to numerous associations and organizations, such as the Society of Women Engineers for which she has served as vice president and president, SME and the Institute of Industrial Engineers.

Tristan Wagner of Portland, Ore., will graduate from Oregon State University in the fall of 2008 with a dual bachelor’s degree in manufacturing and industrial engineering. He plans to spend his career bringing his two passions — engineering and the environment — together.

“After reading the book ‘Natural Capitalism,’” says Tristan, “I was inspired by its many examples of companies that, through improving their environmental performance, had also dramatically improved their profits. I decided that the field of manufacturing engineering offered me the best opportunity to contribute to society and pursue my ideals.”

A member of Oregon State’s Honors College, Tristan works part-time to help fund his education and also devotes his extracurricular time to numerous organizations such as SME, serving as his student chapter’s secretary for the past two years, and Oregon State’s Student Sustainability Initiative, which he serves as a board member, and through which he will be serving two six-month internships at regional manufacturing companies in the upcoming year.

The Directors Scholarship supports an undergraduate student enrolled in a college or engineering degree program in manufacturing in the United States or Canada. The recipient must have an overall minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, have completed at least 30 college credit hours and demonstrate leadership skills in a community, academic or professional environment.

About the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Education Foundation
The Society of Manufacturing Engineers is the world's leading professional society supporting manufacturing education. Through its member programs, publications, expositions and professional development resources, SME promotes an increased awareness of manufacturing engineering and helps keep manufacturing professionals up to date on leading trends and technologies. Headquartered in Michigan, SME influences more than a half million manufacturing engineers and executives annually. The society has members in 70 countries and is supported by a network of hundreds of chapters worldwide.

Students use vouchers to take ACT for free

2007-04-09T16:42:00.000-07:00

An ACT college entrance exam score of 26 may be outstanding for some students, but for high school junior Todd Cheney it's not good enough.

The 17-year-old junior at Kelly Walsh High School is hoping to beat his brother's score of 31 when he uses his state voucher to retake the ACT for free during the June 9 testing.

Students like Cheney will have one chance to take the test for free under a new state law that requires all juniors take the test. During this past session, the state Legislature approved that as part of the success curriculum for the state's Hathaway Scholarship program.

Next year's juniors will be taking the test once for free in school. As for forcing students to take the test, state officials haven't looked at that possibility because it's not an issue yet, said Tim Lockwood, spokesman for the state Department of Education.

Special education students may be excused if their parents request it.

The new law requires students to take certain types of classes and maintain a certain grade-point average to qualify for the scholarship.

Cheney will be prepared this time when he uses his voucher. He's been working with a tutor, studying online and has an ACT preparation book.

"I didn't prepare the first time," he said. "My goal is to do better than my brother."

He also plans to continue to take the test as a senior if he doesn't beat his brother's score this time. If he does that, he will be paying for it himself.

Erin Lund, 17, and Jordan Merback, 16, both juniors at Kelly Walsh, also are preparing for the test. Lund will use her voucher to take it for the first time in June. Merback took it in February and used her voucher to get a reimbursement.

Lund has been preparing by reading ACT books from the school library, and she took the ACT practice test. She also took the PSAT last year.

"You can never really be fully prepared for this," she said.

Merback said she didn't do as well as she had hoped, but said she will try again next year and will continue to study for it.

Average scores on the ACT, which tests students in English, math, reading and science in a multiple-choice format, rose last year for the state, said Ed Colby, spokesman for ACT. In 2006, the average score was 21.6, which was up from 21.4 in the four years prior.

There were 3,871 state students tested last year, Colby said. Although all juniors have to take the test, Colby said that won't be a problem for ACT. Other states have instituted similar policies and the company has been able to meet those needs, he said.

The next national testing date for the ACT will be on April 14. The test will be at Casper College and about 320 students are registered to take it at the Wold Physical Science Center, said Kim Byrd, testing/single parent coordinator at the college.

The test will start at 8 a.m. and last until about noon, but students are asked to be at the school by 7:40 a.m. so they can be seated.

Students must register to take the test and there are deadlines that have to be followed. For the April 14 test, students had to register by March 9. For the test in June, students will have to register by May 4.

ACT offers the regular test and the ACT Plus Writing, which has a writing segment. The voucher covers the cost of the $29 regular ACT test only, Byrd said. The ACT Plus costs $43.

Although the June test will be the last nationwide testing date for this school year, Casper College will offer residual ACT testing three times during the summer. Those tests, however, are only for students who want to attend Casper College and want the Hathaway Scholarship, Byrd said.

College of Education awards scholarship to Duplin senior

2007-04-09T16:41:00.001-07:00

Hannah Adams received the College of Education's first Educators Hall of Fame Centennial Scholarship last month. The four-year scholarship is awarded to an incoming freshman pursuing an education degree.

Adams, senior at Duplin County's James Kenan High School, has a 4.2 grade-point average. She plans to major in elementary education and return to Kenansville.

The scholarship was one of four presented in a ceremony held March 29. More than $122,000 were awarded at the event, ranging from $150 to $6,000.

Officials also announced the establishment of the James and Evelyn Kirkland Scholarship in Middle Grades Education. Its first scholarship will be offered next year.

History studied
The natural and human histories of eastern North Carolina are the topics of a seminar being presented Friday by the Departments of Geological Sciences, History and Programs of Maritime Studies and Coastal Resources Management. The symposium, part of the university's centennial celebration, is made up of a series of presentations by ECU faculty with time allowed for questions and discussion.

Topics will include the history of the Atlantic Ocean, local geology, Native American and post-contact archeology, ecosystem changes, maritime history and Hurricane Floyd. The event is from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. in the first-floor multipurpose room of Mendenhall Student Center. A reception will follow. A free parking pass can be obtained in advance by calling Dare Merritt at 328-6360.

Women honored
The university's Women Studies Department honored 10 of the campus' most outstanding women last month. The honorees shared the stage with author Maya Angelou, keynote speaker for the inaugural "Power and Pearls," a celebration of women's strength and leadership, sponsored by the Ledonia Wright Cultural Center and the Chancellor's Committee on the Status of Women.

Sharon Knight, associate dean of the College of Health and Human Performance, received the Dr. Linda Allred Profiles in Leadership Award. Allred, a longtime professor of psychology, died in 2005.

"It was great to see such a wide variety of disciplines represented," said Cheryl Dudasik-Wiggs, director of the Women's Studies Program and chairwoman of the nominating committee. "But more than that, we were overwhelmed with pride at the depth of passion our faculty members have for serving the broader community."

Knight, like Allred, exemplifies what it means to be a leader, a role model, and a mentor, Dudasik-Wiggs said. "She has studied women faculty's potential in academic medicine, the prevention of infant mortality, and HIV/AIDS service issues and needs among eastern North Carolina women," Wiggs said. "She has also worked for drug-free schools and with children of substance abusers."

The other women honored March 23 were:
• Dr. Margaret Bauer, Rives Chair in Southern Literature, Department of English.
• Dr. Shelia Grant Bunch, coordinator, Bachelor of Social Work Program.
• Dr. Anne Dickerson, chairwoman, Department of Occupational Therapy.
• Dr. Patricia "Pat" Dunn, coordinator, volunteer activities for international students, Global Academic Initiatives.
• Dr. Mary "Dee Dee" Glascoff, director, Community Health Program, Department of Health Education and Promotion.
• Dr. Virginia Hardy, interim Chief Diversity Officer, Brody School of Medicine interim Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, and associate dean for counseling and diversity.
• Dr. Susan McCammon, professor and Director/Chairwoman, Behavioral and Social Sciences IRB, Department of Psychology
• Dr. Vivian Mott, chairwoman, Department of Counselor and Adult Education.
• Dr. Marilyn Sheerer, vice chancellor for Student Life.

Open house
Spring Open House is scheduled for Saturday. Sponsored by the admissions office, the event begins at 9 a.m. with an opening session at Wright Auditorium. Activities include an academic fair, a student life and organization fair, walking and bus tours of campus, and tours of the residence halls.

Thomas appointed
Gov. Mike Easley appointed Stephen Thomas, professor and dean of the School of Allied Health Sciences, to the North Carolina Institute of Medicine. The institute is an independent, nonprofit organization that serves as a nonpolitical source of policy analysis and advice on statewide health care issues. The purpose of the organization is to assure that complex and often controversial health issues are examined and disseminated to public sector officials with decision-making authority.

Chartered in 1983, the institute's 100 members are selected from government, education, business, health and legal professions, hospital and health insurance industries, private philanthropy and the public at large.

Thomas became dean of the School of Allied Health Sciences in 2003. Previously, he was chairman, professor and a graduate program director in the school's Department of Rehabilitation Studies. Thomas joined ECU's faculty in 1980.

Safety focus
Michelle Lieberman has been appointed the campus safety point person, making her responsible for creating a safety program for the university. Liberman, director of the Center for Off-Campus and Community Living, will be the chairwoman of a student safety and awareness task force that will identify issues and gaps in the current student safety plan. She will oversee writing a new plan, according to a news release. Liberman will report directly to Marilyn Sheerer, Vice Chancellor for Student Life.

Adult studies
The Division of Continuing Studies was honored last month for its commitment to helping adult learners. The division's Office of Continuing Professional Education received the North Carolina Adult Education Association's Creative and Innovative Program Award for its work on the "Practical Advice for Preserving Rosenwald Schools" conference.

The 2005 event brought together 68 professionals to discuss strategies to rehabilitate and preserve the historic school system founded in 1917 by Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears, Roebuck and Company.

College aid tilts more to merit than to need

2007-04-09T16:39:00.000-07:00

Scholarship Gala to Honor Chostner, Moore

2007-04-09T16:38:00.000-07:00

A Fattah college-prep program failed to thrive here, study says

2007-04-09T16:37:00.000-07:00

MAYORAL CANDIDATE Chaka Fattah touts the national GEAR UP program as his crowning legislative achievement - proof of his commitment to education and his ability to get a major bill through a Republican Congress.

Since 1999, the legislation has provided roughly $2 billion in grants to help low-income middle-school students go to college by offering them more advanced courses, providing tutoring, taking them on college visits, paying for their SATs and educating them about financial aid.

But a review of the first six years of GEAR UP - which stands for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs - in Philadelphia raises questions about how effective the program has been for kids locally.

The study - by West Philadelphia nonprofit Research for Action - found that although many GEAR UP participants did take advanced math classes and visited colleges, they also suffered from high dropout rates and were often academically unprepared for college.

Fattah defended GEAR UP, saying it had increased the number of students in algebra and geometry classes - both considered key to college attendance - and helped educate students about their college options.

"I think this study shows that there were significant increases in college awareness," Fattah said.

GEAR UP is being phased out by the school district because the district has been unable to get continued federal funding. The Department of Education described the fight for merit-based grants as "very competitive."

The local GEAR UP program received about $37 million in federal grant money between 1999 and 2006, and served up to 18,000 students each year. Per-student funding started at about $800 a head, but decreased as the number of participants grew.

Even though the program is ending, some aspects of it - such as paying for the SAT and taking students on college visits - have been adopted by the school district.

Lauded as an ambitious educational effort, GEAR UP was supported and praised by President Clinton when enacted. Fattah based GEAR UP on small, private initiatives such as "Say Yes to Education," in which philanthropist George Weiss promised a group of inner-city Philly kids free college education.

The premise is that if low-income kids know college can be a reality, they are more likely to stay in school, graduate and go on to higher education.

Karen Boran, director of research and evaluation for Chicago GEAR UP, said GEAR UP can be crucial to a child's future.

"If a kid doesn't drop out of school and manages to take more rigorous coursework, and they go on to [college] . . . you're changing people's lives," said Boran, who is based at Northeastern Illinois University.

Still, Boran and other GEAR UP directors said they face an uphill battle because the program deals with the most at-risk kids when they have already reached middle-school age. They also said that six years was a very short time to affect any real cultural change.

"It doesn't surprise me that we continue to struggle," said Laurie Ballering, GEAR UP director in Houston. "The whole system needs to look at itself and say, 'How are we going to make it work?' "

According to the study by Research for Action - an education-evaluation group founded in 1992 that lists Pew Charitable Trusts and the Annenberg Foundation as funding sources - the first six years of GEAR UP in Philadelphia were plagued by poor organization with the school district. The students suffered from high dropout rates and low standardized-test scores.

"Data on student outcomes are mixed, but indicate that many GEAR UP students will not be academically well prepared for college," the report states.

Donna Frisby-Greenwood, director of the School District's Office of College and Career Awareness, said some of the organizational problems were due to the state takeover of the schools, which caused administrative changes at many of the high schools and middle schools in the GEAR UP program.

The report did say that GEAR UP had increased the number of students visiting colleges and the number taking the PSAT and SAT exams. Data on whether GEAR UP had increased the number of students attending college were not available, but reviewers said it appeared likely.

"I absolutely think that there are students in those schools that went to college because of GEAR UP," said Frisby-Greenwood. "Did we see the sweeping reform or change we had hoped? No."

GEAR UP programs in Chicago and Houston, which did win new federal grants, also saw only moderate improvements in test scores. Like Philadelphia, those programs increased the number of students in advanced classes and the number going on college visits.

Fattah said he recognizes that the program needs tweaking and expects to reauthorize a new version of the program. The revised GEAR UP would start working with kids at a younger age and follow them into the first year of college, which can be a vulnerable time.

He also said that he has tried to further help Philadelphia schoolchildren go on to college through his CORE Philly scholarship program, which provides "last dollar" grants for city students.

"There's no person in this city who has put more kids in college or graduate school than me, period," he said.

Although the Philadelphia School District's funding for GEAR UP has run out, about 7,500 students who were already in the program have continued to get GEAR UP support under grants awarded to the state. But the district said the state-funded GEAR UP will end locally next year.

The district applied for new six-year federal funding in 2005 and 2006 and did not make the cut either time. Applications must show the need for the programming and the quality of the services offered.

Fattah said that the lack of renewed funding was not his fault.

"This is a competitive program," Fattah said. "There was nothing in the GEAR UP legislation that suggested that original grantees would be refunded." *

Beasiswa Pascasarjana Islamic Jerusalem Studies

2007-04-03T16:55:00.000-07:00

Islamic Research Academy (ISRA) is pleased to announce the continuation of it scholarships for Young Postgraduate Students in Islamicjerusalem Studies.

This year, there are a number of full and partial scholarships for young postgraduate students wishing to study full-time for an M.Litt. in Islamicjerusalem Studies at Al-Maktoum Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies- University of Aberdeen. The scholarship is only for one year beginning from September 2007.

Winners of the scholarship will undertake the taught full-time M.Litt. course in Islamicjerusalem Studies at Al-Maktoum Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies in Dundee.

These prestigious scholarship schemes are serious efforts on the part of ISRA to prepare a team of scholars in this new field of inquiry, and a great human investment to prepare an academic team of young scholars as specialists in Islamicjerusalem Studies.

The full scholarship will cover the full student tuition fee and will also include a fixed monthly sum to cover living expenses (£500). Applicants for the scholarships will normally be required to hold at least a second upper Honours degree (2.1) in an appropriate discipline and the scholarships would particularly suit recent graduates who can show potential to excel.

CRITERIA FOR APPLYING

To apply for ISRA’s scholarship the candidate must normally fit the following criteria:

Candidates will normally be required to hold at least a second upper Honours degree (2.1) in an appropriate discipline.
Any applicant whose first language is not English is required to have an IELTS score of 6.5 or above (including a score of 6 in the writing section); or equivalent (e.g. TOFEL 580)
The candidate must be able to demonstrate evidence of interest in Islamicjerusalem Studies. This can be shown by submitting three copies of any relevant academic works including published or unpublished papers, books, manuscripts, monographs, etc.
As the scholarships would particularly suit young recent graduates, applicants should be no more than 30 years old (ie: born after the year 1977)
Administrative contact and how to apply:
Applications can be made by submitting (non returnable):

A letter to the Secretary-General of the Islamic Research Academy explaining why the candidate should receive the scholarship.
Al-Maktoum Institute/University of Aberdeen application Form for postgraduate studies (Fully completed and signed).
Copies of degrees certificates and transcripts.
Evidence of interest in the field.
Written references from two academic referees.
Three copies of the candidate’s Curriculum Vitae (CV).
A copy of the candidate’s birth certificate.
Proof of English language proficiency, i.e. IELTS certificate.
Further information and an application form can be found at: http://www.isra.org.uk/english/scholA.html

All applications should be submitted to:

Secretary General
Islamic Research Academy (ISRA)
124 Blackness Road, Dundee, DD1 5PE
United Kingdom

DISCLAIMER:
All submissions will be referred to the Scholarships Committee at the Islamic Research Academy who will select the award winners. The Committee has the right to hold back the scholarships in the event that there is no suitable candidate(s). The decision of the committee is final, with no review procedures. Successful candidates will be expected to sign an agreement with the sponsor and start studying the full-time taught Masters course in September 2007; subject to them receiving an unconditional offer of acceptant from the University of Aberdeen to study at Al-Maktoum Institute.

Beasiswa Riset Rockefeller

2007-04-03T16:54:00.000-07:00

USA Fellowship for International Researchers, Rockefeller Archive Center

Invitation for Applications, Rockefeller Archive Center / ARNOVA, Fellowship for International Researchers

The Rockefeller Archives Center and Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action [ARNOVA] invite applications for a first International Research Fellowship. The purpose of this fellowship is to encourage and provide support for attendance at ARNOVA’s Annual Conference, and research using the Rockefeller Archive Center [RAC], by scholars from outside the U.S. and Canada. The fellowship award will provide $4000 intended to cover the costs of travel to and attendance at the ARNOVA Conference, and to the RAC for a time of research at the Archives.

Qualifications

Applicants must demonstrate that they have a scholarly research project that will benefit from attending the ARNOVA Conference and requires research at the Rockefeller Archive Center . They must also have a record of prior scholarship, which may be a thesis or dissertation. Applicants must contact the RAC at least one month prior to applying for the fellowship so that they can clearly identify in the application substantial archival materials that are related to their research project. (Note: Information about the RAC and its collections can be found at http://archive.rockefeller.edu. )

Expectations

Applicants must plan on attending the entire ARNOVA Conference. (Conference registration fees will be waived.) In addition, they must plan on spending at least three days at the RAC for the purpose of conducting their research. The fellowship is expected to cover the full costs of travel, lodging, meals and incidentals. (No supplemental funds will be available.) They must also be able to obtain a travel visa for the dates of the ARNOVA Conference (November 15-17, 2007) and time spent at RAC. Half of the award will be provided two months prior to the dates of the conference, with the balance to be paid at the completion of the conference and the time of research.

Applications

Applicants should send a letter of no more than four pages describing the research project they will pursue, its purposes, and the methodology they will employ. This should also describe how participation in the ARNOVA Conference and use of the RAC will help move this project forward. (As noted above, contact with the RAC prior to sending in the application is necessary.) They should also include records of prior scholarly accomplishments – that is, graduate transcripts, certification of their advanced degree, or the like. They may include a short sample of scholarly writing demonstrating their research abilities.

Completed applications must be postmarked no later than May 15, 2007, and received at ARNOVA’s offices by June 1, 2007. The fellowship winner will be notified no later than July 1, 2007. Applications and supporting materials should be addressed to:

ARNOVA, RAC Fellowship Program
340 W. Michigan St., Canal Level – Suite A, Indianapolis, IN, 46202.

PhD position in Ceramics Science Germany

2007-04-03T16:53:00.000-07:00

Germany PhD position in Ceramics Science at Darmstadt University of Technology

A PhD position (Doktorandenstellen ) is available at the Materials Science Department of Darmstadt University of Technology (Germany). The successful candidate will integrate a young research team focusing on the development of new ceramic processes in a dynamic and international work environment.

The drying is a necessary step in the manufacturing of ceramic layers when using particle suspensions. The evaporation of solvent induces shrinkage and stresses in the drying layer, which can create cracks and delamination from the substrate. Experimental work encompasses thin film processing and in-situ measurement of physical and mechanical properties by means of innovative techniques during drying. The experimental data will be used to develop a predictive model of drying.

TOEFL, IELTS, GMAT, GRE, SAT Preparation Material. Its Free!!

Ideal candidates have a good background both in materials science and mechanics.

High motivation, ability to work in team but also autonomy, curiosity, very good experimental skills as well as interest in theoretical approaches are expected.

This project will include cooperative work in Germany and abroad.

Fluency in English is required, knowledge of German is appreciated.

Salary is funded by the German Research Organization (DFG) for a duration of 3 years, at the rate of 5/6 Bat IIa.

Envisioned start time: flexible, from May 2007

Darmstadt University of Technology specifically encourages female candidates to apply with a view towards increasing the proportion of female scientists. Handicapped persons with comparable qualifications receive preferential status.

Interested candidates should send their application per mail (in English or German, including a cover letter indicating their motivation to apply for this position, detailed CV, certificates, a short summary of research, references…). E-mail applications will not be considered.

Contact

Dr. Olivier Guillon
Adresse: Technische Universität Darmstadt FB Materialwissenschaft, FG NAW, Petersenstr. 23 Ort Darmstadt Postleitzahl 64287
Telefon: 06154-166396
E-Mail: guillon@ceramics.tu-darmstadt.de
Website: http:// www.tu-darmstadt.de/ fb/ms/fg/naw/

Beasiswa Marie Curie Summer School

2007-04-03T16:41:00.000-07:00

France - Marie Curie Summer School 2007 on Knowledge Based Materials, Partial Melts and Amorphous Materials
The deadline for applications for funding for this year’s Summer School is April 30th.

Following on from the successful 2005 Marie Curie Summer School on Single-Phase Materials, held in Hürtgenwald, Germany, and the 2006 school on Polyphase and Composite Materials in Älvdalen, Sweden are pleased to announce this year’s Summer School, which focuses on Partial Melts and Amorphous Materials. This year’s event will be hosted by Dr Mark Jessell from
the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, and will run from the 20th to the 30th of August, 2007.

The full presentations of the 2005 & 2006 summer schools, together with information on the 2007 event, including a list of speakers and the online application form may be found at:

http://www.materialsknowledge.org

Details of the eligibility requirements to receive one of the 30 EU fully funded places, and fees for non-eligible participants can be found at the above address. Research scientists not eligible for EU funding are also most welcome to apply on a fee-paying basis and should use the same application form.

Contact:
Mark Jessell
IRD LMTG UMR 5563
14 avenue Edouard Belin
31400 TOULOUSE
Tel: +33 (0)5 61 33 26 47
www.lmtg.obs-mip.fr/user/mjessell (home)
www.tectask.org (IUGS Tectask)
www.materialsknowledge.org (Marie Curie Summer Schools)

1 PostDoc position in Security Perimeter Virtualization

2007-04-03T15:37:00.000-07:00

One PostDoc position in IT Security Perimeter Virtualization,
University
of Twente, The Netherlands

The Distributed and Embedded Systems and Information Systems research
groups of the University of Twente collaborate with a number of
industrial partners in the VISPER (http://visper.eemcs.utwente.nl)
project.

In this project, we investigate modelling and developing a
virtual security perimeter across the digital, physical, and
organisational domains. We will investigate how re-perimeterisation
affects the digital domain (where data moves from organisation to
organisation through networks), the social domain (where one
individual may play a variety of roles in cooperating organisations)
and the physical domain (where appliances such as mobile phones and
laptops move around). We are currently looking for one PostDoc (three
years) who will investigate the linkage between the policies and the
mechanisms across the three domains (vacancy number 06/127).

What we look for and what we offer:

You have completed a PhD or are about to complete one, in an area
that
is relevant to our research, e.g. computer
science, software engineering, or operations research. You like
working in a team and have intellectual curiosity and knowledge of
one
or more of the following topics: information systems, distributed
systems, security, decision support techniques. Your main
responsibility will be to carry out research, but you will be given
the opportunity to acquire some teaching experience.

We offer both our PostDoc researchers the opportunity
to broaden their knowledge by joining international exchange
programs,
by participating in national and international conferences and
workshops, and by visiting other research institutes and universities
worldwide.

The monthly salary of a PostDoc starts at EURO 2708 per year and is
negotiable.

Information and application

More information can be obtained from:
- prof.dr. Pieter Hartel (pieter.hartel@utwente.nl),
web site http://dies.cs.utwente.nl ).
- prof.dr. Roel Wieringa (roel.wieringa@utwente.nl),
web site http://is.cs.utwente.nl)
Candidates are invited to send their application together with
curriculum vitae, marks transcripts, and the names and addresses of
two referees by email to the address is_jobs@cs.utwente.nl before
April 15, 2007.

The Computer Science department of the Faculty of Electrical
Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) at the
University of Twente (UT) is one of the largest academic institutions
in Computer Science in the Netherlands, with 220 faculty members
and 1200 students. We provide courses in Technical Computer Science,
Business Information Technology, and Telematics. In addition, the
department contributes to Computer Science teaching within other
academic programs. The research of the department is part of the
multidisciplinary research institute Centre for Telematics and
Information Technology (http://www.ctit.utwente.nl).

New Zealand Int'l Doctoral Research Scholarships (NZIDRS) 2007

2007-04-03T15:36:00.000-07:00

New Zealand International Doctoral Research Scholarships
http://www.newzealandeducated.com/scholarships

Funded by the New Zealand Government and administered by Education
New Zealand, the New Zealand International Doctoral Research
Scholarships(NZIDRS) are a significant educational opportunity.

World Class Opportunity

New Zealand institutions provide the opportunity to study under
internationally recognised academics and researchers in a wide range
of disciplines. Qualifications attained from a New Zealand university
rank with the best internationally. New Zealand degrees have a
reputation globally for being practical, modern and desirable. In
some niche areas, such as biotechnology, forensic science and marine
engineering, New Zealand degrees are acknowledged as world-leading.
Students educated in the New Zealand education environment are
earning a reputation as a new breed of innovative thinkers and are
enjoying success the world over.

Over the next two years the scholarship programme will be expanded
progressively. From 2007, up to 100 doctoral and 100 undergraduate
students will be studying under the programme.

Entitlements under the New Zealand International Doctoral Research
Scholarships are as follows:

Full tuition fees for three (3) years of full-time doctoral study
NZ$18,000 per annum living allowance (NZ$1500 per month)
Up to NZ$600 per annum health insurance allowance
NZ$2000 (across 3 year tenure) travel allowance. This is intended to
be used for conference attendance and field research
NZ$800 (across 3 year tenure) book and thesis allowance
NZ$500 One-off establishment allowance. Only to be paid to those
students who are travelling to NZ specifically to take up the NZIDRS.
No student already located in NZ is eligible to receive this amount
Additional funds are not available to support accompanying dependants
Please note :

The New Zealand International Doctoral Research Scholarships (NZIDRS)
are open to all International Students meeting the eligibility
criteria.
Prospective candidates are advised to start corresponding with
academics in the relevant departments of New Zealand universities
regarding the availability of appropriate supervision well in advance
of submitting their application papers. Evidence that supervision is
available is required as a part of the NZIDRS application process.
Please see the 'NZIDRS Terms & Conditions' for further information.

----------------------------------------------------------------
In 2007, NZIDRS Applications will be accepted until 5pm on Monday the
16th of July (NZ Time).

No applications will be considered by the Selection Panel if they
arrive after the stated close date.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Should you have any questions regarding the New Zealand International
Docotral Research Scholarships, please contact the Education New
Zealand Scholarships Manager at scholarships@educationnz.org.nz

http://www.newzealandeducated.com/scholarships

Beasiswa Pascasarjana

2007-03-30T07:44:00.001-07:00

UK International Postgraduate Scholarships in Bristol University
Deadline: 30 June 2007
Note: Taught Master's programmes only

Applicants can be from any country, but must be liable to pay the full international tuition fee.
Applicants must hold an offer for a Taught Postgraduate programme at the University of Bristol.

Applicants must have firmly accepted the offer made by the University of Bristol before submitting an application.
Conditional offer holders may apply for the scholarship but an award can only be made if conditions are met.
The deadline for applications is 30th June 2007 for those students commencing their studies in September 2007.
The scholarship application must be typed (or reasons for not doing so given) and must be a piece of original work signed by the applicant.
All scholarship applicants must agree to provide a student profile to be used in publications for the purposes of marketing the University of Bristol.
Current University of Bristol masters students are not eligible to apply.
Applicants who defer entry must apply for the academic year in which their studies will start.
There are 10 Scholarships worth £2000 each for a single programme of study. The amount will be deducted directly from tuition fees.
Scholarships are awarded by the 'International Recruitment Office' Scholarships Panel and all decisions are final.
Students will be notified in late September or early October if they have been successful and there will be a ceremony held early in the academic year to celebrate the awards.
Postal applications must be sent to: International Scholarship Administrator, International Recruitment Office, University of Bristol Union, Queens Road, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 1LN
Email applications must be sent to: iro@bristol.ac.uk
Select the following link in order to download an International Taught Postgraduate Scholarship application form.

Beasiswa Riset Pascasarjana Politik

2007-03-30T07:43:00.000-07:00

UK: Postgraduate Research Scholarships in Politics, University of Birmingham

University of Birmingham Department of Political Science and International Studies
Postgraduate Research Scholarships

The Department is offering two scholarships of £10,000/year for 3 years to new applicants starting a PhD research degree in the Department of Political Science and International Studies, 2007/8

Deadline for Applications: 1 May 2007

For details on areas of supervision, please consult our website

Applications will be assessed against the following criteria:

academic merit of the proposal
academic qualifications
academic references
English language qualifications
Any prior teaching experience will also be taken into account. Further enquiries contact Professor Daniel Wincott on d.wincott@bham.ac.uk

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

The £10,000 scholarship comprises two parts:
a) A lump sum scholarship component of approximately £6500 per year
b) A component of approximately £3500 per year comprising income from Graduate Teaching Assistant duties. These duties will consist of four hours of teaching per week during term time, two office hours per week during term time, and examination and coursework marking duties. Specific rates of pay and conditions will be specified by contract.
Applicants will be expected to apply to external sources of funding also; if they are successful, they will be expected to take up the external funding rather than the University of Birmingham scholarship.
The scholarship competition is open to Home, EU and International students, studying on a full time basis.
Existing Postgraduate Research students in the Department of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Birmingham are not eligible to apply.
A scholarship committee comprising the Head of Department, Director of the Graduate School, Director of Postgraduate Research and the Research Director, will select the successful applicants. Applicants may be required to participate in a telephone interview. The decision of the committee cannot be appealed.
Successful applicants will be informed in writing in mid-June.
For more information, please visit the official announcement.

Lowongan Magang S3 Fisika

2007-03-30T07:42:00.000-07:00

We have an immediate opening for a student with a background in thin film physics or nanomaterials interested in pursuing a PhD or Masters at Queen’s University. We are particularly interested in those specializing in optics or photonics. Candidates require at least a Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Physics, Engineering Physics, Materials Science or a related discipline.

Students will gain experience working in an exciting lab, exploring fundamental questions of chaos and fractal growth of nanomaterials, while developing useful applications in optics, photonic crystals, and electromagnetic devices. Students will gain experience with thin film fabrication and nanotechnology in a state-of-the-art cleanroom and use equipment including a variable-angle spectroscopic ellipsometer, a custom designed deposition system, and an atomic force microscope.

Skills that are beneficial include: hands-on experience in a research lab, experience in a thin film fabrication facility, experience with ellipsometry, strong optics and photonics training, Labview programming experience, strong computer skills, and a careful, methodical approach to research and the scientific method.

Application
Send resume and references to:

Dr. Kevin Robbie
Department of Physics
Queen’s University
Kingston, Ontario, K7L 3N6
Canada

+1 (613) 533-2714 (phone)
+1 (613) 533-6463 (fax)

or email robbie@physics.queensu.ca with Grad Student in Optics in the subject line. Only applicants selected for interviews will be contacted.

German Industry Scholarship Program (GIS) - Scholarships

2007-03-30T07:38:00.002-07:00

Invitation for Applications

German Industry Scholarship Program (GIS) - Scholarships for Summer
Schools in Germany 2007 Sur-Place Fellowship Program of the German
Industry - under the Auspices of the German Ambassador

Dear GIS-Students and GIS-Alumni, in 2007 the German
Industry Scholarship Scheme that has started in 2001 will be phasing out.

Until now 107 students have been supported through this
program. Many have successfully completed their studies and are now working
for national and international companies in Indonesia, others still
continue their studies. All scholarship holders have been given the
opportunity to learn some German and a small group even made it to the
intermediate level some time later.
The donors of the German Industry wish to strengthen these
efforts and offer as a reward
Several Full Scholarships (incl. Travel, Accommodation and
Tuition)
for Participation at a University Summer Course in Germany
during Summer 2007
There are courses of 3-4 weeks in German and/or English
offered in the fields:

German as a Foreign Language
German Language and Literature Studies
Music, Dance, Art, Film, Design
Social and Cultural Sciences
Law and Economics
Engineering
Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Computer Science
For your guidance you may use the DAAD Summer Course search
engine which is available at :
http://www.daad.de/deutschland/deutsch-lernen/sommerkurse/00490.en.htm
Please check the entry requirements and other details yourself. You
can name 3 options for courses you wish to attend. You can rank the
options according to your preferences. More about scholarship information
and condition.
Deadline of application will be 10 April 2007.
We are looking forward to receiving your applications.

V. Y Risonarta, MSc
Institute for Industrial Furnace and Heat Engineering
Rheinisch Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH) Aachen

Kopernikusstrasse 16
D-52074 Aachen - Germany

Email : risonarta@yahoo.com
Website : http://www.iob.rwth-aachen.de
Telephone : +49 (0) 241 - 80 25941
Facs : +49 (0) 241 - 80 22289

Lomba Karya Tulis Mahasiswa (LKTM ) 2007

2007-03-30T07:38:00.001-07:00

Nomor : 0265/D2.3/2007
Hal : Lomba Karya Tulis Mahasiswa (LKTM ) 2007

Kepada Yth.
1. Purek/Warek/Puket Bidang Kemahasiswaan PTN/PTS
2. Purek/Warek Bidang Kemahasiswaan PT BHMN
3. Sekretaris Pelaksana Kopertis I s.d. XII
di Seluruh Indonesia

Dalam rangka pengembangan wawasan dan kemampuan akademik mahasiswa
Direktorat Akademik Ditjen Dikti Depdiknas pada tahun anggaran 2007 kembali
akan menyelenggarakan Lomba Karya Tulis Mahasiswa (LKTM) dengan tema
"Peningkatan Daya Saing Bangsa dalam Pembangunan Berkelanjutan".

Adapun penjelasan LKTM tersebut adalah sebagai berikut :

1.. Bidang yang dilombakan dalam LKTM ini adalah: IPA, IPS dan
Pendidikan.
2.. Peserta adalah mahasiswa PTN/PTS program strata satu (S1),
bersifat perorangan dan/atau kelompok (maksimal 3 orang).
3.. Pola seleksi mulai dari Tingkat PT/Kopertis, Tingkat Wilayah,
sampai dengan Tingkat Nasional dilaksanakan dalam satu tahun anggaran,
dengan penjelasan:
a. Seleksi Tingkat PT/Kopertis, sudah selesai paling lambat akhir
April 2007
b. Seleksi Tingkat Wilayah, sudah selesai paling lambat akhir Mei
2007
c. Seleksi Tingkat Nasional dilaksanakan pada PIMNAS XX Juli 2007 di
Universitas Lampung.
4.. Perguruan Tinggi sebagai tempat penyelenggara LKTM Seleksi
Tingkat Wilayah Bidang IPA, IPS dan Pendidikan 2007 akan kami beritahukan
kemudian.
5.. Kepada seluruh Sekretaris Pelaksana Kopertis Wilayah I s.d. XII
kami harapkan dapat melaksanakan LKTM Tingkat Kopertis untuk menetapkan
pemenang I, II, dan III masing-masing bidang sebagai calon peserta LKTM
Tingkat Wilayah.
6.. Adapun alternatif topik karya tulis yang dapat dipilih sebagai
acuan penulisan antara lain:
a. Bidang IPA (cover biru muda)
· Pengkajian dan peningkatan potensi berbagai sumber daya alam
· Pengkajian, penerapan, dan pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan dan
teknologi untuk
pemanfaatan sumber daya dalam rangka peningkatan kualitas hidup
masyarakat.
· Pendayagunaan potensi teknologi informasi dan komunikasi.
b. Bidang IPS (cover merah muda)
· Pengembangan kesadaran dan sistem hukum (nasional)
· Pengembangan Tripartit (tiga serangkai) Pemerintah, BUMN, dan
Swasta
· Pengembangan menuju masyarakat madani (civil society)
· Pengembangan sistem manajemen dan pemasaran UKM
· Pembinaan keluarga dalam menghadapi perubahan nilai sosial
budaya
· Peranan komunikasi massa dalam perubahan sosial budaya
· Pengembangan pariwisata dan dampak sosialnya.
· Peningkatan kualitas kesehatan masyarakat
· Masalah kekerasan (dalam keluarga, wanita, anak-anak, dan
masyarakat).
· Masalah pornografi/pornoaksi
c. Bidang Pendidikan (cover kuning muda)
· Pengembangan sistem pendidikan
· Pengembangan pusat sumber belajar
· Pengembangan sumber daya guru/dosen
· Pengembangan pendidikan luar sekolah dan belajar berkelanjutan
· Pengembangan kurikulum berbasis kompetensi
· Pengembangan pendidikan luar biasa
· Pengembangan metoda dan evaluasi pembelajaran menggunakan
pendekatan
SCL (Student Centered Learning)
7.. Penulisan karya ilmiah mengacu pada Pedoman Umum Lomba Karya
Tulis Mahasiswa (LKTM) Bidang IPA, IPS, dan Pendidikan 2006 yang
diterbitkan oleh Direktorat Akademik Ditjen Dikti.
Demikian kami sampaikan dan atas perhatian serta kerjasama yang baik
kami ucapkan terima kasih.

Direktur Akademik,

Tresna Dermawan Kunaefi
NIP 130702336

Tembusan Yth. :
1. Dirjen Pendidikan Tinggi (sebagai laporan)
2. Direktur P2M selaku Penanggung Jawab Pimnas XX.

Kontes Debat Bahasa Inggris Tingkat Perguruan Tinggi

2007-03-30T07:36:00.000-07:00

No. : 0517/D2.3/2007
Lamp. :
Hal : Kontes Debat Bahasa Inggris Tingkat Perguruan Tinggi (National
University English Debating Contest)

Kepada Yth.
1. Rektor Universitas/Institut Negeri
2. Ketua Sekolah Tinggi Negeri
3. Koordinator Kopertis Wilayah I - XII
Seluruh Indonesia

Dalam rangka meningkatkan penalaran mahasiswa terutama dalam kemampuan
bahasa Inggris secara lisan melalui debat dengan didukung argumentasi
ilmiah, Direktorat Akademik Ditjen Dikti Depdiknas tahun 2007 akan
menyelenggarakan Kontes Debat Bahasa Inggris Tingkat Perguruan Tinggi
(National University English Debating Contest) di 4 (empat) wilayah yaitu
Wilayah A (Sumatera, Banten dan DKI Jakarta), B (Jabar, DIY, Jateng, dan
Kalimantan), C (Jatim, Bali, NTB, dan NTT), dan Wilayah D (Sulawesi,
Maluku dan Papua).

Adapun jadwal dan perguruan tinggi penyelenggara kontes debat di 4
(empat) wilayah tersebut adalah :

No Wilayah PT Penyelenggara Tgl. Pelaksanaan
1. A Universitas Indonesia 23-25 April 2007
2. B Universitas Negeri Semarang 24-26 April 2007
3. C Universitas Negeri Surabaya 19-21 April 2007
4. D Universitas Negeri Makassar 30 April - 2 Mei 2007

Sehubungan dengan hal tersebut, kami mengharapkan perguruan tinggi
Saudara mengirimkan peserta untuk mengikuti kontes debat bahasa Inggris
tersebut dengan ketentuan sebagai berikut:

1.. Kontes debat bahasa Inggris menggunakan Sistim Parlemen Inggris.
2.. Jumlah peserta setiap PTN diwakili maksimal 2 (dua) Tim,
sedangkan Kopertis diwakili 3 Tim (3 PTS). Setiap tim berjumlah 2 (dua) orang.
3.. Peserta harus memenuhi persyaratan sebagai berikut :
- Mahasiswa yang masih aktif dan terdaftar pada perguruan tinggi
- Mendapat rekomendasi dari pimpinan Perguruan Tinggi
- Dapat berasal dari berbagai program studi
4.. Setiap peserta dikenakan biaya pendaftaran sebesar
Rp.400.000,-/Tim (2 orang), sedangkan akomodasi/konsumsi ditanggung Ditjen Dikti.
5.. Biaya transportasi dari daerah asal ke tempat kegiatan ditanggung
oleh masing-masing perguruan tinggi pengirim.
6.. Undangan resmi akan disampaikan oleh perguruan tinggi
penyelenggara kontes .
Demikian kami sampaikan, atas perhatian serta kerjasama yang baik kami
ucapkan terima kasih.

Direktur Akademik,

Tresna Dermawan Kunaefi
NIP 130702336

Tembusan Yth. :
- Dirjen Pendidikan Tinggi (sebagai laporan)
- PR III PT Penyelenggara.

PhD position in Ceramics Science: Drying of ceramic thin films

2007-03-30T07:35:00.000-07:00

Firma/Institution: Darmstadt University of Technology (Germany)
Land: Germany
Position:PhD Position
eingegangen am:28/03/2007

Beschreibung:
A PhD position (Doktorandenstellen) is available at the Materials
Science Department of Darmstadt University of Technology (Germany). The
successful candidate will integrate a young research team focusing on the
development of new ceramic processes in a dynamic and international
work environment.

The drying is a necessary step in the manufacturing of ceramic
layers when using particle suspensions. The evaporation of solvent
induces shrinkage and stresses in the drying layer, which can create cracks
and delamination from the substrate. Experimental work encompasses thin
film processing and in-situ measurement of physical and mechanical
properties by means of innovative techniques during drying. The
experimental data will be used to develop a predictive model of drying.

Ideal candidates have a good background both in materials
science and mechanics.

High motivation, ability to work in team but also autonomy,
curiosity, very good experimental skills as well as interest in theoretical
approaches are expected.

This project will include cooperative work in Germany and
abroad.

Fluency in English is required, knowledge of German is
appreciated.

Salary is funded by the German Research Organization (DFG) for
a duration of 3 years, at the rate of 5/6 Bat IIa.

Envisioned start time: flexible, from May 2007

Darmstadt University of Technology specifically encourages female
candidates to apply with a view towards increasing the proportion of female
scientists. Handicapped persons with comparable qualifications receive
preferential status.
Interested candidates should send their application per mail (in
English or German, including a cover letter indicating their motivation to
apply for this position, detailed CV, certificates, a short summary of
research, references…). E-mail applications will not be considered.

Bitte senden Sie Ihre Bewerbung an:

Kontakt Dr. Olivier Guillon Adresse Technische
Universität Darmstadt FB Materialwissenschaft, FG NAW, Petersenstr.
23
Ort Darmstadt Postleitzahl 64287 Telefon
06154-166396 E-Mail guillon@ceramics.tu-darmstadt.de

Weitere Informationen:

Kontakt Dr. Olivier Guillon Adresse Technische
Universität Darmstadt FB Materialwissenschaft, FG NAW, Petersenstr.
23 Ort Darmstadt Postleitzahl 64287
Telefon 06154-166396 E-Mail guillon@ceramics.tu-darmstadt.de
URL http://www.tu-darmstadt.de/fb/ms/fg/naw/

Asia Pacific MDG Media Awards

2007-03-30T07:33:00.002-07:00

Asia Pacific MDG Media Awards

Update:

It is opened for Web-based Material Now.
The submission deadline is extended until 15 April 2007

About the Awards
The Asia-Pacific MDGs Media Awards honor distinguished reporting on
the Millennium Development Goals by producers and journalists in
print, radio and television covering the Asia-Pacific region.

The MDGs form a human development blueprint agreed to by all the
world's countries and all the world's leading development
institutions. There are eight goals, all with time-bound targets to
be achieved by the year 2015. The MDGs represent a vision of a
better world with less poverty, universal primary education, gender
equality, healthy mothers and children, a world no longer threatened
by the HIV/AIDS pandemic and dwindling environmental resources.

The Awards aim to generate better awareness and understanding of the
MDGs in Asia-Pacific, and motivate journalists from the region to
cover stories on how MDGs are being pursued in the region. It is
also hoped that media will be stimulated, through the Awards, to
become a driving force in accelerating national action toward
achieving the MDGs.

A team of professional and independent jurors for each category will
select the winning entries on 30-31 March 2007 at the AIBD office in
Kuala Lumpur. Criteria will cover accuracy and innovation, clarity
of message, technical proficiency and overall presentation.

The first of its kind in the region, the Awards will be presented
during the 63rd UNESCAP Commission Session scheduled for April 2007.

The 1st prizewinner for each category receives US$7,000 plus a
trophy and certificate, and the runner-up US$2,000, a trophy and a
certificate. Deadline for all entries is 25 March 2007. The Asia-
Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) acts as the
secretariat for the Awards, which are made possible through the
cooperation and assistance of the United Nations Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Contest Rules
Contest year is 1 January 2006 through 30 June 2007. All entries
must be postmarked on or before midnight of 25 March 2007 (update:
15 April 2007).

Entries can be in English and in the local language with
corresponding requirements.
Entries must have been originally published or broadcast in any
country within the Asia-Pacific region during the competition
period, or are scheduled for publication and airing not later than
end of June 2007.
The applicant must secure signed authorization from his superiors,
granting the following royalty-free worldwide rights to AIBD and
UNESCAP:

The right to redistribute the submitted material to contest judges
for the purpose of screening.
In the event your entry is chosen as a winner, the right to
redistribute the material via cable, terrestrial broadcast,
satellite, CD/DVD, internet webcast or other media, in original or
in any reencoded digital or analogue form, for the purpose of
promoting the millennium development goals.
Furthermore, you guarantee that the material is free from rights of
3rd parties worldwide. Entries will not be returned.

If the entry is yet to be published or aired, the applicant must
secure written commitment from the duly authorized media
representative for a definite airing or publication not later than
30 June 2007.
All entries should be sent to the following address:
Asia Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development
C/o Jose Maria G. Carlos
2nd Floor, Bangunan IPTAR
Kompleks Angkasapuri
50614 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia

Content
Entries in the three categories should focus on one or all of the
following aspects in their reports:

Tracking progress on the MDGs in your country: How are countries in
the region performing? Which countries are `on track' to achieve
the MDGs and which aren't? Why are some countries performing well
and not others?

Human Face of MDGs: What does MDGs mean for citizens in the region ?
What is the role of civil society? What are the success stories
heading towards 2015? Who are the key players driving forward change
and what are they doing?
Changes needed in achieving the MDGs – What changes are needed to
meet the 2015 target? Eg. improving public service delivery
(including education, health, water and sanitation); engaging
communities; empowering women; fostering publicprivate partnership;
etc.
For more information on the MDGs, please go to
www.un.org/millenniumgoals. For information on MDGs in the Asia
Pacific region, including reports and 10- minute film on MDGs, visit
www.mdgasiapacific.org

Who can Participate
Radio & Television

The competition is open to all radio and TV producers/journalists
from public service broadcasting organisations, private networks and
free-lance producers covering the `UNESCAP' Asia and the Pacific
region. Entries will be accepted from all producers, regardless of
the nature, size and shape of the organization they might belong to.

Eligible entries include a special report, current affairs
programme, talk show or a documentary with a length of between 15
minutes and 60 minutes. A series of at least 10-minute feature
report each (minimum of two reports) is acceptable. Daily news
stories are excluded.
Each producer can submit up to two programmes only. All entries can
be in English and/or in the local language. If they are in the
vernacular or local language, a subtitle in English should be in
place for television, and for radio, they should be accompanied by a
typewritten English translation. In both instances, entry must be
submitted together with the entry form and a written certification
from the editor/executive producer that the translation truly
reflects the content of the programme script in the local language.
Each applicant can submit up to two entries only.
All entries must be submitted in VCD/DVD for TV programmes and in CD
for radio programmes.

Print

Journalists covering the `UNESCAP' Asia and the Pacific region,
whether freelance or affiliated or regularly employed in a newspaper
or magazine company can join the competition.

Eligible entries include a special report, feature and investigative
piece. Daily news stories and publicity materials are excluded.
Entries must be in English and/or in the local language and must
have a minimum length of 1,000 words. Entries in the local language,
however, must be accompanied by a typewritten English translation
and a written certification from the chief editor of the
newspaper/magazine, which published the article that the translation
truly reflects the content of the article in the local language.
Each applicant can submit up to two pieces only. They should have
been published in a newspaper or magazine of mass circulation in the
country of origin within the contest year.
If the article is yet to be published, the applicant must secure a
written commitment from the duly authorized media representative for
a definite schedule of publication.

Web-based Material

Articles published on a web site fall within the print category.
Videos published on a web site fall under the TV category. In both
cases, web-based materials must be publicly available on the
internet throughout the competition period (1 January 2006 to 30
June 2007). Any entrant can submit a maximum of two web-based
articles and up to two web-based videos. Entries can be in English
or the local language, with an accompanying English translation.

Web-based works are judged as-in, meaning as they appear on the web
site. We will not accept DVDs or CD-ROMs with an off-line
replication of a web site. Web-based works have to be live and on-
line.
The MDG Media Awards assumes that any entered web-based work is
authentic in all its parts: text, pictures, audio, video and other
multimedia elements. Entries must be secured with signed
authorization from the creator(s) (i.e. author and/or producer) as
well as from the current owner of the intellectually property rights
on the work (i.e. the employer).
Entries don't have to cover all eight MDGs, but could focus on one.
The range of content for the media awards is enormous. Suggested
ideas include
A person or family's struggle to ease hunger and fight disease (MDG
Goal 1)
Success story of an AIDS victim and the role government, civil
society and other institutions play into that family's ordeal. (MDG
Goal 6)
Young peoples concerns with climate change and air quality (MDG Goal
7)
A `day in the life' of a rural child trying to obtain an education
(MDG Goal 2)

Reference to the MDGs (whether one or all MDG Goals) in your content
is mandatory.

Judging Process & Criteria
Each category will have 3 jurors. An AIBD panel will undertake the
first screening to ensure basic rules and requirements are met.

Professional and independent jurors with relevant expertise and
experience in each category will do the second screening.
They will judge each entry submitted in its entirety, in an
independent and objective manner. All entries must meet the
universally accepted standards of professional journalism relating
to fairness, relevance, accuracy and balance.
Other equally important criteria will involve the following:
Radio and Television

Innovation - (25) Points are awarded for originality, creativity,
and novelty.
Clarity of Message – (25) Points are awarded for substance in
communicating the topic/issue to the listener/viewer, for raising
level of awareness of the value and impact of MDGs and for holding
the attention of the audience.
Technical Quality – (25) Points are awarded for production quality,
best use of production elements such as music, voice, graphs,
interviews, etc.
Overall Presentation – (25) Points are awarded for how various
editorial and production elements are combined to produce a
compelling programme that impact society as a whole.
Print

Sourcing – (25 Points) article must feature more than one source of
data. Claims must be corroborated by interviews, documents and/or
studies.
Clarity of Message–(25 Points) the article explains the topic
clearly to the newspaper/magazine audience, ensuring right grammar,
syntax and choice of words.
Technical Proficiency – (25 Points) the piece must show above
average level of writing skill/style, appealing and able to
communicate complex issues into understandable piece to the ordinary
reader.
Impact on Society – (25 Points) article must exhibit scope and
significance of issue/subject and its impact on society as a whole.
All the jurors will select the winning entries on 30-31 March 2007
at the AIBD office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Awards will be
presented in April 2007 in Bangkok, Thailand.
The decision of the board of judges is final.

Prizes
The 1st prize winner in the print, radio and TV categories will
receive seven thousand US dollars ($7,000), a trophy and a
certificate.

The runner –up in the print, radio and TV categories will receive
two thousand US dollars ($2,000), a trophy and a certificate.
First prize winners will be invited to a press conference by UNESCAP
in Bangkok, Thailand. Airfares and hotel accommodations will be
covered by the secretariat.
Cash prizes will be given to the winning producers for radio and TV
and to the winning author/writer for print. The winning networks and
publications will receive trophies and certificates.

Submission Procedures
Broadcast

Submit a completed entry form with one recording of the broadcast
material, and four (4) copies of a short description of the
broadcast material. Each copy of the short description should have a
copy of the entry form attached.

For radio, the recording should be submitted as a CD. A television
entry may be submitted as a one-half inch VHS videocassette or a
DVD. An English translation of the radio programme should also be
submitted.
Print

Submit a completed entry form and four (4) copies of the entry,
which may consist of tear sheets, reprints or photocopies. Each of
the copies should have a copy of the completed form attached. The
submitted stories should clearly show the author's byline, the name
of the publication and the date of the publication.

For further details, please contact:

Mr. Jose Maria G. Carlos
E-mail: joecarlos(at)aibd.org.my
Phone: +60-3-2282-3719/-4618

Ms. Stephanie Dunstan
E-mail: dunstan(at)un.org
Phone: +66-2-288-2172

DISCCRS Early-Career Symposium for Climate-Change Scientists (www.disccrs.org)

2007-03-30T07:33:00.001-07:00

Did you recently get your Ph.D.? Are you interested in climate
change/climate impacts? If yes, then read on...

DISCCRS International Interdisciplinary Climate Change Symposium
Hawaii, Sept. 10-17, 2007 -- Deadline for applications: 30 April 2007
Airfare, room & board are fully paid for 36 accepted candidates from
around
the world.

http://www.disccrs.org/disccrsposter2007.pdf

DISCCRS (pronounced "discourse") is an interdisciplinary initiative for
recent Ph.D. graduates conducting research related to climate change
and its
impacts. The goal is to broaden research interests and establish a
collegial
peer network extending across the spectrum of NATURAL and SOCIAL
SCIENCES,
HUMANITIES, MATHEMATICS, ENGINEERING and other disciplines related to
climate change and its impacts. The initiative includes a public
webpage,
electronic newsletter, and annual symposia funded through 2008.
Expenses: Airfare and on-site expenses are provided through NSF grant
EAR-0435728 to Whitman College.

Eligibility: Ph.D. requirements related to climate change and impacts.
Recent Ph.D. graduates from all disciplines and countries are invited
to
join the DISCCRS network and apply to be a DISCCRS symposium scholar.

Thirty-six applicants will be selected by an interdisciplinary
committee of
research scientists. During the week participants will provide oral and
poster presentations in plenary format, hone interdisciplinary
communication
and team skills, and discuss emerging research, societal and
professional
issues with each other and with established researchers invited to
serve as
mentors. Mentors for DISCCRS III are:

Kenneth H. Broad
http://www.cesp.miami.edu/broad.htm
Charles Kolstad
http://www.bren.ucsb.edu/people/usernew.asp?user=kolstad
Susanne Moser
http://www.isse.ucar.edu/moser/index.html
Terry L. Root
http://terryroot.stanford.edu
Stephen H. Schneider
http://stephenschneider.stanford.edu

For questions, please contact: disccrs@whitman.edu

Beasiswa Doktor Ekonomi

2007-03-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

The Department of Economics at the University of Kent welcomes applications for 4 Doctoral Scholarships. All applicants will be considered for two types of posts:

2 Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTAs): These GTAs will cover tuition fees at the Home/EU rate plus a maintenance grant of £4,250 in return for up to six hours seminar teaching per week. The GTAs will be offered for one year in the first instance and will be subject to review each year.

2 PhD Studentships: these will cover tuition fees at the Home/EU rate plus a maintenance grant of £6,300 in return for up to six hours seminar teaching per week. They will be offered for one year in the first instance and will be subject to review each year.

For more information please go to here and here.

Candidates must hold a good Master’s degree at merit or distinction in Economics and/or equivalent subjects.

Students must provide with their applications: a full CV, academic transcripts, two reference letters and a short research project. Students should also apply online for the PhD programme in Economics at:
Get this daily scholarship info via email , click here

Lowongan Postdoc Techno-Economic Analysis

2007-03-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

USA: Postdoc Position in Techno-economic Analysis of Biofuel Systems

The Biosystems Analysis Group has an immediate opening in the techno-economic analysis of biofuel production systems based on biochemical conversion of lignocellulosic biomass. This full time position is focused on evaluating the economic and environmental sustainability of systems of technology for the production of lignocellulosic biomass and its conversion to alcohols and other valuable co-products.

Review of applications begins April 1st, 2007. Closing date is open.

Full announcemen

Netherlands: Leiden University Fund (LUF) Scholarship 2007-2008

2007-03-22T15:43:00.000-07:00

Each year the organisation of alumni, Leiden University Fund (LUF) awards LUF scholarships to outstanding foreign students pursuing a Masters Degree at Leiden University (See the list of eligible Masters programmes on www.postgraduate.leidenuniv.nl).

For 2007-2008, two scholarships are available for MA students in the Faculties of Theology, Archeology, and Philosophy together, and two scholarships each for the larger Faculties (Social and Behavioural Sciences, Arts, Law, Medicine, and Mathematics and Natural Sciences).

The LUF scholarship is open to talented students from all countries of the world except the Netherlands.

The scholarship consists of € 10.800,- for one academic year.

Applications can be made by sending the completed form (which is available at: http://www.luf.nl/default.asp?paginaid=306) to the Leiden University Fund.

Deadline: 1 April 2007.

Requirements for eligibility:

The applicant has been admitted to an English language Masters programme of Leiden University on the basis of prior education outside the Netherlands.
The applicant must have obtained excellent results in his/her previous studies and be for instance in the top 10% of students in his/her programme.
The applicant’s studies in the Netherlands must constitute a deepening and broadening of his/her previous studies in the home country.
Contact details LUF:
Leiden University Fund (LUF)
Rapenburg 61
2311 GJ Leiden
The Netherlands

Tel.:+31-71-5120503
Fax:+31-71-5140841

E-mail: info@luf.leidenuniv.nl
Website: www.luf.nl / www.leidenalumni.nl

Qatar: 2007 Fellowships to ATTEND Islamic Art Symposium

2007-03-22T15:34:00.000-07:00

Fellowships Available to ATTEND Islamic Art Symposium at VCU, Qatar

RICHMOND, Va.— Fellowships for travel and accommodation are available for scholars of Islamic art to attend Rivers of Paradise: Water in Islamic Art and Culture at VCU\’s Qatar campus Nov. 4-6, 2007.

The Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development and the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Arts are offering 15 Hamad Bin Khalifa travel fellowships.

The Hamad Bin Khalifa Symposium on Islamic Art strives to foster the development of an international community of researchers and scholars in Islamic art and cultures. The fellowship provides financial support for conference attendance and recognition of scholars from diverse geographic and cultural areas, including those from the less developed and less well-funded countries.

Many scholars, who more characteristically conduct research for years with minimal support, are having a hard time believing that these generous fellowships are merely to attend the symposium, and not to present papers, as is usual with travel fellowships.
Thirteen speakers from around the world from a variety of disciplines will explore the theme of water in the Islamic lands from southern Europe to South Asia from the 7th century to the present. Topics range from the supply and distribution of water to its role in religion and popular culture.

Attendance at the Rivers of Paradise: Water in Islamic Art and Culture Symposium in Doha, Qatar is an opportunity for advanced students and other scholars from around the world to meet and interact with one another. The fellowship will also allow students and scholars to visit Doha, one of the fastest-growing Islamic Art centers in the Middle East.
Sheila S. Blair and Jonathan M. Bloom, shared holders of the Hamad bin Khalifa Endowed Chair of Islamic Art at VCU and the Norma Jean Calderwood University Chair of Islamic and Asian Art at Boston College, and curators of the acclaimed current exhibition of Islamic art Cosmophilia, are convening the conference.

Online fellowship applications are due June 1, 2007. Complimentary symposium registration will be available July 2007. For more information contact Diane Tepfer at dtepfer@vcu.edu and click http://www.islamicartdoha.org/

Submited By: Diane Tepfer
Website: http://www.islamicartdoha.org/

Utah Association of Independent Insurance Agents (UAIIA) (12th grade)

2007-03-19T07:05:00.001-07:00

This $1000 scholarship is available to high school seniors who have a minimum 3.0 GPA, are active in extra-curricular activities. One scholarship will be awarded to a student who is interested in pursuing a career in insurance, and at least two others to students pursuing insurance or business degrees. Applicants must submit a transcript, photo, and application.

Applications are available in the counseling office or online at www.uaiia.org. Click the scholarship link.

Deadline: March 30.

Save Our History Student of the Year (9th -12th grade)

2007-03-19T07:04:00.000-07:00

The winner of this contest will be awarded $5000 cash as well as an all-expense paid trip to Washington D.C. Runners-up will receive $500 and a digital camera. Students must complete a research project on local or state history. Applicants must then answer several questions and provide additional documentation of the project.

Applications are available in the counseling office or online at www.saveourhistory.com/awards/student_contest.html.

Deadline: March 30.

Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship (12th Grade)

2007-03-19T07:03:00.002-07:00

This scholarship is available to students who have an ACT score of at least 25 and GPA of at least 3.7. Applicants must include letter of acceptance to college where student will attend full time, and be a Utah resident.

Applications are available in the counseling office or online at www.schools.utah.gov/curr/Scholarships/default.html.

Deadline: March 30.

Jackie Robinson Foundation (12th grade)

2007-03-19T07:03:00.001-07:00

This scholarship is available to minority students who show leadership potential and interest in their community, and demonstrate financial need. Students must submit a letter of recommendation and an official transcript, and should release their ACT score to this scholarship foundation when they take the ACT.

Apply online at www.jackierobinson.org/apply/index.php.

Deadline: March 31.