Reaching for Scholarly Heights
Overseers Scholars Program Helps Students Gain Academic Rewards
By Laurel Harper
Monica Marks wants to learn Swahili. Paul Meinshausen has a yen for Turkish.
Fruitless dreams? At one time, maybe.
But not anymore.
Marks, a 20-year-old U of L junior, is on her way this August to Tanzania where she will spend a year immersed in Swahili and African-area studies at the University of Dar Es Salaam. It’s a long way from her tiny hometown of Rush in Eastern Kentucky, but Marks has always had huge ambitions. As testament, consider that she is majoring in not one, but three subjects—political science, philosophy and women’s and gender studies—and working on a minor in Pan-African studies, too.
“I realize Swahili is not up there on the radar screen like Chinese or Spanish,” she says, “but eventually I want to go into international law. One of my areas of study is Africa, especially with its prevailing views on women, so going there for research and to learn Swahili was just something I wanted to do.
 U of L President James Ramsey (far right) with some of the university’s prestigious scholarship winners. Front row from the left: Elizabeth Russell, Abigail Heiniger, Medina del Castillo, Anna Vissman, Daniel Marelich, Kimberly Powers and Bori Chernomordik. Back row from the left: Chris Cunningham, David Wright, David Soliemani Meigooni, Paul Meinshausen and Ben Auterburn. |
“Plus,” she adds, “I also am hoping to parlay this into learning Arabic, since people on the East African coast speak a mixture of Swahili and Arabic.
“This opportunity is certainly brightening my academic trajectory like nothing else could.”
Meinshausen also is getting his wish. Starting in late August, the Radcliff, Ky., senior will be living in Ankara, Turkey, studying the language and contemporary Turkish culture for a year as part of the Council on International Exchange program at Middle Eastern Technology University.
“I’ve been interested in the southern Mediterranean/eastern European area for a while now, and Turkey straddles this region,” the 21-year-old cultural anthropology major says of why he is focused on that nation.
Meinshausen and Marks are among four U of L students realizing their desire to study abroad this year through the National Security Education Program. Created in 1991, this federal initiative awards scholarships to U.S. students for study of world regions critical to the nation’s interests. The NSEP is one of several prestigious academic awards that gifted U of L students compete for each year, pitted against exceptional students nationwide.
And more and more often, they’re coming out on top.
The Overseers Scholars Program helps prepare U of L students to earn these highly competitive awards. It also helps the university attract top students, says Jenny Sawyer, executive director of admissions.
“Any time a student competes at a national level—particularly against an elite school—and is successful, it reinforces to prospective students the experience and quality of education our students can expect,” she says.
The program’s specific goal is to identify and develop students who are strong candidates for prestigious national and international scholarships, graduate fellowships, internships and highly selective graduate and professional schools. Among these much-sought-after awards are the Rhodes, Truman, Gates, Cambridge and Fulbright scholarships, as well as a host of others supporting research and study at home and abroad that bring sizable monetary support and academic honors.
Provost Shirley Willihnganz says that the program’s positive impact on a student’s educational experience is “enormous.”
“Thanks to their success we’re able to attract ever stronger academically prepared students to U of L, which generates excitement and enhances our national reputation,” she adds. “We owe our Overseers, who had the vision and foresight to begin and fund this program.”
A 1960 U of L law school graduate and former U.S. representative, Romano “Ron” Mazzoli helped establish the Overseers Scholars Program in the late 1990s. He remains an ardent supporter today.
“Daniel Ash was chair of the Overseers then,” Mazzoli recalls. “He was a friend of mine and knew I was interested in education, so when he appointed the committee that set up the program he put me on it. It included Mac
[J. McFerran] Barr, Jan Karzen, Stewart Cobb and myself.”
The committee’s goal was to encourage more students of merit to come to the university and, once they were here, find a way to nurture them and help them become candidates for prestigious scholarships.
“If once in a while we hit that home run, obviously it would be good for the school and recruitment, too,” Mazzoli says.
Their “home runs” are adding up—nearly 90 students have received awards since the first Overseers Scholars class began in 2000.
“The program allows us to do everything from feed our review committees well to help students do things that give them a sense of belonging,” says Patricia Condon, who heads up the program for the university. Condon serves as associate director of the University Honors Program, too. Currently she is working with 234 Overseers Scholars at all levels.
Chemistry professor John Richardson, who directs the University Honors Program, has great respect for both the scholars program and its director. (The Overseers Scholars initiative operates under the umbrella of the Honors Program.)
“The Overseers Scholars Program has been instrumental in raising students’ awareness of prestigious national/international scholarships and the wealth of related opportunities for study abroad,” he notes. “Dr. Condon has shown that students at U of L are very competitive at the national level, as evidenced by the number and variety of scholarships and fellowships awarded over the past several years.”
Entry into the Overseers Scholars Program is by faculty nomination, generally anytime from the second semester of a student’s freshman year through graduate school. Students must also have at least a 3.5 GPA, a record of significant extracurricular activity, the initiative to learn independently and an interest in research.
The program is competitive—but the scholars say it’s worth it. Marks rates it “indispensable,” while Meinshausen notes, “I’ve been in the Overseers program since I was a freshman and it’s been great—especially Dr. Condon. She’s tremendously helpful.”
Among the things the Overseers program emphasizes is that the students carefully think through every step of their academic career.
“We link each thing they are doing to their plan for what happens next,” Condon says. Meinshausen, for example, is already working on how he can gain a Fulbright scholarship to study in Cyprus after his stint in Turkey. His ultimate goal is to attend the London School of Economics and then begin an international career in peacekeeping and diplomacy.
The program also helps students overcome potential barriers to their goals.
“When you’re talking about 17- and 18-year-olds,” Mazzoli notes, “chances are they might be a little awkward in different social settings. So Dr. Pat sets up mock arrangements forcing the kids to make small talk and learn other social skills, which is very important for what we have to do later in life. She has been vital in nurturing the students.”
Meinshausen is a case-in-point. A home-schooled student whose father oversees science and technology at Fort Knox, his intellect struck Condon from the day she met him when he was a high school student attending a U of L open house. He is one of the few students allowed into the program upon entering the university.
“We don’t normally take students as early as we did Paul,” she explains, “but we made an exception for him. He already had a sense that he was going on to be a world player when I met him. But he was a little shy about public speaking, so I recommended the debate team to help him overcome that.”
Along with overcoming his fear, the deliberation skills he’s gained as a debater are vital to becoming a successful diplomat. And they helped him earn his NSEP award, too.
U of L President James Ramsey calls the Overseers Scholars Program “invaluable,” with rewards not limited to the students and university.
“When it helps students such as Paul, Monica and the other Overseers Scholars win nationally prestigious awards there is a far-reaching, long-lasting benefit,” he explains. “The students profit from the type of educational experience that comes only from living and learning in an exciting new culture. The university gains from how their accomplishments demonstrate our academic excellence nationally and even internationally. The energy and excitement that these students inject into our classrooms when they share their experiences with fellow students is also priceless.
“And all of us in the community and state will benefit, too, from what these outstanding young people eventually bring to the table as they help us grow and prosper.”
Mazzoli concurs.
“What a delight it is for me to meet some of these young people. It encourages me a great deal not just about the future of our country, but the future of the university, too.”
To learn more about the Overseers Scholars Program visit:
www.louisville.edu/a-s/honors/OSDP.html
