Three McConnell Scholars earn international scholarships

(July 22, 2011) LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Hunter Davis, Blake Christopher and Michael Zeller earn international scholarships along with six other University of Louisville students. Nine University of Louisville students, including three McConnell Scholars, have earned scholarships to conduct research, travel abroad and, in some cases, study foreign languages and cultures that are considered critical to U.S. national security.

The McConnell Scholarship winners are:

  • Blake Christopher, a senior history and political science major, will spend part of the summer studying at Oxford University in England as an English-Speaking Union Scholarship winner. He is from Irvine and graduated from Estill County High School.
  • Hunter Davis, a 2011 UofL graduate with majors in political science and philosophy, will spend a year in New Zealand as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar and will continue his education at the University of Canterbury. Davis is from Ashland and a graduate of Paul G. Blazer High School.
  • Michael Zeller, a history and political science major, is spending the summer in Russia as a Boren Scholar. While in that country, he will work as an intern at an organization that advocates civil liberties and will take classes at Moscow State University. Zeller is from Louisville and a graduate of duPont Manual High School.

Other UofL scholarship winners are:

  • Jordan Burns, a senior biology major, will travel to Brazil to study and intern in public health as a Boren Scholar, a program funded by the National Security Education Program. Burns is from Catlettsburg and graduated from Boyd County High School.
  • Irene Levy, a junior anthropology major, is spending the summer in Jordan on a U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship to study Arabic. Levy is a Louisville native and graduate of duPont Manual High School.
  • Rene Orth, a graduate student studying music composition, is in China on a U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship to study Chinese. Orth is from Garland, Texas, and graduated from Richardson Berkner High School.
  • Olivia Sailor, a senior biology major, will spend a semester in Thailand as a Freeman-ASIA Scholar. Sailor graduated from Lafayette Jefferson High School in Lafayette, Ind., and lived in Bardstown, Ky., prior to enrolling at UofL.
  • Amy Su, a business major, will travel to Japan to refine her mastery of Japanese through a US-Japan Bridging Foundation Scholarship. Su is from Louisville and a graduate of duPont Manual High School.
  • Amanda Yee, a junior anthropology major, is in Morocco working on her mastery of Arabic as part of a U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship. Yee is from Greenwood, Ind., and is a graduate of Greenwood Community High School.

Another student received a prestigious scholarship that will allow her to study within the U.S. Sara Shafer, a humanities doctoral student, will travel to the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City to examine Yiddish texts as part of her research on German Jewish literature.  She received the Deutsche Akademische Austausch Dienst research grant—also known as the German Studies Research Grant—to help her prepare for her dissertation. Shafer is from Paintsville and graduated from Paintsville High School in 2002.