Office News

University of Illinois junior Stephanie Maldonado, of Chicago, was awarded a $30,000 merit-based Truman Scholarship. From among a pool of 602 endorsed nominees from colleges and universities across the country, the Truman Foundation selected Stephanie as one of 60 Truman Scholars. Stephanie was chosen based on her leadership ability, potential for influencing public policies, community service, extracurricular activities, and the suitability of her plan of study for a career in public service. 

Reports David Schug and Laura Hastings, University of Illinois Truman Faculty Representatives, “Stephanie is combining her lived experience with her scholarly work to forge better educational opportunities for recent immigrants to the United States. We readily imagine her using her practical social work encounters with students to fortify statistical evidence about social issues affecting children. We envision her leading board meetings, generating funding, and convincing fellow policy-makers to instigate change in educational and social policies regarding immigrants and impoverished youth.”

A first generation college student who spent much of her childhood in Puerto Rico, Stephanie plans to serve as a school social worker and eventually direct an advocacy agency serving the Latino/a community in Chicago. A recent family tragedy galvanized Stephanie to sort out root causes of random violence, including a lack of educational opportunities and parental engagement. She seeks to develop community outreach programs that promote parental involvement in their children’s education. 

Stephanie entered Illinois in fall 2008 in the Division of General Studies before choosing to be in Illinois’ first class of Bachelor of Social Work candidates. Stephanie is a founding member and president of the Bachelors of Social Work Student Association and a member of the James Scholar Honors Program. She is an active researcher with Social Work Professor Lissette Piedra, examining the obstacles that bilingual services providers encounter in new growth areas. Stephanie will be presenting their research findings in May at the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry in Illinois.

Beyond her research, Stephanie has acquired further understanding about the underlying plights of minority groups through her work and volunteer experiences. She works full time during semester breaks and at three different jobs during the school year. For the past two years, Stephanie has been employed by University Housing as a Multicultural Advocate for her residence hall. She also serves in a new social justice resource intern position at Illinois, where she is developing training modules for fellow Multicultural Advocates. Stephanie also volunteers with Abriendo Caminos, a community-based intervention to promote healthy eating and physical activity among Latino immigrant families. 

In nominating Stephanie for the award, the campus 2011 Truman Scholarship Endorsement Committee noted that Stephanie’s passion, unassuming intensity, knowledge, clarity, and resolve gave shape to a motivated public servant with the intelligence and perseverance to institute social change. Stephanie is the first University of Illinois student to receive a Truman Scholarship in nine years.

The National and International Scholarships Program is hosting several informational meetings this spring. For first and second year undergraduates (those planning to graduate after August, 2012), ten identical sessions will be held in conference room 514 in the Campus Center for Advising and Academic Services at 807 South Wright Street. These will focus on what students should be doing to strengthen their candidacy for these awards:

Tuesday, March 29 from 3:30-4:00, 4:00-4:30, 5:00-5:30 or 5:30-6:00

Wednesday, March 30 from 1:30-2:00 or 2:00-2:30

Thursday, March 31 from 1:30-2:00 or 2:00-2:30

Friday, April 1 from 3:30-4:00 or 4:00-4:30

Sessions for juniors, seniors, and graduate students focusing on how to apply for the June 1 priority application deadline (for study/research beginning in fall, 2012), are planned at the following eight times (at the same location):

 Tuesday, April 5 from 2:00-2:30, 2:30-3:00, 5:00-5:30 or 5:30-6:00

Wednesday, April 6 from 1:30-2:00 or 2:00-2:30

Friday, April 8 from 1:30-2:00 or 2:00-2:30

Students wishing to apply for a Fulbright Scholarship should plan to attend an informational session on Thursday, May 5 at 3:30 pm in Library room 66 (enter down the stairs from Wright Street). The session is targeted to current juniors, graduating seniors, and graduate students who wish to explore opportunities available under a Fulbright and ready materials for the Fulbright priority deadline of July 1, 2011. For more information on the Fulbright Scholarship, see http://www.topscholars.illinois.edu/prestigious/fulbright.html

15 University of Illinois undergraduates were offered Gilman Scholarships totaling $60,000 to study abroad in spring 2011. This ranks Illinois number two nationally in number of Gilman recipients for this term. To be eligible for this award, students must be receiving a Federal Pell Grant based on financial need. 

News Bureau official release to students’ hometown newspapers

President Hogan's blog entry about these Illinois students’ success

The next deadline is March 1, 2011 (for study in the upcoming summer, fall, or academic year).

We have completed Volume 7, Issue 1 of the Illinois scholarships newsletter. The publication includes reflections from scholarships alumni, tips for future candidates, and listings of recent scholarship applicants and committee members. The newsletter may be accessed online. 

Thanks to the ACES James Scholar newsletter for recent coverage about the campus Scholarships Program, and congratulations to the ACES James Scholar Media Team on five years of outstanding student reporting! A link to the December issue with the article about NIS may be found at http://students.aces.illinois.edu/system/files/CH_Vol_X_No_2.pdf. We look forward to more student inquiries as a result of their work!

Josephine (Josie) Chambers has received the prestigious Marshall Scholarship to study for masters degrees in Integrated Resource Management at the University of Edinburgh and Conservation Leadership at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

From a pool of approximately 1,000 candidates nominated from universities across the country, she is one of 31 Americans to receive the award (and one of only four students from public universities).

Josie, a native of Champaign and an alumnus of University High Laboratory School, graduated summa cum laude from the University of Illinois in May 2010 with a degree in Honors Integrative Biology and minors in Anthropology and Chemistry.  She was a James Scholar in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Utilizing her advanced scientific knowledge and natural resource management training, Josie plans a career uniting efforts to develop sustainable and equitable tropical forest management plans. She is currently working in a small village near Moyabamba, Peru as a project assistant with Neotropical Primate Conservation, a conservation organization that aims to protect the remaining habitat of the critically endangered yellow tailed woolly monkey.

During her studies at the University of Illinois, Josie worked in Professor Charles Whitfields laboratory for four years on genomic aspects of brain and behavior, performing bee brain dissections and molecular analyses. Josie created a behavioral research opportunity after her sophomore year, contacting a Ph.D. student from Washington State University and assisting her on a study of the influence of tourism on monkeys in Costa Rica.

In East Africa the following summer, Josie applied for individual research clearance from the Ugandan government to investigate primate feeding ecology, as part of a broader project led by a University of Illinois Ph.D. candidate in anthropology. There, she worked alongside a team of Ugandans to assist with monitoring red colobus monkey foraging behavior.

States Professor John Cheeseman, one of Josies advisors, and former director of the Honors Biology program, Josie is an inspiring and exciting student. There are none better as leaders or as team players, and none could have more creative imagination or the intellectual capacity to execute her designs. She will do well as a Marshall Scholar.

Josie co-founded a campus branch of the organization Roots and Shoots to advocate for environmental justice. She co-organized a university sponsored conservation lecture series and developed an environmental education program at Westview Elementary School in Champaign. Josie produced a video of the school program that the group presented at a national Roots and Shoots conference last May.

Josie excels in other interests as well, performing as one of the few non-music majors in the University of Illinois Chorale, and performing in the university opera La Boheme.  She finished in the top 3 percent of over 3,300 female runners in the Illinois half-marathon held during the last week of classes this past May.

Additional press about Josie includes:
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/university-illinois/2010-11-26/urbana-woman-named-ui-marshall-scholar.html
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-marshallscholar,0,5194793.story
http://www.dailyillini.com/news/campus/2010/11/30/university-graduate-receives-prestigious-marshall-scholarship  
http://ukinusa.fco.gov.uk/en/news/?view=News&id=254284682
http://www.uni.illinois.edu/og/news/2010/12/alum-and-marshall-scholarship-winner-

The University of Illinois is a Top Producer of U.S. Fulbright Students

The Fulbright Program, the U.S. governments flagship international educational exchange program, recently announced the colleges and universities that produced the most 2010-2011 U.S. Fulbright Students.

Fifteen students from the University of Illinois accepted Fulbright awards for 2010-2011, placing the University of Illinois among the top five nationally among public institutions. "On behalf of the U.S. Department of State, congratulations to all of the Fulbright top producing schools this year. Both President Obama and Secretary Clinton have made clear that international educational exchange is a critical element of the U.S. international engagement and the Fulbright Program is consistent with this "smart power" approach. Securing a place as a Fulbright top producing school is a testament to the quality of the applications a schools students and faculty submit, and to the efforts of its Fulbright Program Adviser/Fulbright Campus Representative to emphasize the legacy and importance of a Fulbright experience." --Alina L. Romanowski, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Academic Programs, U.S. Department of State. Click on http://jellypebble.com/sites/Fulbright2010/view.php?m=14155&v=y for an electronic announcement from Fulbright. President Hogan also congratulates our students on his blog at http://prezrelease.uillinois.edu/2010/11/23/urbana-student-fulbright-winners-among-tops-in-nation/ 

A record 58 Illinois students and recent alumni have applied for Fulbright funding for the upcoming 2011-2012 grant cycle, so the University is already building on its students recent successes.

Under the Fulbright, almost 1,700 American students, artists, and young professionals in more than 100 different fields of study have been awarded grants to study, teach English, and conduct research in over 130 countries throughout the world beginning this fall. Of the 1,700 Fulbrighters, 19% are at the Ph.D. degree level, 17% are at the Masters level, and 65% are at the Bachelors degree level.

Information about the Illinois recipients may be found at http://news.illinois.edu/news/10/0524studentfulbrights.html. We are extremely proud of these students and their accomplishments!

The National and International Scholarships Program hosted a reception for students applying for Fulbright, Marshall, Rhodes, and Gates Cambridge scholarships. Several of our committee members, top administrators, deans, and other faculty met with the applicants to discuss the students' plans. President Hogan included a nice write up and photo of the event on his October 21 blog entry at http://prezrelease.uillinois.edu.

University of Illinois students faired well in recent nationally competitive foreign language acquisition scholarships. Seniors Brett Cox and Ryan Rogowski were offered year-long Boren Undergraduate Scholarships through the National Security Education Program and sophomore Emelyn Baker will study Chinese this summer through the U.S. State Department's Critical Language Scholarship. The full press release is at http://news.illinois.edu/news/10/0524langscholarships.html