Five Awarded Class of 1938 Travel Scholarships
Posted on May 2, 2011Five Carolina students have received UNC Class of 1938 travel fellowships for research abroad this summer.
The students were chosen from 37 applicants who submitted proposals for projects outside the U.S. Selection is based on the quality of applicants’ proposals, financial need and academic purpose. Each will receive $5,000.
Four of the students received 2011 Class of 1938 Summer Study Abroad Fellowships. Chosen by committees that included members of the class of 1938 and former fellows, the recipients are Morgan Abbott of Raleigh; Njeri Mugure Mwangi of Fitchburg, Mass,; Benjamin Rosado of Wilmington; and Carolyn Treasure of Knoxville, Tenn.
Camila Salvo-Lewis of Carrboro, a student in the School of Nursing, received the class of 1938’s Charles H. and Margaret M. Witten Travel Award, also $5,000.
Every year since 1975, an endowment created by UNC’s class of 1938 has funded independent projects abroad by UNC students. Class members, who lived through and lost friends to World War II, created the endowment to help foster international understanding and promote world peace.
“These exceptional students embody the spirit of the gift from the class of 1938,” said Jane Rosenberg ’72, assistant director for international student and exchange visitor services, through which the fellowships are awarded. “We eagerly await their return so they can describe their experiences for the UNC and local communities.”
All of the students selected are rising seniors at Carolina. They are:
- Abbott, a public policy and religious studies major with an entrepreneurship minor, has volunteered in New Life Homes for children in Kenya since 2007 and founded the group Carolina for Amani to raise funds for the homes. With her fellowship, she will visit Kenya for two months, researching policies that foster inadequate care and trafficking of handicapped orphan babies and children. She plans to write an honors thesis on her findings that exposes the extent of the problem and suggests solutions.
- Mugure Mwangi, who was born in Nairobi, Kenya, is majoring in political science and global studies, with a focus on Africa. She will help with the nonprofit Keyhole Garden Project in Kenya, which aims to increase food security and improve nutrition for AIDS orphans by constructing community vegetable gardens. She wants to expand the project, teaching residents and schoolchildren how to start kitchen gardens and holding classes about nutrition and food sanitation. She will charge her students with teaching what they learned to other community members.
- Rosado, who is majoring in psychology and global studies with emphasis on Latin American health, will interview people in the western highlands of Guatemala about mental health, asking for their perceptions of depression. A nonprofit that provides humanitarian aid in the region may benefit from his findings, as the information gathered might point to ways to expand its services. Rosado also plans to seek information from mental health professionals about advancements and shortcomings in Guatemala’s mental health system. His research and findings will become the topics of his senior honors thesis.
- Treasure, who is majoring in biology and economics, plans to help treat patients and start health education programs at a rural clinic in Peru. She hopes that her goals of becoming a doctor and practicing in developing, Spanish-speaking countries will be furthered by observing discrepancies in care in different countries. Her life’s goal is to improve access to health care in such countries. Also in Peru, Treasure plans to improve her medical Spanish and gather information for an honors thesis in which she hopes to recommend efficient ways to provide health care.
- Salvo-Lewis, an aspiring nurse, plans to will use her Witten Award to intern with two community health clinics in Mexico as well as travel the Guanajuato region with midwives making prenatal visits. Her internships will be with a maternity hospital and a public health center and midwifery school. At the latter and on her rural visits, Salvo-Lewis will help provide nursing care. She believes these experiences will improve her ability to care for patients from diverse backgrounds upon her return to the U.S.
More online…
- Seven Awarded Class of 1938 Travel Scholarships
News report from May 2010 - Four Awarded Class of 1938 Travel Scholarships
News report from April 2008 - In Memoriam: Dr. Joseph F. Patterson Jr. ’38: He saw war, led class effort for understanding.
From the Carolina Alumni Review, November/December 2007, available online to Carolina Alumni members. - Great Class of ’38: Still Going Global: From the Carolina Alumni Review, May/June 2000, available online to Carolina Alumni members.
