Contact: Laurel Stavis (617) 283-2376 Janet Mendelsohn (617) 283-2373 email: jmendelsohn@wellesley.edu
June 3, 1996
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
In national competitions, members of the Wellesley College Class of 1996 have been awarded numerous major fellowships and awards including three Fulbright grants,two Rockefeller Brothers Fund Fellowships, a British Marshall Scholarship, two Barry Goldwater Scholarships, a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, a Harry S. Truman Scholarship, a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, two Woodrow Wilson Fellowships, and a Mellon Fellowship.
Jennifer Saunders has been awarded a British Marshall Scholarship to study at New College, Oxford University. An Economics and Political Science double major from Parsons, Kansas, she plans to pursue a Master of Philosophy in politics at Oxford in preparation for a career in human rights and public service.
Heather Eaton, Michelle Li and Alisha Rankin have been awarded Fulbright Grants.
Heather Eaton, a Political Science and Economics major from West Chester, Pennsylvania, will study in Japan and focus on how law shapes the socioeconomic position of women. Upon her return from Japan, she plans to attend law school in preparation for a career in international law with an emphasis on Japanese-American relations.
Michelle Li, an English major from Middlebury, Connecticut, will spend a year at Goettingen University in Germany where she will focus on 18th and 19th century German literature. She plans to pursue graduate studies in English literature, and to teach English at the university level.
Alisha Rankin, a German Studies and History major from Hatboro, Pennsylvania, will study at the University of Munich, Germany, focusing on the Social Democratic Party. She may pursue graduate studies in contemporary German history.
Katrin S. Hagemann and Michelle A. Parent have won Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships.
Katrin Hagemann , an Astronomy and Physics double major from Wallenhorst, Germany, will attend graduate school in Astronomy at Cornell University where she will work with astronomer Martha P. Haynes, Wellesley Class of 1973. She plans to pursue a career in teaching and research. She also won a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship for three years of graduate study and a Mass. Grant Space Scholarship this year.
Michelle Parent, a Physics and Mathematics double major from Portland, Maine, will attend the University of Texas at Austin to pursue a Ph.D. in Physics. Her career plans include teaching physics and working to improve methods of teaching science. Earlier this year, she was named Wellesley's 1995 Katharine Malone Scholar, the most distinguished of the College's three Katharine Malone Prizes for Academic Excellence. She also received the Katharine Malone First Year Student Prize in 1993 and the Katharine Malone Sophomore Prize in 1994.
Sarah Womack has won a Mellon Fellowship. A graduate of Sycamore High School in Illinois and now a resident of Charlottesville, Virginia, she is an International Relations major focusing on world politics and East Asia, with a minor in Observational Astronomy. She will pursue a Ph.D. in Southeast Asian History at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and plans to pursue a career either in research and teaching at the college level, or global law.
Crissy Caceres and Debby E. Saintil have received Rockefeller Brothers Fund Fellowships.
Crissy Caceres, from Newark, New Jersey, is an individualized major in Education and Public Policy with certification in elementary education. Before attending graduate school, she will travel for a month as part of Wellesley Professor Selwyn Cudjoe's Trinidad and Tobago Literature project. She will attend the University of Pennsylavania Graduate School of Education, and pursue a Ph.D. in education policy in preparation for a career in public policy with a focus on urban educational systems.
Debby Saintil, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, is a History major with teacher certification in History. She will attend the Harvard University Graduate School of Education with a concentration in curriculum development and community education.
Teresa Anne Cahalan received a Harry S. Truman Scholarship. A resident of Kenner, Louisiana, she is a Political Science and English double major. She plans to work in Washington, D.C. before entering a graduate program in public policy.
Beth Ann Burris was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship (declined) and a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship. Originally from Indianapolis, Indiana, she is a Political Science major in the Davis Degree Program for non-traditional age students. Prior to becoming a Davis Scholar at Wellesley, she worked as an investigator for the Indiana Civil Rights Commission, and spent two years in South Africa as a volunteer in community development. She will attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and plans a career in international development and public policy.
Deepa Purushothaman received a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship. An Economics and Philosophy double major, from Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, she will be working this summer at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, D.C. In the fall, she will study toward a master's degree from a one-year program at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she will focus on development issues within a gender context. In September 1997, the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship will enable her to attend a two-year graduate program in the United States and pursue a degree in public policy. She anticipates a career examining race and gender issues or in politics.
Pyongson Yim has won the Barbara Bush Award for Volunteerism. A resident of Framingham, Massachusetts, she is a Spanish Literature major. This summer, she will work in Boston in the literacy program at Centro Presente, an agency that provides legal and educational services for Central American immigrants in New England.
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