Three Elon students have been awarded federally funded scholarships to help support their spring 2009 semester study abroad experiences, while a fourth student is the recipient of a scholarship to fund her semester in Denmark.
Junior Brian Mackey, sophomore Gabrielle Dean and senior Judith K. Lang Hilgartner were recipients of Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships. The scholarship program aims to diversify the kinds of students who study abroad and the countries and regions where they study.
The program is funded by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and is administered by the Institute of International Education.
Mackey, of Old Lyme, Conn.,. received a $4,000 scholarship to help fund his spring 2009 semester at Cracow University of Economics in Cracow, Poland. The economics major (communications minor) is participating in the exchange program between the Cracow University of Economics and Elon University.
Dean, of St. Augustine, Fla., received a $3,500 scholarship toward her studies at the Beijing Center in Beijing, China. Dean is majoring in broadcast communications and international studies with minors in political science and Asian studies.
Hilgartner, of Mebane, N.C., received a $4,000 scholarship and will study at the Universidad de San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador. She is majoring in Spanish.
Meantime, junior Kaitlin Carlin received the Mary Dau Scholarship from the Danish Institute for Study Abroad (DIS). Carlin, of Williamsburg, Va., is majoring in strategic communications and has a minor in anthropology. She is studying on the DIS program in Copenhagen, Denmark.
In addition to outside scholarship programs, many students have received support for international study from Elon. The Isabella Cannon Centre for International Studies awarded more than $50,000 in need-based scholarships to more than 30 students this year for summer, fall, winter and spring Study Abroad programs.
Many students have also benefited from travel grants and other funding awarded to Elon College Fellows, Isabella Cannon Leadership Fellows, Business Fellows, Journalism & Communications Fellows, Honors Fellows and Watson Scholars. Thirteen students studying in Spanish-speaking countries in 2008-2009 earned funds toward their airfare from El Centro de Español after completing at least 140 hours of Spanish-language activities.
Scholarships awarded through the ICCIS are made possible through the support of the following donors, including Isabella Cannon, for whom the centre is named:
The Dancer Family
The Horsburgh Family
The Killorin Family
Aladdin Travel
Carole and Douglas Bruns
Richard and Helen Parker
The O’Brien Family
The Badavas Family
The Viebranz Family
John and Barbara Hamill
The Weezie Foundation
Schaeffer Family
The Russell Family
The Patrick Family
J. Harvey and Karen H. White
Sharon Hill Price
Lawrence J. and Dolores A. D’Angleo
Bruce A. and Susan E. Edwards
M. Lee and Larysa L. Gibson
Thomas Grathwohl
Ralph “Hal” and Susan Yarwood
– Information submitted by Paul Geis, international programs adviser at Elon University