Undergraduate |
Graduate MA |
Graduate PhDLAWRENCE — Four University of Kansas students are competing for prestigious Rhodes, Marshall and Mitchell scholarships, which provide for graduate study in Great Britain, Ireland or Northern Ireland.
Thirty-two Rhodes scholarships are awarded annually among 16 U.S. districts; up to 40 Marshall scholarships are awarded in eight U.S. regions; and 12 Mitchell scholarships are awarded throughout the United States.
KU students have won 25 Rhodes scholarships since 1904, more than all other Kansas colleges and universities combined, and nine Marshall scholarships since 1965.
Rhodes scholarships were first offered in 1903, the Marshalls in 1953. The Mitchell scholarships were established in 1998 by the U.S.-Ireland Alliance, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to educating Americans about Ireland, and first awarded in 2001. Rhodes scholarships may be used only at Oxford University; Marshall scholarships at any British university. Mitchell scholarships may be used at colleges and universities in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Rhodes competitions take place Nov. 20 and 21. If invited, KU nominees will interview in Kansas City, Mo., alongside competitors from a district that includes Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Mississippi. Two winners are selected from each district immediately following the Nov. 21 interviews by the Rhodes Foundation. Separate state interviews are no longer conducted.
Marshall scholarship winners will be selected following regional interviews for finalists Nov. 9 and 16. If selected as finalists, KU nominees will travel to Chicago along with other competitors from Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Winners are asked to accept or decline the offer within 12 days.
The George J. Mitchell Scholars Program selects and announces its winners Nov. 25. The program will select semifinalists for interviews during the week of Oct. 25, and the finalists will be interviewed Nov. 20 and 21.
KU students are nominated by faculty and staff. Final nominees are selected through University Honors Program faculty and staff.
Samuel Walton Atherton, a senior from Overland Park majoring in history, is competing for a Mitchell scholarship.
Earl Holmes Brooks, a senior from Topeka majoring in American studies and music, is competing for Rhodes and Marshall scholarships.
Amanda M. Shriwise, a senior from Overland Park majoring in dance and economics, is competing for a Marshall scholarship.
Brenna Mae Thompson Daldorph, a senior from Lawrence in news journalism and French, is competing for Rhodes and Marshall scholarships
SHAWNEE COUNTY
From Topeka 66605
Earl Holmes Brooks
Earl Holmes Brooks plans a career teaching American music and culture at the university level. He is a first-generation college student who attributes a chance encounter with acclaimed jazz musician Wynton Marsalis as his inspiration to attend college. While in Topeka for a concert, Marsalis visited Highland Park High School and stopped to hear a jazz band rehearsal. Brooks was playing saxophone. Marsalis stopped the music with questions about Brooks’ performance. Later, he counseled Brooks not only to learn music but also the history of jazz and its links to African-American culture. At KU, Brooks has conducted two undergraduate research studies related to jazz, one with a research award from the McNair Scholars Program, a federal program to prepare first-generation and underrepresented minority students planning to pursue doctorates (Brooks entered KU as a McNair scholar). Last spring, he was a keynote speaker at the annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. Brooks says he has discovered that jazz studies are inextricably linked to his expanding interest in social movements of civil rights era that shaped popular culture and music. He wants to become a scholar “who uses his work to change how people think about the past so that the current issues we face in society can be better understood.” He regularly gives talks on jazz to inner-city students in KU’s Upward Bound Program and music lessons to students in his Topeka neighborhood. He was selected for the Dean’s Scholars Program, one of only 10 students to be admitted, and is a 2009 Hall Center for the Humanities Scholar. He was vice president of the Black Student Union and is president of Black Men Today, an organization with the goal of educating the university community on the issues facing African-American men. He is a member of three national honor societies including Phi Kappa Phi. With a Marshall scholarship he could pursue a master’s degree in trans-Atlantic studies and cultural inquiry at the University of Birmingham or master’s degrees in American literature and globalization, ethnicity and culture at the University of Sussex in Brighton. With a Rhodes scholarship, he could pursue a graduate degree in English and American studies at Oxford University. He is the son of Earl and Vanessa Brooks and is a Highland Park High School graduate.
Earl H. Brooks was recently selected as a Hall Center Scholar for the upcoming 2009/2010 academic year and will have the opportunity to help with the Humanities Lecture Series and to meet with prominent scholars. He was also selected by the Honors Program as a nominee from KU to the Rhodes Scholars Competition, which funds two years of study at the University of Oxford for thirty-two recipients nationwide.
Earl is a senior from Topeka, Kansas and a double major in Music and American Studies. His research areas include jazz history, race and ethnicity, and African American literature. Earl served as vice president to the Black Student Union in the 07/08 academic year and is a member of Black Men of Today and International Gospel Voices. He is also a participant in the Deans Scholars Program and the McNair Scholars Program. He has conducted research under Dr. Maryemma Graham in the English Department and is currently working with Dr. Randal Jelks in the American Studies Department in his second McNair Scholars research internship. 
Three American Studies Students are awarded McNair Summer Internships
The McNair Scholars Program at the University of Kansas honored its graduating seniors at an annual banquet and announced 20 undergraduates selected for summer internships in the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program.
McNair scholars are undergraduates who plan to attend graduate school and pursue doctoral studies following receipt of their bachelor’s degrees. The program supports low-income, first-generation college students and minorities underrepresented in graduate education. Admission is selective, and scholars must demonstrate a high level of academic achievement.
In addition to paid summer internships, the McNair scholars receive the guidance of a KU faculty mentor, Graduate Record Exam preparation, academic advising, tutoring and fee waivers for graduate school applications.
At the May 4 banquet, four of 14 McNair scholars in KU’s Class of 2009 received special awards. Chancellor Robert Hemenway assisted Robert Rodriguez, associate director of the McNair Scholars Program, and Allyson Flaster, academic services coordinator for the McNair Scholars Program, in presenting framed certificates to each award winner.
In addition, KU’s Educational Opportunity Programs, of which the McNair program is a part, presented the chancellor with its Champion of Opportunity Award. The award goes to an individual who has demonstrated significant commitment to the mission of equal educational opportunity by advocating for youth and/or adults who are low-income, are first-generation college students, have a disability or are underrepresented minorities in college faculties.
The McNair Scholars Program is named for Ronald E. McNair, a physicist and astronaut who died in the 1986 Challenger space shuttle explosion. KU’s program is one of 185 nationwide designed to help ensure that the next generation of faculty members in the United States represent the nation’s diverse society.
American Studies Graduating seniors and their awards:
Joshua David Gapetz, junior in American studies and political science; Lake Weir High School, Ocala, Fla.; 2009 McNair Summer Research Internship.
Jennifer Karen Hurst, senior in American studies; 2009 McNair Summer Research Internship.
Earl Holmes Brooks, senior in American studies and music, son of Earl and Vanessa Brooks; Highland Park High School; 2009 McNair Summer Research Internship.
Congratulations to the Class of 2009
| Blair, Page * | Bachelor of Arts |
| Chase II, Richard Kelii | Bachelor of Arts |
| Kostek, Jaclyn C. | Bachelor of Arts |
| Landis, Aaron Evan | Bachelor of Arts |
| Lumsden, Jacqueline Ann | Bachelor of Arts |
| McClure Jr, Federick Donald | Bachelor of Arts |
| McKune, Carolyn M. | Bachelor of Arts |
| McMaster, Traci Nicole | Bachelor of Arts |
| Moncada, Kellyn M. | Bachelor of Arts |
| Nelson, David Michael | Bachelor of Arts |
| Shanks, Caitlin Elizabeth * | Bachelor of Arts |
| Soener, Emily Catherine * | Bachelor of Arts |
| Soto-Gomez, Ines | Bachelor of Arts |
| Tepper, Brian Joel | Bachelor of Arts |
| Villarreal, Mario | Bachelor of Arts |
| Yingling, Casey M. | Bachelor of Arts |
* Departmental Honors
