Student Awards and Achievements
AWARDS
Diana Bloom ’11 was recently awarded a Fulbright English teaching assistantship grant for Austria.
Bethany Corbin ’11 was awarded a Mary Turner Lane Award on April 12th at the Chancellors Awards Ceremony. This award honors a senior who has contributed extensively to women’s scholarship. For the selection process, she submitted two chapters of her honors thesis. She also received a Fletcher Scholarship to study law at Wake Forest University. The scholarship provides funds for tuition, books, and a living stipend.
Laurence Deschamps-Laporte ’11 received a prestigious Rhodes scholarship to study in Oxford University. For more information, see this Spring’s Student Spotlight.
Jiakun Ding ’12 is working on a research paper in rural Rajasthan, India, assessing the nature and impact of technology waves on underprivileged cases as part of Duke University’s Global Semester Abroad.
Kimberly Garner ’11 was awarded a fellowship through WomenNC that allowed her to go to the U.N.’s Commission on the Status of Women to present on the status of women and girls in North Carolina. Garner was also awarded a fellowship through Humanity in Action to spend five weeks studying minority rights in Copenhagen, Denmark. She was also recognized in the Chancellor’s Awards ceremony, winning the Chi Omega Award for scholarship and leadership, this year for outstanding scholastic achievements in Women’s Studies, and a Mary Turner Lane award for scholarship in Women’s Studies.
Sarah Johnson ’13 was selected to attend UNC’s European Union Center of Excellence Undergraduate Travel EU Tour in Brussels this summer. The travel award is organized by the European Commission and funds a four day study tour in Brussels, which includes visits to the European Commission, Parliament, Council, US Mission to the EU, NATO and the College of Europe.
McKay Roozen ’12 is part of the support team of Young Scholars International, which received a Davis Projects for Peace award of $10,000 to implement a project to help UNC students studying abroad enrich their international experience by conducting self-designed seminars in local high schools. The initiative, launched by philanthropist Kathryn W. Davis, provides more than $1 million in funding for projects developed by university students from over 90 campuses. The program supports projects that use innovative techniques to focus on conflict resolution, reconciliation, building understanding and breaking down barriers which cause conflict. Young Scholars International will work with seminar leaders who are going to China. “The seminars aim to help Chinese youth critically think about the world and explore their academic interests. UNC participants will learn more about the Beijing community and practice cross-cultural communication skills,” said Yu Zhou, program director and founder of Young Scholars International in an interview with UNC News Services.
PHI BETA KAPPA
Twenty-five of our students were admitted to the most prestigious honors society in the country, Phi Beta Kappa. Congratulations!
Alyssa B. Baskam
Rachel Baum
Catherine S. Beasley
Catherine C. Clarke
Laurence Deschamps-Laporte
Peter Drew Dimmery
Emily Caroline Doll
Kimberly Brooke Garner
Caroline Elizabeth Guerra
Katura Margaret Harvey
Casey E. Holmes
Kelly N. Kilburn
Jennifer Cristina Lewis
Joseph Lucas Little
Katharine Locke
Christina Adams Olson
Sara L. Rafalson
Anita Sanku Rao
Diana Elizabeth Roycroft
Elise M. Stephenson
Patricia Ann Stottlemyer
Lauren Traugott-Campbell
Chloe Joy Whiteaker
Emily Frances Willis
Mary Caroline Wood
RESEARCH
Three of our students presented research at the Twelfth Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research.
Leticia Brandon presented “Developing Tribal Level Policy Options for Improving Access to Healthy Eating within Seven NC Tribes.” Her research was supervised by Dr. Sheila Fleischhacker.
Brandon’s research focused on changing the food environment to address American-Indian diet-related health disparities. To accelerate solution-oriented strategies for tribal-level action, she developed seven healthy eating policy toolkits, tailored specifically to seven tribes. Using community-based participatory research, each toolkit’s format and content was informed by modified Talking Circles and key informant interviews. Health-related policies and programs existing at the tribal level were compiled through a systematic website review of American Indian Tribes and Organizations. Each toolkit integrated Native traditions to provide research on and recommendations for moving forward tribally initiated and implemented healthy eating initiatives. Policy options common to all seven toolkits were tribally-owned and operated community gardens and farmers’ markets, along with incorporating youth and elder programs to pass down traditional food preparation and preservation methods. Additional technical assistance was provided on how to prioritize policies and programs, as well as successfully implement changes at the tribal level, pulling together resources available at the federal, state, county, local, and university levels. Research and recommendations featured in the toolkit were presented at tribal council meetings. Each tribe will receive 2 copies of their policy toolkit. The innovative toolkit development and dissemination processes successfully engaged tribal leaders and fostered the translation of culturally appropriate strategies for American Indian tribal leadership to address diet-related health disparities.
Bethany Corbin presented her thesis research “A Bleeding Sin: An Examination of Honor Killings in Turkey and Germany,” advised by Dr. Banu Gokariksel. For more information about her research, visit our 2011 Honors Thesis Graduates page.
Laurence Deschamps-Laporte also presented her thesis research “Sex, Fertility and the Marabouts: Cultural Conceptions of Family Planning in Mali.” She was advised by Dr. Amy Cooke. For more information about her research, see our 2011 Honors Thesis Graduates page.