Even the smallest task seemed insurmountable to 2012 Truman Scholar Brent Reader when he returned home from a tour in Iraq as an Army combat medic. Just a trip to the store where he’d overhear everyday, trivial conversations was insufferable for the veteran as he fended off images from the war, including the trauma of trying to save the life of his close friend who had been shot beside him.

Reader, a junior social work major, spent twelve months in Ar Ramadi, considered the most dangerous city in the world at the time, and saw everything from ambushes to roadside bombs to firefights. On one occasion, he recalls walking over dozens of bodies after two people detonated themselves in a line to sign up to become Iraqi army and police.

Read more in UVM Today’s Feature on Brent.

Honors College student and biochemistry major Susan Leggett, a UVM junior, has been awarded a 2012 Goldwater Scholarship, a highly competitive award that recognizes sophomores and juniors who have done outstanding work in science, math, or engineering and seek to become researchers and leaders in their disciplines.

In addition, mechanical engineering major David Bernstein ‘13 and Honors College student and biochemistry major Kanita Chaudhry ’13 were acknowledged by the Goldwater Scholarship Foundation with Honorable Mention in the 2012 competition. This is the first time that three UVM students have been acknowledged in the competition in a single year.

Read more here.

Social work major Brent Reader, a UVM junior, has been named a 2012 Truman Scholar. He is one of 65 students this year to win the highly competitive national award, which recognizes those who want to make a difference in public service and “provide them with financial support for graduate study, leadership training, and fellowship with other students who are committed to making a difference through public service.”

Reader is the third UVM student to win the award. Alumna Kesha Ram, now a Vermont state representative, was a winner in 2007, and William F. Steinman was a winner in 1988.

Two other UVM students were chosen as finalists for this year’s Truman award: Alma Arteaga ’13, an economics and environmental studies double-major from Keene, N.H. and Eliza Kelsten ’13, a political science and history double-major from New Albany, Ohio.

Read more here.

Ann Fiedler ’12, a mechanical engineering major and an Honors College student, has been awarded a 2011 Science, Mathematics & Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship from the Department of Defense. The SMART Scholarship for Service program supports students who demonstrate outstanding ability and special aptitude pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The program also aims to increase the number of civilian scientists and engineers working at the Department of Defense laboratories. Fiedler, a Scotch Plains, N.J. native, is the first UVM student to receive this scholarship.

Read more.

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Three University of Vermont students were awarded Fulbright Scholarships for the 2010-2011 year. Meet Matthew Greene 10, Dzeneta Karabegovic ’08 and Emily Lubell ’09 and hear about their projects in the video lbelow (also available on the front page of the fellowships site). These three will be back throughout the next year to offer application advice and to relate stories from abroad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAE2XkfL5vk&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&border=1

Joanie Stultz, UVM sophomore, has been awarded an Honorable Mention in the 2010 Morris K. Udall Scholarship competition. This national award recognizes sophomores and juniors who are pursuing careers focused on environmental or Native American issues, and she is among 80 scholars and 50 honorable mentions to be acknowledged.

Stultz, an environmental engineering major from Kent, Washington, has spent the past two years at the University of Vermont developing her ability to pursue a career in sustainable technology. Her interests lie in engineering new waste management technologies, specifically related to wastewater and composting, that she believes will enable communities to shift their industrial waste infrastructure into a zero-waste system.

Read the whole article here.

The new campus deadlines for the Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright, Udall, Truman and all other national scholarships requiring a university endorsement have been announced on the Fellowships website.

See the new deadlines here.

Students interested in applying for any of the scholarships with fall deadlines are strongly encouraged to touch base with Fellowships Advisor Brit Chase before the summer in order to receive information on the campus application process.

FOR JUNIORS: If you are going abroad sometime next year but are also considering applying for a Truman, Goldwater or Udall Scholarship, be sure to get all the campus application information from Brit Chase before you depart.

All Boren Scholarship Interviews will be conducted by Honors College Associate Dean Lisa Schnell on Monday, January 25. Below is your interview time. All interviews will take place in her office in the Honors College Office Suite in University Heights North. If you have a conflict with your scheduled interview time that cannot be resolved, please get in touch with me as soon as possible. We’ll try to accommodate you, but we can’t guarantee that we’ll be able to (and only in extreme circumstances, such as a conflicting exam, will we consider it). Also, these interviews are to be treated the same way that you would treat any sort of scholarship, fellowship or job interview. Be sure to dress appropriately, show up prepared, and be on time (for more information see Prepare for Your Interview on the UVM Fellowships Website).

1:30: William Berrey

2:00: Whitney Roth

2:30: Gabriel Simches

3:00: Tiana Gray

3:30: Will Liew

After your interview, you will receive feedback for your application from the University of Vermont Fellowships Committee. At that point, you will have approximately one week to make final revisions to your application before submitting it to the Office of Fellowships Advising in the Honors College by noon on February 5, 2010.

Remember, for the next 16 days we will be working with you intensively to make sure that you put together the best application possible for this competition. The more thought, time and effort you put into your application now, the happier you will be.

Dear Truman Scholarship Applicants,

Below is information you will need for final advising and submitting your Truman Scholarship application for the campus deadline on January 15, 2010. The application will be submitted online. You’ve already been registered in the Truman online application system where you will find your application materials; if you haven’t logged into that system yet please do in order to make sure it’s working properly.

Other information:

* By now you should have contacted three individuals that will be writing your letters of reference. If you have not contacted these people, please do so as early as possible; their letters must be completed and uploaded into your scholarship application by noon on January 15, 2010. Be sure to give these people plenty of time to complete the application. Also, it helps to give them information that will help them to write specifically about your academic, leadership, and public service experience. For more information on what your references should include in their letters, visit the UVM Fellowships website.

* Associate Dean Lisa Schnell and I are available for advising now, and we will also be available for advising during winter break. Feel free to send us drafts of questions 7-15 on your application for feedback. We can also offer limited feedback on your policy proposal. We’ll be available by e-mail, phone and in person until December 23, and then after a short hiatus we’ll be back in the office from January 4 on. Listed below is our contact information.

* Your applications are due by noon on January 15, 2009 for the campus deadline. We cannot make any exceptions to this. You will be required to interview with the University of Vermont Fellowships Committee, who will nominate up to four students to represent UVM in the national Truman Scholarship competition. If you are selected as one of the four nominees, you will have time to incorporate feedback from the Fellowships Committee into your application before the final submission for the national deadline on February 2, 2010. Interviews will take place during the week of January 18.

Congratulations on your accomplishments thus far and good luck with your final exams.

Best,

Brit Chase