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Making the Grade


'07 grads leave with range of prestigious plans

May 15, 2007


Dickinson College's first Mitchell scholar will be headed to Dublin, Ireland, to study social policy. Two Fulbright scholars are off to Italy and Germany to do research and teach. A Rotary Ambassadorial scholar will purse a master's degree in London.

Some graduates are headed to law school, and others are starting out with careers at places such as IBM, Bank of America and Amica.

They are but just a few of the stars in a standout class of 2007. Here are some of the top awards, scholarships and job offers earned by graduating seniors this year:

George J. Mitchell Scholarship

Bernadette McFadden was the first Dickinson College student to receive the George J. Mitchell Scholarship, sponsored by the US-Ireland Alliance. A highly competitive award, there are only 12 Mitchell scholarships awarded annually nationwide. A policy-management major from Downingtown, Pa., McFadden will pursue a master's in social policy at The University of Dublin, Trinity College, and plans to attend medical school.

McFadden's study of the Irish health-care system is expected to provide a strong foundation for her future involvement in health-related policy issues in the United States. The US-Ireland Alliance established the scholarship to educate future American leaders about Ireland and to provide tomorrow's leaders with a greater understanding about the country.

The scholarship is named in honor of George J. Mitchell, the former U.S. senator who served as chairman of the peace negotiations in Northern Ireland. Mitchell showed a commitment to serve community and country and possessed intellectual distinction, leadership, integrity, excellence and fairness. Those same qualities characterize recipients of this honor.

Fulbright Awards

Danielle Goonan and Sean Dolbow are two of four Dickinsonians who this year join the ranks of more than 100 Dickinson alumni who have received Fulbright awards.

Goonan and Dolbow join Keely McGeehan '06 as the college's latest recipients of the grants. Fulbrights give recent college graduates, master's and doctoral candidates, young professionals and artists opportunities for personal growth and international experience. The awards are used to foster mutual understanding among nations through educational and cultural exchanges.

Goonan, an American-studies major from Brooklyn, N.Y., will use the award to conduct research in Bologna, Italy, on the appropriation of American hip-hop culture by Moroccan and Tunisian immigrants living in Italy. She said these groups have been plagued by negative media portrayals and are subjects of debates concerning employment, citizenship and crime. Goonan said she hopes her research will lead to better insight into the needs of this new immigrant community living and working in Italy.

Dolbow, an English major from Slatington, Pa., received an English teaching assistantship in Hanover, Germany, where he will work in a school for 10 months with pupils of various ages. In addition to teaching English, he plans to conduct research on the memories of war through the eyes of German World War II veterans. Using literature and personal accounts, Dolbow will compare German and American experiences and study how memories change over time.

Bernadette McFadden also was awarded a Fulbright research grant to the United Kingdom but declined to accept the George J. Mitchell Scholarship.

Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship

Katie McClellan, a biology major from Asheville, N.C., was awarded a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship for the 2007-08 academic year, which provided $26,000 toward her tuition in England.

McClellan will study reproductive and sexual-health issues as she pursues an M.S. at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

After receiving a John Dickinson Scholarship, McClellan became the first student to use the Engage the World Fellowship, then was the first recipient of the Inge Paul and John R. Stafford Scholarship for students in the life sciences. She was invited to join the prestigious first-year student honor society Alpha Lambda Delta.

She received the 2005 Wheel and Chain Leadership Award, studied abroad during her junior year at the University of East Anglia, was a student project manager for The Clarke Forum and did an honors research project at the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory in Maine with John Henson, Charles A. Dana professor of biology.

Goldwater Scholarships

During their junior years, Rebecca Harker and Michele Kondracki were awarded Goldwater Scholarships by the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program.

Harker, of Ephrata, Pa., is a chemistry major working with Associate Professor of Chemistry David Crouch. Kondracki, a chemistry and biochemistry & molecular biology major from Wilkes-Barre, Pa., conducted research with Associate Professor of Biology Anthony Pires.

The Goldwater scholars were selected on the basis of academic merit from more than 1,000 mathematics, science and engineering students nominated by the faculties of colleges and universities nationwide. For their superior academic achievements, Harker and Kondracki were placed among scholars from Harvard, Princeton and Yale universities as well as liberal-arts colleges Amherst, Williams and Swarthmore.

The scholarship is used to help cover the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to $7,500 per year. Harker plans to attend the George Mason University School of Law. Kondracki plans to attend the Penn State College of Medicine.

Goldwater scholars have impressive academic qualifications that have garnered the attention of prestigious postgraduate fellowship programs. Recent Goldwater scholars have been awarded 63 Rhodes Scholarships, 80 Marshall Scholarships and numerous other distinguished fellowships.

Projects for Peace

Raju Kandel, a women's-studies major, received a $10,000 award from The Kathryn Wasserman Davis Foundation Projects for Peace Initiative for his project in Nepal, his home country.

The project, "Interfaith Dialogue and Religious Understanding of Peace among School-Level Students, Teachers, and Religious Leaders in Kathmandu, Nepal," will provide training of 15 interfaith student leaders from five different schools in Kathmandu for three months.

Religious leaders will gather to share their experiences of "interfaith understanding of peace through religious lens." The Projects for Peace initiative invited proposals from all undergraduates enrolled as of fall 2006 at any of the 76 American colleges and universities in the Davis United World College Scholars Program. Students were encouraged to design grassroots projects that they will implement this summer. The 100 projects judged to be the most promising were funded, with an objective of encouraging and supporting today's motivated youth to create and try out ideas for building peace in the 21st century.

Mohler Prize

Michele Kondracki and Tiffany Kimbrough were co-recipients of the 2007 Mohler Prize, established by friends and colleagues of Roy Mohler '17 on the occasion of his 40th reunion at Dickinson College. The prize is awarded to graduating seniors accepted for admission to medical schools.

Kondracki plans to attend the Penn State College of Medicine. Kimbrough plans to attend the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Udall Scholarship

Lisa Maas, a biology and environmental-science major from Madison, Ind., was awarded the Morris K. Udall Scholarship last year as a junior. Each year the Udall Foundation awards 80 undergraduate scholarships to juniors and seniors in fields related to the environment. Maas will be an intern with the USDA Forest Service in the Salmon-Challis National Forest in Idaho, where she will locate and control invasive plants in order to rehabilitate natural ecosystems there.

Miscellany

Here are some postgraduate plans for Dickinson graduates, including those posted as of last week on the college's Career Center Web site. Graduates are invited to visit the Web site to add their post-Dickinson plans.

  • Laura Bahorich, University of Pennsylvania
  • Daiana Beitler, London School of Economics and Political Science
  • Jena Boccetti, University of Baltimore School of Law
  • Jennifer Bruneau, Bank of America in London
  • Cristina M. Cardona, American University, environmental-studies master's program
  • Alexandria De Aranzeta, Boston College, romance languages and literatures-Hispanic studies master's program
  • Charlee Eaton, National Park Service's Student Conservation Association
  • Kali Enyeart, University of Maryland School of Law, School of Public Health
  • Kathryn Fiedler, University of Massachusetts, plant and soil science master's program
  • Sarah Flynn, Vanderbilt University, classical studies
  • Thomas Flynn, SUNY Albany, library and information science
  • Stacey Foltz, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati law firm
  • Kathryn E. Fox, U.S. Public Interest Research Groups
  • Tamoghna Ghosh, Union Bank of Switzerland
  • Miriam Goodman, New York University, School of Social Work
  • Shana Roth-Gormley, Hate Free Zone
  • Michael J. Gortakowski, University at Buffalo Law School
  • Alexandra Gray, Teach For America
  • Meaghan Gruber, Bread for the City
  • Ashley A. Gruszecki, Penn State University, school psychology
  • Stephanie Hair, sustainability specialist, Dickinson College
  • Rebecca Harker, George Mason University School of Law
  • Sarah Heim, Action Reconciliation Service for Peace
  • Abby L. Husk, College of Saint Rose, educational psychology, school psychology
  • Tan Huynh, Teach For America
  • Anthony Judice, Duquesne University School of Law
  • Yana Karadjova, master's degree program in politics, security & integration at the University of East Anglia
  • Allison Kazi, Pace Law School
  • Stephanie Kipper, The New England Center for Children, Simmons College, education
  • Sonja Kline, Amica Insurance
  • Meredith Kruse, London School of Economics and Political Science, comparative politics
  • Caroline Larson, Global Consultants Inc
  • Mark Mariski, Temple University School of Pharmacy
  • Kaitlyn R. Maxwell, Project Performance Corp
  • Rachel McCool, Cambridge University, early modern history
  • Rachel Melnick, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy
  • Jennifer Mihok, United Methodist Church, General Board of Global Ministries
  • Karena Mortimer, Teachers College, Columbia University
  • Elizabeth Mountenay, George Mason University School of Law
  • Caitlin Murphy, ICF International
  • Danielle Newcomer, Shippensburg University, elementary school counseling
  • Amanda O'Connor, Global Consultants Inc
  • Kevin Oreskovich, FactSet Research Systems
  • Melissa Paettie, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
  • Mae Palmer, Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll PLLC
  • Kathryn Peck, Corporate Executive Board
  • Daniel Pedersen, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey School of Osteopathic Medicine
  • Meryl Peterman, Widener University School of Law
  • Laura Rockman, Marymount University
  • Cara Roney, Language Link, Moscow
  • David Rose, IBM
  • Richard Santee, Temple University Beasley School of Law
  • Thomas Shiekman, Devon International, Shanghai, China
  • Tristan Smith, Pace Law School
  • Rachel Sondag, Project Performance Corp
  • Alexander Stout, London School of Economics and Political Science, public policy and administration
  • JoAnna Sullivan, Boston University School of Public Health
  • Jennifer Thompson, University at Buffalo Law School
  • Pablo Thaler, The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at The Johns Hopkins University
  • Matthew Torchia, Banc of America Securities
  • Alexa Vantosky, Teach For America
  • Ashley Vorhees, University of California, Irvine, ecology and evolutionary biology
  • Alison Walkley, U.S. Peace Corps, Malawi
  • Maggie Webster, FactSet Research Systems
  • Laura Wilson, The George Washington University, master's degree in criminal justice
  • Paul Winkler, Teach For America
  • Diana Yau, Ernst & Young LLP
  • Alissa Zawoyski, Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections