The applications were impressive; the selection process, rigorous. And now the names are in.
Union’s finalists for the 2007 Watson Fellowships, with their proposed travel-study topics, are:
Adeyemi Adenrele: “Hip Hop and Political Expression”; Charles Holiday: “Beating My Inner Demons in Rare Form”; Doris L “A Transatlantic Influence: Following the Spanish Guitar through Time and Space”; and Mandeep Moondi: “The Dance of Life: A Journey through the Human Experience.”
The four will spend the next few weeks polishing their applications and essays before being interviewed by the Thomas J. Watson Foundation, said Maggie Tongue, director of Postgraduate Fellowships.
Some 200 graduating seniors apply each year to the Watson Foundation, which awards approximately 50 fellowships of $25,000 each for a year-long project abroad.
“Union is fortunate to participate in this prestigious program,” said Tongue, noting that only 50 select private liberal arts colleges and universities may submit finalists. Last year’s winner, Noah Eber-Schmid, became Union’s 45th Watson Fellow with a project on punk culture that generated national news.
The College’s successful Watson track record requires continued support from faculty, administrators and staff, Tongue said. “Year after year, students tell us that they applied because someone they respect took them aside and said, ‘Have you thought about the Watson?’”
In addition to Tongue, the campus committee consists of Chair Davide Cervone, Mathematics; Christina Tonneson-Friedman, Mathematics; Presha Neidermeyer, School of Management, Union Graduate College; John Zumbrunnen, Political Science; and Bill Wolff ’94.
While Union’s top candidates await a final decision, Tongue is already thinking ahead. She asks faculty to “encourage your passionate and creative freshmen, sophomore and junior students to consider the Watson.”
Meanwhile, Watson fellow Adam Grode ’05 returns to campus Tuesday, Oct. 24 at 7:30 p.m. as the Perspectives at the Nott speaker. Grode studied the long-necked lute in his travels throughout Central Asia.
The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship Program was created in 1968 by the children of Thomas J. Watson Sr., the founder of IBM Corporation, and his wife, Jeannette K. Watson.
The four Watson finalists will receive word in March about whether they were chosen. Here, a more detailed look at their proposals:
Adeyemi Adenrele, Political Science major from Ann Arbor, Mich.,“Hip Hop and Political Expression”:
Adenrele’s project deals with the ways in which hip-hop music affects the political processes around the world. She plans to travel to France, Senegal and South Africa, countries where politics has had a strong effect on the genre. “I intend to discover the ways in which hip-hop reflects the voice of the masses of political neglected peoples and how it will involve itself with the political process in the future.”
Charles Holiday, Performing Arts major, Brooklyn, N.Y., “Beating My Inner Demons in Rare Form”:
Holiday will explore the origins and legacy of Afro-Arabic, Indian and Japanese percussion in Tanzania, India and Japan, respectively, through study of an assortment of membranaphones or skin drums. “While taking the local social customs and religion into account, I will discover the ways in which percussion creates a trance-like and transient hypnotic state of mind. Overall, I will learn how to create a musical experience that transcends the physical body. At the beginning of each adventure, I will start with a backpack, a listening ear and eager palms.”
Doris Lo, Classics and Environmental Studies double major, Brooklyn, N.Y., “A Transatlantic Influence: Following the Spanish Guitar through Time and Space”: Lo proposes to follow the Spanish guitar through its early beginnings in Europe and then travel to South America and North America. “I hope to develop musicianship to understand the development of the guitar over time and to experience the interconnectivity of cultures through music guitar compositions influence by folk music.”
Mandeep Moondi, English major, Bramalea, Ontario, “The Dance of Life: A Journey through the Human Experience”: With proposed study in Bali, New Zealand, Japan, Czech Republic and Tahiti, Moondi will focus on how the fundamental human experience has remained the same through time and across cultures. “I’d like this project to culminate in a performance that emphasizes the importance of dance to the human species.”