Some students expressed concern this week that university officials had not been clear about changes made to the newly-announced Global Scholars Initiative and its predecessor, the Presidential Scholarship.
Details for the Global Scholars Initiative were announced last week, but information that the program was a retooling of the Presidential Scholarship, which gives full tuition to eigth to ten selected juniors and seniors, was not made clear, according to some students.
“I shouldn’t need to hear about this from friends and colleagues. I shouldn’t have to hear about this on Facebook,” said Robert Uvanovic, a senior recipient of the Presidential Scholarship. “This is a big thing, and [the university] should make it a big thing.”
According to the initiatives web site, students are required to “have participated in an international experience, and have contributed strong leadership to that experience(s) and demonstrate an understanding of the relevance and importance of their global and/or cultural experience to their educational pursuit, personal development and professional goals.”
In an interview with The News last week, Vice President for Marketing and Communications Mike Armini said the Presidential Scholarship, which in years past had provided full tuition for the junior and senior year of 8 to 10 students, would be “refined.” The scholarship, now called the Presidential Global Scholar Initiative, will give funding for approximately 200 students on international co-op.
Armini insisted that, while the scholarships have different purposes but the same source of funding, the Global Scholar Initiative was not replacing the Presidential Scholarship. He likened the change to the a newspaper’s production schedule.
“If the Huntington News decides to become a daily paper, it doesn’t mean it’s a new newspaper, it’s just a change in emphasis,” he said.
In an interview with The News last week, Armini said that the scholarship now has two levels, the Presidential Global Scholars and the Presidential Global Fellows. Students considered Presidential Global Scholars would receive up to $6,000, and Presidential Global Fellows would receive around $10,000.
However, this week the Global Fellows program had changed.
According to the President’s website, the Presidential Global Fellows are now offered “up to a full tuition scholarship for the remainder of their undergraduate degree.” The award given to Global Scholars remains the same.
The Office of Student Financial Services has been reviewing the initiative for the past few weeks and have decided that the school can afford to give full tuition scholarships to the Global Fellows, Armini said.
The Office of Student Financial Services declined to comment on the subject.
Students being considered for the Global Fellows are expected to demonstrate strong global experience.
Susan Dye, a fifth-year student in the six year pharmacy program and a recipient of the Presidential Scholarship, said she would not qualify for the Presidential Global Scholars Initiative because global experience does not fit well with her major.
“For pharmacy majors it doesn’t make sense to go abroad,” she said. “We need to learn how to be health care practitioners in the United States where American rules apply, American standards, American drugs.”
Kirsten Ripple, another senior recipient of the Presidential Scholarship and a physical therapy major, echoed Dye’s concern.
“A lot of the health majors can’t do much overseas because the rules are different,” she said. “Each country’s definition of a physical therapist is different. It would be terrible if people can’t get the scholarship because their major doesn’t allow for that kind of opportunity”
“The Global Fellows does offer some reward to those who have worked so hard to be the crème of the crop the way the Presidential Scholarship did, but it lets some students fall through the cracks,” Dye said.
–News Correspondent Laura Mueller-Soppart contributed to this report.
Scholarships redefined at NU
Published: Thursday, November 12, 2009
Updated: Thursday, November 12, 2009
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