Thomas J. Watson Foundation
Fellowship Program
Whitman College Recipients
Whitman College resumed its participation in the Thomas J. Watson
Foundation
Fellowship Program during the 1995-96 academic year. Since then, a total of 16 Whitman
students have received
fellowships to finance post-graduate study/travel projects in various
parts of the world.
Whitman College also participated in the Watson Program from 1971 through 1981, when
a total of 15 Whitman students
received fellowships. Here is a listing of all
Whitman recipients and information about their study projects:
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2004 -- Sarahlee Lawrence, a sociology and environmental studies major at Whitman, and a
graduate of
Redmond (Ore.) High School.
Lawrence is studying efforts to preserve what remains of the world's "wild" rivers, those not altered
by dams, channeling and pollution. She is rafting several rivers in Siberia, Zambia, Chile and Peru.
More information . . .
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2003 -- Rachel Smith, a bioethics major at Whitman, and a graduate of
Everett (Wash.) High School.
Smith studied the effects of wildland fire on ecosystems in South Africa, Ghana, Australia, New Zealand, Costa
Rica, France and the United Kingdom, searching for fire management systems that are both integrated into the ecosystem
that it protects and has long-term viability.
More information . . .
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2003 -- Scott Whinfrey, a history major at Whitman, and a graduate of
Mira Costa High
School, Manhattan Beach, Calif.
Whinfrey spent his year working and living alongside cowboys in Mexico and Australia, hoping to ascertain a
sense of the modern cowboy's identity and pride in a rapidly urbanizing world.
More information . . .
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2002 -- Toby Campbell, a sociology major at Whitman, and a graduate of
Beaverton (Ore.) High School.
Campbell studied musical communities in Argentina, Ireland and the Netherlands.
More information . . .
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2001 -- Taha Ebrahimi, an English major at Whitman, and a graduate of
University Preparatory
School, Seattle, Wash.
Ebrahimi, the first member of her immediate family to be born outside Iran, traveled to Iranian Sufi communities
in the Netherlands, England, France, Spain, Australia and countries along Africa's Ivory Coast, collecting the stories
of Iranian women. She also planned to join an Iranian pilgrimage to Mecca, the epicenter for all Muslim faith.
More information . . .
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2000 -- Erin Beery, a sociology major at Whitman, and a graduate of
Franklin High School, Seattle, Wash.
Beery traveled through Ghana,
Senegal, Malaysia, Thailand and Bali to study the ways in which dance reflects
the role and
growth of women in society.
More information . . .
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1999 -- Haroon Ullah, a politics major at Whitman, and a graduate of
Richland High
School, Richland, Wash.
Ullah visited India, Israel, Brazil
and Cameroon to study each country's unique perspective on the cultural
role of soccer.
Depending on the country, soccer functions as a social outlet, social unifier, medium for
ethnic
differentiation and political expression, and art form.
More information . . .
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1999 -- Daniel Meyers, a music/English major at Whitman, and a graduate
of
Gonzaga Preparatory School, Spokane, Wash.
Meyers visited the
Republic of Ireland and Northern
Ireland to study traditional Irish music, focusing on
learning to play the complex uillean pipes.
More information . . .
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1998 -- Jill Winder, a politics major at Whitman, and a graduate of
Murray High
School, Murray, Utah. Winder visited the Eastern European
cities of Berlin, Prague, Bratislava and
Krakow as part of a study she titled "Avant-garde
Renaissance: Eastern European Art and Political Culture."
More information . . .
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1997 -- David Sprunger, an Asian studies and art major at Whitman, and a
graduate of Cleveland High
School, Portland, Oregon. Sprunger traveled
through Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam and Italy to study
what he called "noodle
cultures." More
information . . .
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1997 -- Amanda Walker, a theatre and English major at Whitman, and a graduate
of Walla Walla High School, Walla Walla, Wash. Walker spent the
1997-98 academic year in England,
Germany and Austria while studying the art and
techniques of theatrical combat.
More
information . . .
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1997 -- Kinoka Onnah Ogsbury, an English major at
Whitman, and a
graduate of Boulder High School, Boulder, Colorado. Ogsbury traveled
through Guatamala,
Indonesia, Laos, Thailand and Bhutan during the 1997-98 academic year
to study weaving as a form of cross-cultural
communication. More information . . .
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1996 -- Jon Lambert,
a philosophy major at Whitman, and a graduate of
Columbia River High School, Vancouver, Wash. Lambert
studied the ancient
rituals and art of the tea ceremony in Japan.
More information . . .
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1996 -- Chris DeBenedetti, an English major at Whitman, and a
graduate of
Oregon Episcopal School, Portland, Oregon. DeBenedetti trekked from
Europe to West Africa to
study ancient, traditional methods of brewing beer in small
communities.
More
information . . .
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1996 -- Jayson Jones, a music and
anthropology major at Whitman, and a
graduate of Roseburg High School, Roseburg, Oregon. Jones
studied
classical music in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka in his search for ways to breathe new life into
American jazz
music. More
information . . .
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1996 -- Katherine Deumling, a politics major at Whitman, and a graduate of
Western
Mennonite School, Salem, Oregon. Deumling traveled from Italy to
Mexico to study the role food plays in
the social, cultural, political and religious aspects of
day-to-day life in the small communities of developing
nations. More
information . . .
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1981 -- Markus E. Ursin, a psychology major at Whitman, and a graduate of
Benson High School, Portland, Oregon. Ursin, a native of Austria, studied
tile stone masonry in Austria and West Germany by working with master craftsmen.
1980 -- C. Grady Walker, a biology/geology major at Whitman, and a
graduate of East High School, Salt Lake City, Utah. Walker studied
Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, first by studying his letters, papers and
personal library in England, and then by following Darwin's course of travel through Chile,
Peru, Argentina and Ecuador.
1979 -- Charles E. Alexander, a biology/geology major at Whitman, and a
graduate of Kennett High School, North Conway, New Hampshire.
Alexander split his time between Canada, Scotland and England, researching early
explorers of the Mackenzie River, a 1,120-mile river that flows from Great Slave Lake in
Canada's Northwest Territories to the Arctic Ocean. As part of his project, Alexander traveled
the river by canoe.
1978 -- Susan K. Wierenga, a biology major at Whitman, and a graduate of
Newport High School, Bellevue, Wash. Wierenga divided her time between
West Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, England and the Netherlands while studying the
practice of falconry and its relation to wildlife research and legislation.
1978 -- Patricia Jorgensen Troxel, an English/history major at
Whitman, and a graduate of Sunset High School, Beaverton, Oregon. Troxel
traveled throughout Europe and the Middles East to study the cultural and artistic heritage of
the medieval religious pilgrammage routes and shrines.
1977 -- Robert D. Winkler, an economics major at Whitman, and a graduate
of San Leandro (Calif.) High School. Winkler traveled to Switzerland, Germany and
the United Kingdom to study "The Craft and Tradition of Watchmaking."
1977 -- Andrew R. Dappen, an economics major at Whitman, and a
graduate of Oregon Episcopal Schools, Portland, Oregon. Dappen studied
"The Educational and Therapeutic Applications of Outdoor Recreation" in the United
Kingdom, Holland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Sweden and Norway.
1976 -- Roberta S. Podbielancik-Norman an English major at Whitman, and
a graduate of Forrest Ridge-Sacred Heart, Bellevue, Wash.
Podbielancik-Norman studied zoological garden design in the United
Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands.
1976 -- Mark E. Ralston, a biology/foreign languages & literatures (German)
major at Whitman, and a graduate of Mercer Island (Wash.) High School. Ralston
conducted biological field studies in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and
Scandinavia.
1975 -- Gordon P. Rubard, an environmental studies/economics major at
Whitman, and a graduate of Marina High School, San Leandro, Calif. Rubard
traveled to Scotland, Norway and Australia to study the ecological, sociological and economic
impacts of oil drilling and the ways in which such development changes the lives of people
living in those areas. A key part of his project involved documenting his research with
photographs.
1974 -- Betty J. Eidemiller, a biology major at Whitman, and a graduate of
Homedale (Idaho) High School. Eidemiller conducted a study of adaptive
convergence in Australian marsupials and East African placental mammals.
1972 -- Wayne R. Tilson, a biology major at Whitman, and a graduate of
Bellevue (Wash.) High School. Tilson traveled to England and Scandinavia to
examine medical care and education for children, with special emphasis on programs for
retarded children.
1972 -- Clifford H. Brown, an economics major at Whitman, and a graduate
of Pasco (Wash.) High School. Brown traveled to Chile and wrote a paper on the
rise and fall of then president Salvadore Allende, accurately predicting the unrest that resulted
in Allende's downfall in late 1973.
1971 -- Cleve Larson, an English major at Whitman, and a graduate of
Sunset High School, Beaverton, Oregon. Larson traveled to Great Britain to
compare and contrast contemporary English folklore with earlier folklore from the Elizabethan
period.
1971 -- Michael W. Johnson-Sonnleitner, a politics major at Whitman, and a
graduate of Highline High School, Seattle, Wash. Johnson-Sonnleitner visited
India to study the concepts and methods of nonviolent civil disobedience popularized by
Mohandas Gandhi during India's successful struggle for independence from England.
Ironically, while he was in India, hostilities erupted between India and Pakistan over
Bangladesh. He also visited South Africa, where government repression remained in full
force, and the island of Sicily, where a follower of Gandhi's teachings was opposing the
Mafia in his efforts to help the poor.