Two Whitman Seniors Receive Watson Grants,
To Study Music, Soccer during Overseas Travel

WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Whitman College seniors Daniel Meyers and Haroon Ullah are two of 60 graduating seniors from 49 of America's top liberal arts colleges who have received Thomas J. Watson post-graduate fellowships for the 1999-2000 academic year.

Whitman students have received 10 Watson fellowships in the past four years. No other participating school has received as many fellowships during that time period. Click here for a complete listing of all Whitman students who have received a Watson fellowship since the college began participating in the program in 1971.

Each of this year's Watson recipients receives a $22,000 grant to travel outside the United States while engaging in a year-long independent study project of their own devising.

Meyers, a 1995 graduate of Gonzaga Preparatory School, Spokane, will visit Ireland where he plans to study the country's traditional music first-hand, with a focus on learning to play the complex uillean pipes. He will travel through both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, learning about and comparing the many different regional styles and traditions of Irish piping.

Meyers, an English/music major, has performed with the Whitman Renaissance Consort, a musical group that plays music from the Renaissance era, and the Testostertones, a men's a cappella singing group that he co-founded. In addition to his classical and jazz trombone studies, he has written music for Whitman's Harper Joy Theatre and was musical director for a 1997 production of "The Man of Mode." He also worked last summer as a musician at the Utah Skakespearean Festival. His future plans include graduate work in musicology and professional work as a musicologist and musician.

Ullah, a 1995 graduate of Richland (Wash.) High School, will visit India, Israel, Brazil and Cameroon in pursuit of his project, "With Head, Heart & Spirit: Exploring the Culture of Futbol." He will look at each country's unique perspective on the cultural role of the game. Soccer, says Ullah, functions as a social outlet in India, a social unifier in Israel, a medium for ethnic differentiation and political expression in Cameroon, and a national art form in Brazil. He plans to study soccer's various cultural roles by playing the game with children, participating as a fan and sharing experiences with some of the world's greatest players.

While at Whitman, Ullah, a politics major, has played on the varsity tennis team and directed the Project Learn to Read program in Walla Walla. He has also coached youth soccer in the Tri-Cities and volunteered at St. Mary Medical Center, Walla Walla. He plans to pursue a master's degree in public health, focusing on immunization and child development, which will lead to a career in the public health field.

The Watson fellowship program was founded in 1968 by the children of Thomas J. Watson, founder of IBM, and his wife, Jennette K. Watson, in honor of their parents' long- standing interest in education and world affairs.

The Watson program, which seeks to reward "seriously creative" people, is designed to give recipients the opportunity to explore a particular interest or concern, test their aspirations and abilities, view their lives and American society in greater perspective, and develop a more informed sense of international concerns.

CONTACTS:

Lenel Parish, (509) 527-5156; email: parishlj@whitman.edu

Dave Holden, (509) 527-5902; email: holden@whitman.edu