Ten students have been awarded scholarships by United Academics, the faculty union of the University of Vermont. The recipients, including Vermonters from Waterbury, Springfield, and Chester as well as students from five other states, were recognized for their dedication to social and economic justice as well as academic achievement.
The United Academics 2013 Jeffrey Brace Awards go to UVM students Alex Buckingham, a senior nursing student originally from New York; Tracie Ebalu, a senior psychology major from New York City and Lagos, Nigeria; Jessica Fuller, a sophomore from Hummelstown, Penn., double majoring in economics and history; Chelsea Howland of Springfield, Vt., a sophomore nutrition and food science major; Hang Nguyen of Denver, Col., a senior studying medical laboratory science; Emily Reynolds, a senior biochemistry student from Waterbury, Vt.; Alyssa Solomon, a sophomore from Andover, Mass., majoring in environmental studies; Carina R. Valadez Villasenor, a senior social work major from Modesto, Cal., and Chester, Vt.; and Erik Wallenberg of Burlington, a master’s student in history.
Joanna Kamhi, originally of Essex Junction, Vt., received the second annual Linda Backus Memorial Scholarship. Kamhi is a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania majoring in politics, philosophy and economics with a concentration in distributive justice.
"This year we had an unusually strong group of applicants, so the scholarship committee had hard decisions to make,” said Denise Youngblood, professor of history and chair of the scholarships committee. “It’s gratifying to learn about the social and economic justice activities of so many hard-working, engaged student activists and to be able to recognize some of them with these awards.”