Student Honors

Last summer, Tristan A. Nunez ’05 worked with the Hells Canyon Preservation Council in La Grande, researching scientific literature on habitat requirements in the interior Columbia River basin.

“The protection offered to old-growth–associated species is dangerously inadequate, even by current forest service guidelines,” says Nunez, an international affairs major.

Recognizing Nunez’ dedication to the environment, the Morris K. Udall Foundation awarded him a $5,000 scholarship in April. The foundation, which presents 80 undergraduate scholarships annually, is “committed to educating a new generation of Americans to preserve and protect their national heritage through studies related to the environment, Native American health and tribal policy, and effective public policy conflict resolution.”

Nunez, a member of the Dr. Robert B. Pamplin Jr. Society of Fellows and a Dean’s List scholar, is the second Lewis & Clark student to win a Udall Scholarship. He has been involved in numerous activities on campus, including Amnesty Inter-national, Model United Nations, and the International Affairs Symposium. During the 2003-04 academic year, he will serve as chief justice of the College’s student governing body, Associated Students of Lewis & Clark.

“I’m proud to be a Udall scholar,” Nunez says. “My receipt of this award testifies to the strength of Lewis & Clark’s faculty. They have given me a broad, yet deep, perspective on the world.”

USA Today Academic All-Stars

Julian Dautremont-Smith ’03 and Maggie Sullivan ’04 were among 40 winners named to USA Today’s 14th All-USA College Academic Teams in February.

Dautremont-Smith, a Truman scholar who graduated in May with departmental honors in environmental studies, made second team, and Sullivan, a political science major, was named to the third team.

“It feels great to be recognized for my efforts to reduce Lewis & Clark’s contribution to global warming,” says Dautremont-Smith, who led a drive on campus to bring the College into compliance with the Kyoto Protocol.

Sullivan, who plans to be a pediatrician, says her application provided an opportunity to tell judges about her work with Portland-area AIDS organizations and her July 2002 trip to the 14th International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain.

A panel of judges considered applications from nearly 500 students nominated by colleges and universities across the United States. Judges considered grades, leadership, activities and, most importantly, how students extend their intellectual talents beyond the classroom. Second- and third-team members receive a certificate of their achievement.

Undebatable Success

Karissa Dunbar ’03 snagged a spot on the American Forensics Association’s 2002-03 All-American Individual Events Team.

She is one of only 16 students in the nation honored for excellence in intercollegiate public speaking, oral interpretation of literature, and community service.

This season, Dunbar tied for ninth place at the National Parliamentary Debate Association Tournament. She also qualified for the American Forensics Association’s National Individual Events tournament in five different events (interpretation of prose, interpretation of poetry, dramatic interpretation, program of oral interpretation, and duo interpretation).

When not at the podium or studying, Dunbar is an active volunteer. She has developed fund-raisers for United Way and Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, created a program to teach English to refugees from Sierra Leone, and volunteered as a science teacher at James John Elementary School in Portland.

CIEE Student of the Year

Last fall, the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) selected Christie Turner ’03 as the program’s most inspiring student of the year.

Turner, an international affairs major, participated in the CIEE program in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, during the 2001-02 academic year. While there, she worked with MOSCHTA, the Haitian Workers’ Social and Cultural Movement, which serves the Haitian immigrant community in the areas of health services, microcredit programs, human rights, education and literacy, and environmental sanitation. On one project, she recruited numerous national and international sponsors to fund the purchase of uniforms and school supplies for more than 80 primary school students.

Fulbrights Awarded

Two graduating seniors are entering the real world with Fulbright awards to help ease the transition. Julian Dautremont-Smith ’03 was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct a greenhouse gas emissions inventory in Barbados. Anna Bellersen ’04 won a Fulbright Teaching Assistantship to teach English in Bregenz, Austria.

Winning Thesis

Ann Turnbull’s senior honors thesis on Pacific Northwest history packed a punch. Powerful in style and content, a shortened version won best original undergraduate essay in a contest sponsored by the Pacific Center for Northwest Studies at Western Washington University.

Turnbull, who graduated in May with departmental honors in history, wrote “Impossible Amalgamation: The Clash Between White Workers and East Indians in St. Johns, Oregon.”

Coincidentally, Chris Friday ’82, professor of history and department chair at Western Washington University, directs the center.