Marc Gersen (SFS ’04) and Meena Kannan (SFS ’03) recently won $30,000 scholarships to pursue graduate study in international economics and international law, respectively.
Gersen, an international economics major, was awarded $32,000 for graduate school from the Beinecke Brothers Memorial Scholarship Program. The program, founded in 1971, was established to support graduate study in the arts, humanities and social sciences. Gersen, a native of Sarasota, Fla., will use the scholarship to enroll in a Ph.D program in economics. He is also a teaching assistant and research assistant in the Department of Economics and a member of the Philodemic Debate Society and Delta Phi Epsilon Professional Foreign Service Fraternity. Gersen has worked for the National Center for Policy Analysis and published op-ed articles in various newspapers nationwide.
Kannan, a native of Mobile, Ala., will receive $30,000 from the Truman Scholarship Foundation. She will pursue graduate study in public international law and international humanitarian law after receiving a bachelor’s degree in International Politics and a certificate in Justice and Peace Studies from Georgetown. Kannan is writing her thesis on the moral and legal aspects of humanitarian intervention. She has volunteered with non-governmental organizations dealing with issues such as refugee protection and prostitution in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
Kannan was selected as a Truman Scholar based on leadership potential, intellectual ability and her desire to attend graduate school in preparation for a career in government or public service. In 1975, the United States Congress established the Truman Scholarship Foundation in honor of President Harry Truman. The scholarship is being awarded to a select group of 76 students chosen from an applicant pool of 635 individuals.
“The university is proud to congratulate them both on these distinctive honors and looks forward to their continued success, study and service in their respective communities,” School of Foreign Service Dean Robert Gallucci said in an April 22 press release.
