June 06, 2011

Political science students win scholarships, awards

by Andrea Hahn

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Several students majoring in political science at Southern Illinois University Carbondale received scholarships and honors recently as the academic year ended.
Brandon Merrell, Snohomish, Wash., earned one of two Frank L. Klingburg Youth World Scholarships from the Department of Political Science, and he also earned the Lavina Micken Award for Excellence in Debate from the Department of Speech Communication. Merrell was part of the SIUC Debate Team, and one half of the duo that placed third in the nation as determined at the National Parliamentary Debate Association.
Orion A. Poulin, Murphysboro, also earned a Klingberg Scholarship. The Klingberg Scholarship, honoring Professor Emeritus Klingberg, favors political science students who have studied a foreign language at the collegiate level or who have pursued another activity indicating an interest in international affairs.
The Daisy Powell Memorial Scholarship honors the wife of the late Illinois legislator and Secretary of State Paul Powell. The two-part scholarship is given annually to qualified students, one male and one female, Illinois residents, and holding sophomore or junior standing at the time of the scholarship application. This year’s recipients are Megan N. Thompson, Cowden, and Richard D. Reitenbach, Des Plaines.
The H. B. Jacobini Memorial Scholarship honors the late SIUC professor for whom it is named. This year’s recipients are Jonet M. Thomas, Galesburg, and Bradley A. Bauer, Gillespie. Successful applicants for this merit-based scholarship have at least one year of foreign language study and an emphasis on international law, jurisprudence, administrative law, Constitutional law, or judicial process.
Bauer also earned a Majid Abbass Undergraduate Award for Excellence in Political Science. This award is given to the graduating senior with the best academic records. The award honors the late SIUC professor for whom it is named.
A similar award is the Orville Alexander Memorial Award, named for a former chair of the department. This year’s recipient is Clayton M. Black, Brownstown. The award is for the junior with the highest grade point average.
Professor John S. Jackson, along with his wife Nancy, established a scholarship bearing their names for a political science major who is an Illinois resident. The renewable scholarship went to James R. Phoenix, Belvidere.
Lindsay D. VanBrocklin, Bloomington, earned the Kurt Mueller Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship honors Mueller, a former political science student known for his varied interests and independence of thought, who died while a student at SIUC in 2005.
To learn more about the Department of Political Science at SIUC, visit http://politicalscience.siuc/edu.