18 students receive International Studies awards

Eighteen Purdue University Calumet students have received $1,000 Global Education Awards to study abroad.

Recipients will study English culture in England, the hospitality and tourism industry in Jamaica, Chinese culture and philosophy in China, culture and language in Spain and France, and engineering in Australia. Most of the awards will be used for one to three weeks of study this summer.

The recipients, including their hometown and major are listed by the nations in which they will be studying:

Australia: Ian Ferguson, Highland, marketing/communication.
China: Abby Cole, Whiting, biology; and Jonathan Ramsey, Dolton, Ill., management information systems.
England: Holly Kincaid, Griffith, English; Lora Mendenhall, Crown Point, marketing; Jane C. Powers, Crown Point, marketing; and Megan Staninger, Highland, sociology.
France: Ryan J. Longfellow, Cedar Lake, biology; Angela Mesman, Schererville, history; Lauren Segal, Dyer, nursing/French;
Jamaica: Yvonne Bisbee, Griffith, hospitality and tourism management; and Andrew Lawrence, Dyer, hospitality and tourism management.
Spain: Joe Hayes, Cedar Lake, English; Meidan Niu, Hammond, accounting; Anthony Pallot, St. John, management information systems; Todd M. Reed, Lowell, English; Alison Schnoor, Griffith, nursing/Spanish communication; and Megan Varney, Hammond, English teaching/Spanish.

To qualify for the awards, students must have a minimum grade point average of 3.0 (4.0 scale) and be enrolled as a full-time student. Applicants also submitted an essay about “what an international education means to me,” according to Kathleen Tobin, head of International Programs at Purdue Calumet. The university’s Global Education Grant Review Committee selected the recipients.

Tobin said the recipients will benefit from the awards by being able to see the world from another perspective, while learning about other cultures. She added that a growing number of employers find prospective employees with study abroad experience appealing. The experience, she said, “helps [students] build confidence” and gives them the “ability to adapt outside of their comfort zone.”

News Release Date: April 7, 2008