Topics: Scholarships, Athletics, College of Sciences and Humanities, Teachers College, Honors College, College of Architecture and Planning

August 19, 2013

During the 2012-13 academic year, 14 Ball State University students and recent alumni won 16 major national scholarships and/or fellowships. Recipients and their awards include:

  • Joel “Eric” Erickson, recipient of a Critical Language Scholarship, which covered his costs for a two-month long visit to Turkey for intensive beginner-level Turkish. The scholarship is sponsored by the U.S. State Department and promotes the study of languages considered critical to U.S. security. Erickson is a graduate student studying TESOL and linguistics.
  • Skylar Chew and Tommy Rouse, recipients of the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, a $7,500 postgraduate scholarship awarded to athletes in their last year of participating in an NCAA sport who have excelled in and out of the classroom. Chew was a women's soccer player who graduated in December 2012 and is pursuing graduate work in counseling and/or health care. Rouse was a men's volleyball player who graduated from the Honors College in May and is studying dentistry at the Indiana University School of Dentistry. Chew also received the recently awarded Bob James Memorial Award, a $5,000 postgraduate scholarship awarded to one female and one male student-athlete in the Mid-American Conference.
  • Sarah Fischer, recipient of the UK Fulbright Summer Institute Scholarship, which afforded her studies in a specialized creative arts program at Nottingham Trent University in the United Kingdom. A sophomore in the Honors College, Fischer is double majoring in art and wildlife biology and plans to be a nature illustrator. Previously announced Fulbright Scholarship recipients include Carly Bacurin, Abby Savage and Cynthia Smith (read more).
  • Four recipients of the Gilman Scholarship, a federally funded program that provides up to $5,000 to U.S. undergraduates pursuing academic studies abroad. Now entering their senior years, these students applied their scholarship money toward the following spring 2013 semester study abroad experiences:
  • Kourtney Dillavou — A landscape architecture major in the Honors College, who visited Brazil for the U.S.-Brazil Sustainability Consortium at Pontifícia Universidade do Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre and interned with the Iracambi Rainforest Preserve.
  • Chidochashe “Chido” Moyo — An urban planning and development major who visited India and Nepal for a 10-week field study program with CAP Asia. (CAP stands for College of Architecture and Planning.)
  • Kayla Sprayue — A telecommunications major who participated in Ball State’s London Centre, where she studied art history, theater, British life and culture, and global diversity.
  • Kevin Williams — A natural resources and environmental management major who participated in Ball State’s Costa Rica Center, where he studied environmental and conservation topics at the Tirimbina Biological Reserve. Williams also received a prestigious Udall Scholarship during the 2012-13 academic year. (Read more about Williams’ receiving the Udall.)

Kacie Shourd and Amy “Aj” Wardle, first-ever recipients from Ball State of the Hollings Scholarship, which is awarded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to sophomores pursuing careers in oceanic and atmospheric science. The scholarship awards $8,000 per year during recipients’ junior and senior years, as well as a paid 10-week summer internship at a NOAA facility. Both Shourd and Wardle are Honors College students majoring in meteorology and the two serve as co-directors of the university's storm chasing team.

Laura Gilbert, recipient of the Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship, a $5,000 award to support her graduate studies in classical reception at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. The honor society awards the fellowship to 51 of its members who are entering their first year of postgraduate study. Gilbert graduated from the Honors College in July 2012 as a Medallion Scholar, having created her own major in the classical tradition.