LAS Student International Excellence Award
Recipients
Purpose: To recognize outstanding students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences who have excelled in internationally-focused academic or extra-curricular activities.
Eligibility: Any undergraduate or graduate student enrolled in an academic program in the college of Liberal Arts and Sciences who has participated successfully in one or more international academic or extracurricular programs.
Criteria: Demonstration of significant involvement in the international activities of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which may include participation in study abroad, engagement in an international internship, collaborative international research, success in international teaching and learning, service, and/or extracurricular activities.
Nomination Template
2008
Carrie Carlson
Anthropology & German
Last academic year, Carrie Carlson combined her academic interests of anthropology and German while studying at the Rheinische-Friedrich-Wilhelms Universitat in Bonn, Germany. That experience is funded through a one-year DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Undergraduate scholarships. While she was in Germany Carlson volunteered for three weeks at archaeological excavations near Titz, Germany. She also attended the International Congress ‘150 Years of Neanderthal Discoveries' for anthropology/paleoanthropology. Her time in Europe also included participation in a seminar on the German occupation of Poland during World War II and its impact on contemporary political relations with an excursion to Warsaw. While at Iowa State, Carlson has also served as a research assistant for German professors James Dow and Kevin Amidon.
2008
Jessica Maves
Political Science & International Studies
Jessica Maves' international experiences while a student at Iowa State have been varied. She has traveled to China with the Iowa State Singers, participated in the LAS study abroad program in Florence, Italy, and Belize, and has studied Arabic in Egypt. But it has been her research of local elections that has taken her to such countries as Iceland, the United Arab Emirates, Taiwan, Japan and Turkey. She has also served as a teaching assistant for political science professor Steffen Schmidt and a part-time project assistant for the LAS International Programs.
2008
Kim Rogers
MFA student in Creative Writing and the Environment
Kim Rogers has been described by the Department of English as a "star" in that department's MFA in Creative Writing and Environment Program. She has made four trips to Zimbabwe over the past 10 years. As part of her internship requirement for her degree, Rogers journeyed back to Zimbabwe last fall. There she volunteered in the village of Kufunda, teaching poetry, nonfiction and business writing. She also conducted research for a memoir she is writing about her experiences in Africa. That book uses the trip as a framework for Rogers to reflect on the changes she has seen in Zimbabwe over the decade she has visited, and on the changes the country has worked in her. The memoir project has been described as a "stellar meditation on the human condition through the lens of her observations in Zimbabwe."
2007
Karin Brandt
Political Science & International Studies
Karin Brandt, a senior political science and international studies major, has received the LAS Student International Excellence Award. While a student at Iowa State, Brandt has served as an undergraduate research assistant for the Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods in Uganda, researching refugee and forced migration issues in northern Uganda and Burma. She has also been an intern on literacy development in northern region of Ghana after completing a study abroad program at the University of Ghana in Accra in the spring of 2006.
2007
Cilia Maria Ruiz-Paz
Psychology & International Studies
Cilia Maria Ruiz-Paz, a junior psychology and international studies major, has received the LAS Student International Excellence Award. Ruiz-Paz has participated in a student exchange program with Rotary International to France and has been accepted into the fall 2007 undergraduate program for Semester at Sea. She serves on a number of student organizations including as president of the Asociacion de Latinoamericanos, and the Latino Heritage Month Committee. She has also served as a member of Iowa State's President's Advisory Committee on Diversity.
2006
Elizabeth Rock
Political Science & International Studies
A double major in political science and international studies with a minor in Spanish, Elizabeth Rock has studied abroad in Spain and Belize while at Iowa State. She was also enrolled in the first Arabic course offered on campus, has participated in the Model United Nations student group and served as an intern for the Iowa Council for International Understanding. She plans to attend graduate school to study international relations.
