After three years of leadership at the University and elsewhere, juniors Philip Kurian and Anthony Vitarelli will advance to professional school $26,000 richer and with one of the most highly coveted undergraduate awards in the country to their names. The students have been designated 2004 Truman Scholars, along with 77 other undergraduates from 67 schools.
The federal government awards Truman Scholarships annually to intelligent, passionate students leaders with a commitment to community service and who want to go to graduate school in preparation for a career in public service. The application process is rigorous and competition is stiff, with colleges nominating only a few applicants every year. Duke nominated four students this year.
Kurian and Vitarelli resume a long-standing Duke tradition of success in earning the scholarships. After nine straight years of two or more winners, the Class of 2003 had no Truman Scholars.
Kurian, a public policy studies and physics major from South Carolina, is a former director of the Center for Race Relations, writes a column on race and other issues for The Chronicle and is a Black Student Alliance representative to the President's Council on Black Affairs.
With his scholarship, he hopes to obtain graduate degrees in law and education and said primary or secondary school teaching and possibly journalism are in his future.
"I am sure this scholarship will open doors wherever I decide to go, as Truman Scholars are working at almost every level of leadership in government, academia, journalism and the non-profit sector," Kurian said. "In addition to financial support for graduate school, the scholarship will (hopefully) help me cling to what little idealism I have left!"
Vitarelli is a New Jersey native with majors in public policy studies and economics. He currently serves as president of Campus Council and co-founded the Duke University Greening Initiative, an organization that seeks to promote environmental sustainability on campus. He said after law school he hopes to return to New Jersey and become district attorney, modeling himself after celebrated New York district attorney Eliot Spitzer.
Vitarelli said he was "blown away" by receiving the award. "When you're competing against a group of students of such high caliber, it's a humbling honor," he said. "It made me very thankful for everyone who had helped me so far."
Associate Professor of the Practice of English Melissa Malouf, who heads Duke's nomination process, said both Kurian and Vitarelli were highly deserving winners.
"I didn't know Anthony until I read his impressive preliminary Truman application," Malouf said. "But when he came into the room for the on-campus interview, I knew that I was in the presence of a future political leader whose integrity and whose sense of right and wrong--in various arenas--was simply breathtaking.
"Prior to the on-campus selection process, I'd met Phil," she continued, "but it was during the process that I learned the specifics of his commitment to education reform at the primary and secondary school level. Phil is the kind of leader who believes in dialogue but is not content with mere talk--he makes things happen."
In addition to $2,000 for senior year and $24,000 for graduate study, Kurian and Vitarelli will also receive priority admission and supplemental financial aid at some top graduate institutions, leadership training, career and graduate school counseling and special internship opportunities within the federal government.
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