FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Just weeks after the close of its best academic year to date - during which more than 30 students earned nationally prestigious scholarships and awards - the University of Arkansas will host a first-of-its-kind scholarship conference to help other universities reach their academic best.

"Breaking the Code: Understanding the Truman and Marshall Scholarship Competitions" will be held July 30 through August 1 on the UA campus. The conference is co-sponsored by the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation and the Marshall Aid Commemorative Commission - marking the first time that two such prestigious scholarship organizations have collaborated on an academic conference.

"The Marshall Commission was very interested in reaching out to campuses. Since the Truman Foundation had conducted our convention for a couple of years already, we offered to pull together," said Mary Tolar, associate executive secretary of the Truman Foundation.

Such collaboration is especially appropriate in light of the conference objectives, which Tolar states are two-fold. The first is to offer information about candidate preparation and application that can help students progress in academic competitions. The second is to provide a forum in which campus representatives can share experiences and exchange ideas.

Nearly 160 faculty members and scholarship advisors will attend the conference, representing a broad range of institutions from big universities like Cornell and Columbia to small liberal arts colleges.

During their three-day stay in Arkansas, these participants will attend lectures and seminars regarding such topics as the value of academic competitions, recruiting and advising applicants, writing effective letters of recommendation and securing faculty and institutional support.

Participants will learn the qualities that scholarship committees seek from written applications and personal interviews, and on Sunday, August 1, scholarship officials will stage simulated interviews of a recent Truman Scholar and a recent Marshall Scholar.

Universities that have applied for Truman or Marshall scholarships in the past will have the opportunity to conduct individual review sessions with scholarship representatives - gaining feedback on why their students did not advance through the competition.

In addition to interacting with Truman and Marshall officials, participants will have access to representatives from the Morris Udall Scholarship, the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship and the Barry Goldwater Foundation, among others.

Over the past five years, the University of Arkansas has placed numerous students in each of these competitions - boasting 10 Goldwater Scholars, four Truman Scholars, three Fulbright Scholars, two Udall Scholars and one Marshall Scholar. But academic prowess was only a partial reason for holding the conference in Fayetteville.

After attending the Truman Foundation’s second conference at Villanova University last year, Dr. Suzanne McCray, director of the UA Office of Post-Graduate Fellowships, drafted a proposal for hosting the conference in Arkansas.

"I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to showcase the University of Arkansas’ success while providing key information to other colleges and universities," said McCray.

According to Tolar, the Truman and Marshall foundations felt that the U of A’s central location and its status as a flagship, state institution would exemplify the purpose of the conference.

"We don’t need to worry about the Ivy League - they’re assured success. But there’s something this conference can really offer to state universities and liberal arts colleges," Tolar said. "A lot of students at these institutions don’t consider themselves eligible for these scholarships, and that’s simply not the case."

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For the names and titles of conference facilitators, please refer to the list that accompanies this release. A conference itinerary may be acquired through Dr. Suzanne McCray in the Office of Post-Graduate Fellowships.

Conference Faculty

David Blagbrough, Director, British Council-USA, British Embassy, Washington DC; Member, Ambassador's Advisory Council

Louis H. Blair, Executive Secretary, The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation

Gillian Cooper, Press & Public Affairs Officer, British Consulate-General, Atlanta; Marshall Scholarship Programme Officer, South-Eastern Region

Megan Ceronsky, 1999 Truman Scholar, University of Arkansas

Jane Curlin, writer and consultant. Director of Nationally Competitive Scholarships, University of Tulsa, 1994-1998.

E. Lanny Edwards, 1968 Marshall Scholar; Managing Partner of Lemle & Kellcher, New Orleans; Chair, South-Western Region Marshall Scholarship Selection Committee

Robert Graalman, Director, Scholar Development, Oklahoma State University

Ted Leinbaugh, 1975 Marshall Scholar; Bowman and Gordon Gray Professor of English, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Chair, South-Eastern Region Marshall Scholarship Selection Committee

Helen Mann, Vice Consul (Press & Public Affairs), British Consulate-General, Houston; Marshall Scholarship Programme Officer, South-Western Region

Suzanne McCray, Director, Office of Post-Graduate Fellowships, University of Arkansas

David Nolan, Chair, Truman Finalists Selection Committee; Member, Truman Scholarship Selection Panels; Member, Goldwater Scholarship and Udall Scholarship Selection Committees

Hoyt Purvis, Professor, University of Arkansas; (former Chair) Member, Executive Committee, J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board

Catherine Reive, Assistant Secretary, Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission; Member, various Marshall Scholarship selection committees

Walter Roettger, President, Lyon College, Batesville Arkansas (invited)

Margot Rogers, 1986 Truman Scholar; Member, Truman Finalists Selection Committee; Member, Truman Scholarship Selection Panels

Mary Rosenbaum, Vice President and Senior Economist, Research Department, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta; Member, South-Eastern Region Marshall Scholarship Selection Committee

Warwick Sabin, 1997 Truman Scholar, University of Arkansas; 1998 Marshall Scholar, Oxford University, England

Mary Tolar, Conference Director; 1988 Truman Scholar; 1990 Rhodes Scholar; Former Scholarship Advisor; Associate Executive Secretary, Truman Scholarship Foundation

Nancy Twiss, Special Assistant to the Provost for Scholarships (retired), Kansas State University

Henry Valk, Professor of Theoretical Nuclear Physics, Georgia Tech; former Chair and Member

 

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