University of Arkansas Press Publishes Book on Nationally Competitive Academic Awards

Photo Submitted

Book cover for Leading the Way

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – In association with the National Association for Fellowships Advisors, the University of Arkansas Press has just published Leading the Way: Student Engagement and Nationally Competitive Awards, edited by Suzanne McCray (paperback $19.95).

Universities and colleges across the country are creating offices to support students as they apply for nationally competitive awards. The competition is fierce. Each year more than 1,200 applicants compete for 32 Rhodes Scholarships and an equal number compete for 40 Marshall Scholarships. Thousands more apply for awards from Gates, Mitchell, Truman, Goldwater, Udall, Fulbright, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, Jack Kent Cooke, and other prestigious foundations.

Leading the Way helps prepare students and institutions to negotiate the complexities of the application process. Eleven essays address various aspects of this process: building an office, engaging students in research, connecting them to internships and other special opportunities, embracing diversity, defining leadership, involving faculty, and preparing for an interview. There are also realistic assessments of the odds of winning a scholarship. Three of the essays are by directors or presidents of the Ron Brown Scholar Program, the Senator George J. Mitchell Scholarship Research Institute and the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation.

The essays are a result of the National Association of Fellowships Advisors conference, NAFA in Washington: Scholarships in a National Context, held in Washington, D.C., in July of 2007. The collection is a valuable resource for faculty, advisors and administrators who want to provide opportunities for student engagement and to use the process to help shape tomorrow’s leaders. The book also includes two appendices: “NAFA Foundation and Institutional Membership” and “Competitive Scholarships, Opportunities, Internships, and Programs at a Glance.”

Mary C. Denyer, of the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission, describes the book as a “must read for fellowship advisors old and new. Leading the Way shares valuable insights into what sometimes seems to be the mysterious world of foundations, fellowships and advising.” And Louis Blair, executive secretary emeritus of the Truman Scholarship Foundation, “enthusiastically” recommends the book “to anyone in the world of nationally competitive scholarships. [It] provides helpful information on undergraduate research and study abroad opportunities, the competitive interview process, how foundations view leadership and more.”

Suzanne McCray is vice provost of enrollment and director of the Office of Nationally Competitive Awards at the University of Arkansas. She is the editor of two previous books on this topic: Beyond Winning and Nationally Competitive Scholarships, both published by the University of Arkansas Press.