Photo, click here for a high resolution image of Wallin (828 KB) Photo, click here for a high resolution image of Heaven (880 KB) NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Vanderbilt University juniors Jessica Heaven and Ashley Amber Wallin are among 76 students selected from across the nation as the 2003 Harry S. Truman Scholars. They were chosen on the basis of leadership potential, intellectual ability and likelihood of “making a difference,” and are the first Vanderbilt students to receive the honor in more than a decade.
Heaven, of Huntsville, Ala., is majoring in political science and women’s studies in the College of Arts and Science. Wallin, of Picayune, Miss., is an Ingram Scholar who is majoring in elementary and deaf education at Peabody College.
The scholarship, awarded to college juniors with exceptional leadership potential and a commitment to government or other public service, was established in 1975 as a federal memorial to America’s 33rd president. Each scholarship is valued at $30,000, $3,000 for the senior year and $27,000 for graduate school. The Truman Scholarship Foundation is supported by a special trust fund in the U.S. Treasury.
As associate editor of Orbis, Vanderbilt’s progressive newspaper, Heaven has helped create a forum for discussion of social justice issues, particularly gender equality. "It is a privilege to have Jessica as a student in the College of Arts and Science, said Dean Richard McCarty. “She has enriched our university through her efforts in the classroom and her many leadership roles in extracurricular activities. Her selection as a Truman Scholar is a great honor for her and we applaud her success."
Heaven is a member of both the Women’s Studies Club and Vanderbilt Feminists. Heaven has performed in two campus productions of The Vagina Monologues and also enjoys swing dancing and intramural sports.
“I’ve had a strong interest in women’s rights ever since I was in elementary school, but I never realized until I enrolled in the Women’s Studies Program at Vanderbilt that I could focus my career in the direction of public service and women’s rights,” Heaven said.
“Jessica is passionately devoted to these issues and has made a real difference on campus in the two years she has been here,” said Thomas Schwartz, chair of Vanderbilt’s Truman Scholarship Committee and an associate professor of history.
Wallin is director of Pencil Project, an advocacy program for at-risk children that provides tutoring and mentoring for more than 500 local youth. As an Ingram Scholar, she performs 20 or more hours of community service each month.
"Amber Wallin personifies many of the values we associate with Peabody students, including a commitment to strengthening the social fabric and a belief in the power of education to improve lives,” said Camilla Benbow, dean of Peabody College. “She is highly deserving of this honor."
Wallin serves as a Junior Achievement Ambassador, and her community service has taken her to Nashville housing projects, orphanages on the Cherokee Reservation and a language school in Bilbao, Spain.
“Amber is an extraordinary example of the public service promoted by the Ingram Scholars Program, although she herself is also a role model for the students in that program,” Schwartz said.
After graduation Wallin will pursue graduate study in educational administration because she has a keen interest in the role of education in reducing poverty and providing opportunities for students to improve themselves. This summer her plans include traveling to Capetown, South Africa, to work in both an orphanage for children of AIDS-infected parents as well as an animal sanctuary.
“My family taught me the importance of giving back to my community, and we have several generations of teachers, dating back to my great-grandfather,” Wallin said.
Wallin and Heaven were chosen from among 635 candidates nominated by 305 colleges and universities. Truman Scholars receive priority admission and supplemental financial aid at outstanding graduate institutions, leadership training, career and graduate school counseling and special internship opportunities within the federal government.
All 76 Truman Scholarship recipients will gather on May 18 for a weeklong leadership development program at William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo. The week will culminate with the distribution of the scholarship awards in a ceremony at the Truman Library in Liberty, Mo., on May 25, 2003.
Media contact: Ann Marie Owens, 615-322-NEWS, annmarie.owens@vanderbilt.edu