[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Fellowships

With two seniors named 2003-04 Thomas J. Watson Foundation Fellows, Colby's Watson streak remains unbroken since entering the program in 1970-71. Dan Chiacos '03 of Santa Barbara, Calif., and Kelly Miller '03 of Old Town, Maine, each received $22,000 to combine international travel and independent study in 2003-04. Miller, a government and Latin American studies double major, proposed research on 'Persuasive Pentecostalism' in Brazil. Chiacos, a Latin American and international studies double major with a music minor, was planning to visit Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, "Discovering the Soul of Charango in Latin American Folk Music." Chiacos and Miller bring to 55 the number of Colby graduates who have earned Watson fellowships over the past 33 years. More than 1,000 graduating college seniors applied this year, with only 48 fellowships granted.

Colby has had at least one Watson Fellow each year for the past 32 years, thanks in part to a faculty committee that helps match qualified students with prestigious programs like the Watson, Fulbrights, and Rhodes Scholarships. Colby's most recent Rhodes Scholar was Will Polkinghorn '99, who spent two years at Oxford University before enrolling at Harvard Medical School.

This year Jonathan Silberstein-Loeb '03 of Port Chester, N.Y. Silberstein-Loeb accepted a Fulbright Scholarship for next year to study the status of American journalists in Japan. A Phi Beta Kappa history major with a minor in Japanese who also was editor-in-chief of the Echo, Silberstein-Loeb proposed an examination of Americansí access to Japanese press clubs and recent reductions in the ranks of American correspondents covering Japan. Last year only one in five Fulbright candidates nationwide received a scholarship.