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Amanda Pisetzner ’10 and Katie Reeves ’10 are finalists in the 2009 Harry S. Truman Scholarship competition.
Truman Scholarships recognize students with exceptional leadership potential who are committed to careers in government, the nonprofit or advocacy sectors, education, or elsewhere in the public service. The scholarships provide up to $30,000 in funding to pursue graduate degrees in public service fields along with leadership training.
Pisetzner is pursuing two majors, English and a self-created, interdisciplinary major called equality and social justice. Among other accomplishments, she studied health and education needs of single mothers as an EXCEL research assistant with Debbie Byrd, associate professor of English and chair of women’s and gender studies, and presented her research at the international conference of the Association for Research on Mothering. A past president of Student Government, she also served on the committee that organized this year’s Lafayette Leadership Institute, at which accomplished alumni shared their insights and expertise with more than 200 student leaders on campus.
Reeves also has two majors, economics & business and a self-created major in bioenvironmental science. She’s leading the work Lafayette students are doing with the citizens of the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans and others to facilitate L9W’s ambitions for redevelopment, including building a green economy and enhancing social capital. She is manager of the College’s Economic Empowerment and Global Learning Project in New Orleans, which received funding from the Clinton Global Initiative and was saluted by President Clinton. She’s working under the direction of Fluney Hutchinson, associate professor of economics, and David Veshosky, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering.
Pisetzner, of Puyallup, Wash., is scheduled to be interviewed by a regional Truman selection panel in Seattle March 4. Reeves, of Colorado Springs, Colo., is slated for an interview in Denver March 3. This year 176 finalists, representing 127 institutions, were selected. The scholarship recipients will be announced March 26.