Junior wins Truman Scholarship for graduate study

When College junior Philippe Visser received a phone call from Provost Stanley Chodorow last week, his first thought was "What did I do?" But Chodorow had called to congratulate Visser on winning a $30,000 scholarship from the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation. Visser was one of only 70 college students in the country to receive the prize. The scholarship honors college juniors who have demonstrated leadership ability and service to the community, have distinguished themselves in their academics and seek careers in public service. Visser said he plans to use the scholarship to earn graduate degrees in public policy and law, and aspires to a career in government administration. As coordinator of the pre-freshman PennCorps program and the West Philadelphia Improvement Corps, Visser has had many opportunities to work with fellow University students and aid the community. And this summer he will be an intern in Mayor Ed Rendell's Office of Policy and Planning. Another University student, Engineering junior Kenneth Markus, was a finalist in the scholarship competition. Terry Conn, Truman Foundation faculty representative, explained to The Compass last week that the application process for the award is lengthy. "Of the 60 or so [University] students who picked up the application, only 15 actually completed it," Conn said. "[A University] committee screened that number down to three." Nominees were required to submit seven short essays and a policy statement. Visser, a dual major in urban studies and political science, wrote his analysis on the decline of political participation in cities. The Foundation evaluated more than 750 applications and selected 200 finalists to be interviewed by a regional panel of six notable public servants -- including Kitty Dukakis and a U.S. District Court judge. The Truman Scholarship Foundation was established by Congress in 1975 as an official memorial to the 33rd President.

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