2007 College alumnus Stephen Danley was one of at least 40 American students to receive the Marshall Scholarship for 2008.
Danley, former co-captain of the men's basketball team, will travel to Oxford next year to earn a Masters of Philosophy in the university's comparative social policy program.
"It's a dream come true to be able to travel and study in a place like Oxford," said Danley, a former columnist for The Daily Pennsylvanian.
Danley said he hopes to do policy assessment, perhaps in the nonprofit sector. He currently works in an interfaith Philadelphia nonprofit group through a program called Philly Fellows, which strives to keep talented college graduates in the Philadelphia area.
CURF director Harriet Joseph described Danley as a modern "renaissance man," citing his abilities to cook, write poetry and ballroom dance.
"I think he is somebody that Penn is going to be proud of one day in the future," she said.
Danley returned the compliment, saying that the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships "went out of their way to make sure that I was prepared from very early on in the process."
Danley had a wide range of
interests at Penn, including writing poetry for the Spoken Word Poetry Project, serving on the leadership council for the Newman Center, the University's Catholic campus ministry and acting as the men's basketball representative to the Student Athletic Advisory Committee.
He also worked in the Office of Strategic Initiative of the White House as a summer intern after his junior year and was nominated by the University for a fellowship through the Center for the Study of the Presidency.
Danley is one of two students to be awarded the Marshall Scholarship this year: Wharton and College senior Joyce Meng, was also awarded a Marshall but declined it in favor of the Rhodes Scholarship, since Rhodes winners cannot accept any other comparable award.
Sixteen Penn students applied for the 2008 Marshall Scholarship. Danley is the fifth Marshall scholar since CURF opened in 2000.
