Eighteen undergraduates and one graduate student from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have been selected as Phillips Ambassadors for 2011 study abroad programs in Asia. They will study in China, Japan, Singapore and Vietnam.
UNC’s Phillips Ambassadors program includes a three-credit academic course that puts the experience in global context and challenges students to share their experiences of Asia upon their return.
Phillips Ambassadors receive up to $7,500 each for a semester or year-long program and up to $5,000 each for a summer program. Dates for their trips vary. Recipients are selected for academic achievement and commitment to activities, service and leadership roles in the classroom and community.
This year the first Phillips Ambassadors Outreach Award was granted to an alumnus of the program, Wyatt Bruton of Raleigh, a May graduate in journalism and mass communication with an entrepreneurship minor.
The award of $500 recognizes exemplary creativity and effort in sharing his or her study abroad experience in Asia with the Carolina community and the student’s hometown, or helping to educate others about a particular region, issue or idea associated with Asia.
In summer 2009, Bruton interned in Beijing with EASTWEST Public Relations. The experience complemented the public relations emphasis in his major as well as his minor. While there, Bruton volunteered at a school for migrant workers’ children.
Since the Phillips Ambassadors program began in 2007, it has sent 133 undergraduates to Asia, including this cohort. Recipients are chosen twice each year, with 25 percent of the scholarships reserved for qualified undergraduate business majors and minors from Kenan-Flagler Business School. The ambassadors choose from more than 50 UNC-approved academic programs in Asia that are offered by the College of Arts and Sciences and Kenan-Flagler.
The program emphasizes what is called “Give Back,” having the ambassadors sharing their study abroad experiences with the Carolina community and their hometowns. In accepting the scholarship, a student agrees to submit an article about his or her studies in Asia to a campus or hometown publication. Students also give outreach presentations about their experiences at a school in their hometown and North Carolina schools.
Earl N. “Phil” Phillips Jr., who graduated from UNC with a business administration degree 1962, established an endowment to support the program to generate greater interest in Asia among UNC undergraduates. Phillips has worked and traveled in Asia for more than 20 years and is a former U.S. ambassador to the eastern Caribbean.
“Our goal with this gift has been to encourage more students to spend their study abroad experiences focused on Asia – an increasingly vital region of the future,” said Phillips, an entrepreneur who splits his time between High Point and Chapel Hill.
The Phillips Ambassadors Outreach Award was made possible by a gift from Jordan Phillips and Courtney Phillips Hyder of Charlotte, the son and daughter of Phil Phillips, to honor a Phillips Ambassador alumnus or alumna.
“Wyatt has been an exemplary advocate for the Phillips Ambassadors program through his participation in study abroad outreach events,” Hyder said.
Bruton’s 2009 experience compelled him to return to China last summer to create “Beijing: Through a Different Lens,” a photo documentary of life in a Chinese migrant village, a project supported in part by the Phillips Ambassadors Alumni Fund. Bruton will return to China this summer to begin a two-year teaching appointment with Teach for China.
The new Phillips Ambassadors are listed below alphabetically by North Carolina county, then by state and country.
NORTH CAROLINA RECIPIENTS
Brunswick
Camila Rodriguez of Leland will study through the UNC Semester in China Program. She is majoring in global studies and minoring in Chinese.
Catawba
Amanda Small of Conover will study community health and traditional Chinese medicine through the School for International Training in China. She is majoring in biology and minoring in chemistry and medical anthropology.
Cumberland
Anupam Dalvi of Fayetteville, a political science and economics major, will study in Beijing in the UNC-Peking University Entrepreneurship Summer Program.
Durham
Zachary MacHardy of Durham, a computer science major, will study in the UNC Summer in Japan Program.
Kavya Sekar of Durham, a biology and anthropology major, will study in Vietnam through a UNC Burch Field Research Seminar
Forsyth
Jared Neely of Winston-Salem, a business administration major, will study at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Mecklenburg
Aja Kennedy of Charlotte will study through the CET Beijing Summer Program. CET Academic Programs is a study abroad organization based in Washington, D.C. Kennedy is majoring in Spanish and global studies and minoring in Chinese.
Orange
Kristen Brews of Chapel Hill will study through the Council on International Educational Exchange Shanghai Summer Program. She is majoring in business administration and information science and minoring in Hispanic studies.
Pitt
Ajsela Pestalic of Greenville will study in Beijing for the UNC-Peking University Entrepreneurship Summer Program. She is majoring in journalism and mass communication.
Wake
Shelby Lake of Knightdale will study through the UNC Japanese Theater and Culture Program. He is majoring in biology and minoring in chemistry.
Kathryn Magee of Raleigh, a chemistry major, will study through the National University of Singapore Science Summer Lab Exchange.
Wilson Sayre of Raleigh will study Japan and its Buddhist traditions through the Antioch Education Abroad Program. She is majoring in philosophy and minoring in social and economic justice.
Albert Teng of Cary will study at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is majoring in political science and has two minors, in history and in philosophy, politics and economics.
Wayne
This is the first year the program has chosen a Phillips Ambassador from Duke University, Wesley Johnson of Goldsboro. He will study through the UNC Summer in Japan Program. He is majoring in physics and religion and minoring in Japanese.
OUT-OF-STATE RECIPIENTS
Florida
Dexter Dorer of Miami will study at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is majoring in business administration and minoring in Portuguese.
Georgia
Paul Hardin of Atlanta will study in Beijing through the UNC-Peking University Entrepreneurship Summer Program. He is majoring in economics and minoring in Hispanic studies.
INTERNATIONAL RECIPIENTS
Canada
Claire Boychuk of Ottawa will study through the CET Beijing Summer Program. CET Academic Programs is a study abroad organization based in Washington, D.C. Boychuk is majoring in geography and minoring in Asian studies.
Turkey
Burcu Bozkurt of Istanbul, a public health and global studies major, will study in Vietnam through a UNC Burch Field Research Seminar.
England
Philip Rouse of London will study through the IES Abroad Shanghai Program. IES is a Chicago-based nonprofit provider of study abroad programs. Rouse is majoring in philosophy and minoring in philosophy, politics and economics.
GRADUATE STUDENT RECIPIENT
Arizona
Sara Bush of Tempe will conduct summer research in Taiwan. She is a doctoral student in history.
