[215]MTSU STUDENT CAPTURES PRESTIGIOUS CLINTON SCHOLARSHIP

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Dec. 1, 2008EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081, gklogue@mtsu.edu

MTSU STUDENT CAPTURES PRESTIGIOUS CLINTON SCHOLARSHIP
Nashvillian Will Study Middle East Culture in United Arab Emirates for a Semester

(MURFREESBORO) – A Middle Tennessee State University senior is one of only 10 college students in the nation selected to study as a William Jefferson Clinton Scholar in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, next semester. Nick Mackie, who is a double major in archaeology and international relations with a minor in Middle East studies, will depart for UAE on Jan. 6 and study at American University in Dubai (AUD) through the spring 2009 semester, returning on April 30. His courses include Comparative Politics of the Middle East, Islamic Art and Architecture, Media Culture and Society, History of the Middle East, and second-year Arabic language studies.
“It pretty much matches up with the requirements for our minor, which is one reason I chose it, because the credits are the same, the system and the class and course descriptions are the same,” says the 21-year-old McNair Scholar from Nashville. “So the transfer is a lot easier than if you go other places.” American University in Dubai, according to its Web site (www.aud.edu), “is a private-non-sectarian institution of higher learning founded in 1995. It serves UAE nationals and international students who seek world-class career-oriented education.” Although a semester at AUD costs $15,000, the Clinton scholarship will absorb nearly $10,700 of that amount. Mackie will make up the rest with a Pell Grant, a scholarship from the Dell Foundation and a Presidential Scholarship from MTSU.
The Clinton scholarships, notes the AUD Web site, seek “to further the goals of the Clinton Presidential Foundation to strengthen the capacity of people in the United States and throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence.” United Arab Emirates, located between Oman and Saudi Arabia on the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf, is slightly smaller in area than the state of Maine. Dubai, which is the richest of the UAE’s seven emirates, boasts the third largest oil deposits in the world.
“It is a very wealthy globalized place for the most part,” Mackie says. “It doesn’t have a large Arab population, per se, as much as it does an immigrant population.”


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In fact, 50 percent of the UAE’s total population is from South Asia and fewer than 20 percent of the total are emiratis (UAE citizens), according to CIA data. Ninety-six percent of the population is Muslim, and the nation is governed by Sharia law.
“He’s motivated, intellectual and thoughtful in his pursuit of knowledge, and I am so excited about this opportunity for him and for our program,” says Dr. Karen Petersen, an assistant professor of political science who has taught Mackie in several classes.
Mackie’s extracurricular activities include the Society for International Relations, of which he is president; Model United Nations; ROTARACT; and the Boy Scouts of America. In addition, he works at a group home as an activities coordinator.

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ATTENTION, MEDIA: For head-and-shoulders shots of Nick Mackie and Dr. Karen Petersen, contact Gina Logue in the MTSU Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081 or gklogue@mtsu.edu.