[498] MTSU STUDENTS CAPTURE BIG BUCKS TO STUDY AROUND THE WORLD

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 25, 2009
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

MTSU STUDENTS CAPTURE BIG BUCKS TO STUDY AROUND THE WORLD
Murfreesboro and Tullahoma Natives to Work and Learn in India and Kenya

(MURFREESBORO) - In competition with students from universities all across the United States, two more MTSU international relations majors have landed prestigious scholarships that will enable them to nourish their own aspirations while improving others’ futures in far-flung regions of the globe.
Murfreesboro native Aaron Shew will celebrate his 22nd birthday in India in July. Shew landed a Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) to study the Urdu language there this summer. The CLS, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, funds seven to-ten-week periods of intensive language instruction and cultural enrichment experiences.
“Urdu is kind of a combination of Arabic and Hindi,” says Shew. “Spoken, it’s closer to Hindi, but they write in Arabic and read in Arabic, so much of their religious text comes from Arabic. It’s a difficult language, but not as difficult as Arabic.”
With about $12,000 provided by the State Department, Shew will undergo five hours of classes for five days a week while staying with a host family in a town near Delhi. The living arrangements are a bit karmic since Shew’s interest in Asian culture and languages began with his family’s relationship with a Nepali student who came to the U.S. to study when Shew was younger.
Family also figures heavily in the other major influence on Shew’s education. His father is an agriculture teacher at Riverdale High School, and Shew is a double major in international relations and plant and soil science. While this is a highly unusual double major, Shew sees their combination as very realistic.
“History and politics intrigue me because they define where we are in the world, how nations are to interact, ideas of peace and war,” Shew says. “Agriculture is a very practical way of helping people, but, at the same time, I would say half the battle is usually policy.”
Indian people are becoming more advanced, pooling their resources to buy tractors and combines. However, Shew says they will have to diversify their output instead of monocropping huge tracts of land.
Patrick Pratt, a double major in international relations and political science, captured a David L. Boren Scholarship from the National Security Education Program to study international relations and Swahili at United States International University in Nairobi, Kenya. Boren scholarships provide up to $20,000 to U.S. undergraduate students for study in areas that are critical to national security but underrepresented in study abroad programs.
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“What we see of Africa here in the West has to do with conflict, poverty, disease, things like that,” says the 25-year-old from Tullahoma. “But after learning more about it, I realize it’s not all that way. There are problems, but I think there is something positive to be taken out of Africa.”
Pratt takes issue with prior Western policies on the continent, saying we have viewed Africans through our own culture for too long.
“We do have an interest in alleviating poverty and mediating conflict, but the second we don’t like a regime that gets elected, then we totally forget about stability and peace,” says Pratt.
In preparation for his upcoming academic year in Nairobi, Pratt is interning with Constituency for Africa, a Washington, D.C.-based nongovernmental organization concerned with raising awareness about African issues and influencing U.S. policy.
Both young men cite Dr. Karen Petersen, assistant professor of political science, as an enormous source of invaluable guidance and inspiration. She says students like Pratt and Shew reflect positively on both the institution and the community.
“These experiences are needed, not just for international relations majors,” Petersen says. “We cannot let budget constraints and decreasing tax revenue and all these things stop us from providing the best we can. We have students here who are as good as students at any Ivy League university in the United States, hands down.”

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ATTENTION, MEDIA: For color jpegs of Patrick Pratt and Aaron Shew, contact Gina Logue in the MTSU Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081 or gklogue@mtsu.edu.