News and Media Relations contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-5616 or Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu
MTSU Honors College
contact: Laura Clippard, 615-898-5464 or Laura.Clippard@mtsu.edu
MURFREESBORO — A leap of faith” by Tullahoma native and
MTSU alumnus Patrick Pratt has led to life- and career-changing moves.
Pratt learned
recently he is being awarded a 2013 Charles B. Rangel International Affairs
Fellowship “following a highly competitive nationwide contest,” said Patricia
H. Scroggs, director of the Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center at
Howard University in Washington, D.C.
He is the first
graduate from a Tennessee university to receive this honor, which is named for
the U.S. congressman who represents Harlem in New York City.
“It's not easy to describe what this award
means,” Pratt said. “… Two of my biggest life goals are to attend a top-ranked
school of International Affairs and to join the U.S. Foreign Service. The
Rangel Fellowship has essentially given me everything I've been working toward
in one package. Now I can attend a great school and my dream job is waiting at
the end of it.”
A year ago, he
said he was selected as a Rangel Fellowship finalist. He returned from Tanzania
for an interview.
“It’s an
extremely competitive process, with a writing exam and interview, and I was
unsuccessful,” he said. “I made the very difficult decision to turn down a
half-tuition fellowship from a great school in order to try again for the Rangel
Fellowship this year. So it was a leap of faith that paid off in a big way.”
On March 28,
two weeks after receiving admissions offers from six prestigious graduate
schools, Pratt chose George Washington University’s Elliott School of
International Affairs in downtown Washington, D.C. He said he will enroll in
the Master of Arts international affairs program with a concentration in
international security this fall and added that George Washington University is
“highly regarded throughout the world, especially here in Washington.”
Laura Clippard
of the University Honors College said the Rangel Fellowship will provide up to
$20,000 per year for tuition and fees, $15,000 a year for expenses for two
years of graduate study; an 11-week internship on Capitol Hill; a Foreign
Service mentor; and a 10-week overseas internship in a U.S. Embassy between his
first and second years of graduate school.
In return,
Pratt will serve a minimum of three years as a Foreign Service Officer.
GWU offered
Pratt the High Achievement Fellowship, an additional $15,000 per year award.
Essentially, he will attend graduate school for free.
Pratt said he
also considered other major university graduate programs.
The Rangel
program is a collaborative effort between Howard University and the U.S. State
Department that seeks to attract and prepare outstanding young people for
careers as diplomats in the U.S. Foreign Service. The program seeks people who
are interested in helping to shape a freer, more secure and prosperous world
through formulating, representing and implementing U.S. foreign policy.
Clippard told
Pratt he is “the hardest-working person” she has ever known. Honors Dean John
Vile said Pratt “has scored numerous ‘home runs’ by winning the David L. Boren,
Fulbright and Rangel awards. His tenacity of purpose and his commitment to
serving his country will be tremendous assets as he engages in a career with
the Foreign Service.”
After graduating
from Tullahoma High School in 2002, Pratt took a management position for a
Murfreesboro pizza delivery store. He returned home to Tullahoma, attending
Motlow State Community College. Always interested in global issues and after
taking a geography class, he decided to study international relations. At Motlow,
he earned the Outstanding Achievement Award in psychology.
At MTSU, Pratt
majored in international relations and political science and minored in
geography and African studies. Before graduating, he earned the Department of
Political Science Meritorious Service Award for participation and leadership in
student organizations.
With assistance
from the MTSU Office of Education Abroad, Pratt participated in a yearlong
education abroad program to the United States International University in
Nairobi, Kenya, earning credits toward his MTSU degree and was awarded the
Boren scholarship. The Boren scholarship’s focus is to provide undergraduate
students the opportunity to study in world regions critical to U.S. interests.
Dr. Karen
Petersen in political science and Clippard, who heads the Honors College’s
Undergraduate Fellowships Office, encouraged Pratt to apply for the Fulbright,
which he received to study civil society and public accountability in
development in Tanzania.
While applying
for graduate schools, Pratt completed an internship at the Africa Program at
the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., where
he has been residing and working.
The youngest of
six children, he is the son of Harvey and Carol Pratt, formerly from Tullahoma
and now living in Florida. Pratt said a brother, Philip, and sisters Anita and
Stephanie all attended MTSU.
MTSU’s
Undergraduate Fellowships Office has assisted students in earning 35 national
awards, 32 since 2007. These include eight Fulbright Awards and five Goldwater
recipients.
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