Marlee Pittman, political science junior and honors college student, received the 2014 Truman Scholarship from the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation last Wednesday.
The scholarship awards $30,000 for graduate study to about 60 students who plan to become “change agents” working in government, education or the nonprofit sector, according to the foundation’s website.
After her graduation from the University in 2016, Pittman hopes to pursue graduate studies in public policy in Southeast Asian studies at the University of Michigan, she said.
Pittman, who co-founded the University’s International Relations Club, said she ultimately wants to work with U.S. foreign policy, in either a think tank formulating policy or in the U.S. State Department.
Pittman said it’s nice to receive recognition for her hard work, and makes it seem all worth it in the big picture. She said she owes a lot to her adviser Drew Arms and past recipients of the scholarship who helped her.
“Her knowledge of Southeast Asia is incredibly impressive, and I have no doubt she will be a significant agent of positive change there,” Arms said in a release.
The University has been home to eight other Truman Scholars since 2003, according to the release, a number which Pittman said has increased compared to years past because of Arms’ guidance. She said the honor comes not necessarily being one of nine students in the last decade at the University, but being one of 59 in the country to become Truman Scholars this year.
As a Truman Scholar, Pittman stands alongside former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and President Barack Obama’s former director of speech writing Jon Favreau.
“She’s been a standout student in political science for the last three years, and given the focus of the Truman Scholars on public services, we’re sure to hear great things from her in the future,” said William Clark, chair of the department of political science.
Pittman has studied in Malaysia and China, and is interested in the way that social and political changes in Southeast Asia can change foreign policy, she said. She was in Malaysia during a critical election time for the country, and depending on the outcome of that election, the U.S. could have had to adjust its policy to keep good diplomacy with the country.
Pittman said her interest in U.S. foreign policy started during her freshman honors college courses and her involvement in the model United Nations.
This summer, Pittman will be interning at the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations, and then will take the school year off to intern with Sen. Mary Landrieu in Washington D.C., she said.