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Sujata Tuladhar, a Connecticut College senior, has been awarded a prestigious Thomas J. Watson Fellowship for her project "Community Radio as a Vehicle for Social Change." The award will provide Tuladhar $22,000 for a year of independent exploration and travel in South Africa, Sri Lanka and New Zealand, where she will explore the universal applicability of community radio as a way to empower underprivileged communities.
Additionally, Tuladhar plans to explore how conflict-ridden communities utilize their respective community radio stations as a tool for voicing their opinions, how community radio is being used to engender social awareness/movement and how the radio programs are designed to best achieve those goals. Part of her project will also include assisting in the production and presentation of radio shows on the community stations.
Tuladhar, of Kathmandu, Nepal, will receive a major in international relations from Connecticut College in May. She will leave to pursue her Watson fellowship immediately thereafter, and plans to stay in each country for four months.
Before coming to Connecticut College, Tuladhar worked as a newspaper correspondent and radio producer in Kathmandu. In the summer after her sophomore year of college, Tuladhar was selected by National Public Radio (NPR) to be part of a five-person team that was trained in various facets of radio journalism by professional journalists.
Last summer, as a scholar in Connecticut College´s Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts (CISLA), Tuladhar interned with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in Belfast, Northern Ireland while pursuing research for her senior honors thesis on the prospect of reconciliation in Northern Ireland. CISLA is a unique Connecticut College program that permits students to pursue international and area studies through interdisciplinary course work, intensive foreign language training, work experience abroad and an integrative project involving an in-depth study of a particular world area.
"My past five years of exposure to radio journalism in different cultural contexts have fueled my passion for this field," Tuladhar said. "It fascinates me to see how one medium can remain effective in such a wide range of cultural contexts. As a Watson Fellow, I wish to explore this remarkable medium of radio to broaden my understanding of and empathize with communities and cultures in South Africa, New Zealand and Sri Lanka."
She also studied in a peace and conflict resolution program at American University in Washington D.C. last spring semester.
Professor of chemistry Marc Zimmer, who coordinates the Watson applications at the college, said Tuladhar´s maturity and professionalism will ensure her success in the project.
"She has the intellectual ability, experience, commitment and work ethic required to successfully complete this project," Zimmer said.
Tuladhar is the eighth Connecticut College student to win a Watson Fellowship in the past seven years. She is one of 50 college seniors awarded a Watson Fellowship out of nearly 1,000 students who applied. Connecticut College is one of only 50 selective private liberal arts colleges and universities whose students are eligible to apply for this award.
This year´s fellows will travel to all parts of the world investigating topics such as urban poverty, the global diffusion of basketball, indigenous grass roots initiatives and pediatric HIV/AIDS.
The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship Program was begun in 1968 by the children of Thomas J. Watson, Sr., the founder of IBM Corporation, and his wife, Jeannette K. Watson, to honor their parents´ long-standing interest in education and world affairs. This program identifies prospective leaders and allows them to develop their independence and to become world citizens.
"The awards are long-term investments in people likely to lead or innovate," said Beverly Larson, the executive director of the Watson Fellowship Program and a former Watson Fellow. "We look for people with passion, a feasible plan, leadership potential and creativity. The recipients get unusual freedom in global experiential learning."
More than 2,300 Watson Fellows have taken this challenging journey in the history of the program. They have gone on to become college presidents and professors, CEOs of major corporations, politicians, artists, lawyers, diplomats, doctors, and researchers.
Ranked among the most selective private liberal arts colleges in the nation, Connecticut College enrolls 1,900 men and women from 46 states and 40 countries. The college is known for putting the liberal arts into action through interdisciplinary studies, international programs, funded internships, student-faculty research and service learning. Founded in 1911, the college operates under an 83-year-old honor code. The college is located at 270 Mohegan Ave, New London, about two hours by car from Boston and New York. The 750-acre campus is an arboretum overlooking Long Island Sound. For more information, visit www.connecticutcollege.edu.
Senior earns prestigious Watson fellowship
03/22/2005
Additionally, Tuladhar plans to explore how conflict-ridden communities utilize their respective community radio stations as a tool for voicing their opinions, how community radio is being used to engender social awareness/movement and how the radio programs are designed to best achieve those goals. Part of her project will also include assisting in the production and presentation of radio shows on the community stations.
Tuladhar, of Kathmandu, Nepal, will receive a major in international relations from Connecticut College in May. She will leave to pursue her Watson fellowship immediately thereafter, and plans to stay in each country for four months.
Before coming to Connecticut College, Tuladhar worked as a newspaper correspondent and radio producer in Kathmandu. In the summer after her sophomore year of college, Tuladhar was selected by National Public Radio (NPR) to be part of a five-person team that was trained in various facets of radio journalism by professional journalists.
Last summer, as a scholar in Connecticut College´s Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts (CISLA), Tuladhar interned with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in Belfast, Northern Ireland while pursuing research for her senior honors thesis on the prospect of reconciliation in Northern Ireland. CISLA is a unique Connecticut College program that permits students to pursue international and area studies through interdisciplinary course work, intensive foreign language training, work experience abroad and an integrative project involving an in-depth study of a particular world area.
"My past five years of exposure to radio journalism in different cultural contexts have fueled my passion for this field," Tuladhar said. "It fascinates me to see how one medium can remain effective in such a wide range of cultural contexts. As a Watson Fellow, I wish to explore this remarkable medium of radio to broaden my understanding of and empathize with communities and cultures in South Africa, New Zealand and Sri Lanka."
She also studied in a peace and conflict resolution program at American University in Washington D.C. last spring semester.
Professor of chemistry Marc Zimmer, who coordinates the Watson applications at the college, said Tuladhar´s maturity and professionalism will ensure her success in the project.
"She has the intellectual ability, experience, commitment and work ethic required to successfully complete this project," Zimmer said.
Tuladhar is the eighth Connecticut College student to win a Watson Fellowship in the past seven years. She is one of 50 college seniors awarded a Watson Fellowship out of nearly 1,000 students who applied. Connecticut College is one of only 50 selective private liberal arts colleges and universities whose students are eligible to apply for this award.
This year´s fellows will travel to all parts of the world investigating topics such as urban poverty, the global diffusion of basketball, indigenous grass roots initiatives and pediatric HIV/AIDS.
The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship Program was begun in 1968 by the children of Thomas J. Watson, Sr., the founder of IBM Corporation, and his wife, Jeannette K. Watson, to honor their parents´ long-standing interest in education and world affairs. This program identifies prospective leaders and allows them to develop their independence and to become world citizens.
"The awards are long-term investments in people likely to lead or innovate," said Beverly Larson, the executive director of the Watson Fellowship Program and a former Watson Fellow. "We look for people with passion, a feasible plan, leadership potential and creativity. The recipients get unusual freedom in global experiential learning."
More than 2,300 Watson Fellows have taken this challenging journey in the history of the program. They have gone on to become college presidents and professors, CEOs of major corporations, politicians, artists, lawyers, diplomats, doctors, and researchers.
Ranked among the most selective private liberal arts colleges in the nation, Connecticut College enrolls 1,900 men and women from 46 states and 40 countries. The college is known for putting the liberal arts into action through interdisciplinary studies, international programs, funded internships, student-faculty research and service learning. Founded in 1911, the college operates under an 83-year-old honor code. The college is located at 270 Mohegan Ave, New London, about two hours by car from Boston and New York. The 750-acre campus is an arboretum overlooking Long Island Sound. For more information, visit www.connecticutcollege.edu.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Amy Martin, 860-439-2526, a.martin@conncoll.edu or Deborah MacDonnell (860) 439-2504, dmacdonn@conncoll.edu
