2007 Claremont Graduate University National Scholars Announced

Claremont, CA, May 27, 2007 --(PR.com)-- Three scholars—who all attend Orange County institutions—have been selected as the 2007 Claremont National Scholars. They will begin their studies at the university this fall, joining an esteemed group of four which enrolled at Claremont last academic year.

The three students are Padmapriya Gollapudi, Douglas Ishii, and Sharone Williams. Gollapudi is completing a BA at Soka University of America, where she is at the top of her graduating class and has won many academic awards. Her languages include Hindi, Japanese, Telugu, and English, as well as Visual Basic, C++, and Visual C++. She has recently worked with the Planning Commission of India on the country’s development planning.

Padma’s research on trade and education (with Prof. Edward Feasel) is pending journal publication. One of her professors describes her as, “the best student I have had the opportunity to work with in my career.” Her extracurricular interests include singing, chess, dance, and debate.

Ishii is working at the University of California, Irvine, where in 2006 he received his B.A. in comparative literature magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. His many awards include the Chancellor’s Achievement Scholarship.

According of one of his professors, Ishii’s path-breaking undergraduate thesis advances an approach that might help ethnic American literature “to move from the cultural periphery into a dynamic and constitutive relationship to the cultural center.” He plans to enroll in Claremont’s PhD program in cultural studies with a concentration in museum studies.

Williams will receive her BA in English from California State University, Fullerton, where her many awards include President’s Scholar and National Hispanic Recognition Scholar. Her three publications include, “Jazz as Text: Freedom Born from Bondage.” She has worked as an editor for an engineering company and as an administrative assistant in several businesses. She is a member of the core leadership team of “Elevated to Excellence,” a conference for women. Her skills include ten years of training in classical violin.

The three will join Susanna Bonis, Victoria Bryan, Fay Ellwood and Yvonne Flack, who began their Claremont Graduate University academic careers in 2006.

The Claremont National Scholars program was established by President Robert Klitgaard as a means for engaging some of the nation’s top academic minds, and providing them resources to complete their far-reaching goals. “We must train our future thinkers and leaders to become ‘intellectual trespassers,’ to solve the world’s most difficult problems by engaging the full resources of our academic and intellectual capital,” President Klitgaard said.

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