Wheaton student named 2003 Truman Fellow

Wheaton junior Adar Cohen is one of 76 U.S. college students to win the Truman Scholarship in public service, announced Madeleine K. Albright, president of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation. The scholars were selected from among 635 candidates nominated by 305 colleges and universities on the basis of leadership potential, intellectual ability and likelihood of ''making a difference.''

The Truman Scholarship is a $30,000 merit-based grant awarded to undergraduate students with outstanding academic records to attend graduate or professional school in preparation for careers in government, the non-profit sector or elsewhere in public service. Other New England colleges with students receiving Truman Scholarships this year included Harvard, Yale, Brown and Bowdoin.

Cohen, who wrote about issues of workers rights related to NAFTA for his Truman application, worked closely with Wheaton faculty members and administrators to complete his application and prepare for a challenging personal interview. ''I'm shocked, thrilled and so relieved,'' Cohen says of the honor. ''I feel that this investment in me affirms the work I have done on this planet so far, and confirms that I am on the right track.''

Cohen, a native of Peterborough, New Hampshire, designed an independent major at Wheaton in Conflict Resolution, an approach to learning grounded in anthropology, political science, religion and history. His undergraduate work considers the complex dimensions of world peace and security; nonproliferation and disarmament; faith-based peacebuilding; contemporary social justice campaigns; and international mediation.

''But I've been doing just as much of my learning outside the classroom,'' says Cohen, who traveled last summer to the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan, a tiny Buddhist state between Tibet and India. Through funding provided by Wheaton's Davis International Fellows program, Cohen assisted two Wheaton professors with a teaching fellowship and curriculum development project at Sherubtse College, Bhutan's only liberal arts institution.

Cohen also has pursued learning on an Anishnabai reservation, studying efforts being made to reclaim ancestral homelands from the government of Ontario and cease destructive logging and mining, and has spent time in Israel conducting interviews with Palestinians and Israelis for his honors thesis on that conflict. ''There are two components of my thesis,'' Cohen explains. ''The first is the traditional, written part. But the other is a play that presents the world views of Palestinians and Israelis whose lives are dominated by their war.'' The Wheaton Theater Department has expressed interest in making it the main stage production next fall.

After graduation, Cohen plans a period of work and study abroad before pursuing his Truman-funded graduate work. ''One of my graduate school options is the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR) at George Mason University. I am also considering other post-Wheaton opportunities: the Gandhi Institute, Fletcher School for Law and Diplomacy, and the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.''

But before then, Cohen has a number of goals, including securing funding for this summer's participation in the George Mason University Summer Institute on Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding, Cohen was selected as one of 15 students to participate in the program, which includes four academic seminars in Washington, D.C., an internship and a portion of the summer spent in Geneva, Switzerland. working at the United Nations and the Red Crescent on humanitarian projects. Cohen is applying for funding through a number of avenues, including the Wheaton Foundation and private support.