Wheaton senior Derron Wallace wins Thomas J. Watson Fellowship

Senior Derron J.R. Wallace of Bronx, N.Y., was named by the Thomas J. Watson Foundation as one of 50 college seniors nationwide who show unusual promise as leaders and global citizens.

The Watson Fellowship funds a year of independent exploration and travel outside the United States. With his fellowship, Wallace plans to study the historical roots and current practice of the Pentecostal faith tradition among worshippers in Trinidad & Tobago, Ghana, Ethiopia, United Kingdom, and Guatemala.

A major in sociology and African diaspora studies, the Wheaton senior's research plans are inspired by his faith and Pentecostal worship, participation and leadership in social action and by the growing influence of the charismatic movement. Pentecostalism represents one of the fastest-growing segments of global Christianity, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

''What is intriguing about this fast growing religious and social phenomenon... is its expanding relationship with community engagement and social transformation,'' Wallace wrote in his application to the Watson Foundation. ''By collecting oral histories, praying and serving with local parishioners during my year as a Watson Fellow, my soul will explore culturally rich hybrid expressions of 'engaged Pentecostalism', a variant that deems faith inseparable from community involvement and social change.''

Wallace came to Wheaton as a Posse Scholar through the college's partnership with the Posse Foundation in New York, NY. Posse connects urban public high school students who have exceptional leadership potential with highly selective colleges around the country.

"What a blessing?!I am walking on cloud nine," Wallace said. "This is just such an amazing opportunity to explore my spiritual heritage. I am grateful to God, my family, Posse, Wheaton and now the Watson Foundation for encouraging and nurturing my passion for social justice and community engagement."

Inducted into the national honor society, Phi Beta Kappa, in the fall of 2006, Wallace has earned the college's academic achievement award, Presidential Scholar, for the past two years.

Wheaton's emphasis on global education is matched by Wallace's own interest in study abroad. He spent a semester in South Africa in 2005, and through the college's Davis International Fellows program, he worked with the Community Peace Program in South Africa and volunteered at Silverstream High School in Manenberg, Cape Town. In 2006, he traveled to Tanzania for research and community service through the Wheaton Fellows program.

President of the college's Student Government Association, Wallace has been active in numerous campus organizations, from peer academic advisor and member of the Wheaton Chorale and Chamber Singers to a founding member of the Voices United to Jam gospel choir and chair and founder of the Disability Awareness Committee.

One of Wallace's advisors at Wheaton, Assistant Professor of History Dolita Cathcart says the senior exemplifies the combination of intellectual engagement with religious faith that is both inclusive and compassionate. ''JR believes in social justice, and his convictions, actions and campus-based leadership illustrate how religious beliefs, when not used as a cudgel, can be central in the struggle for social justice.''

The title of Wallace's project, When My Soul's On Fire: Tracing & Exploring Engaged Pentecostalism, was inspired by a song of the same name that he sang in church as a child, he said. Born in Jamaica, Wallace moved to the United States in 2000 and graduated from De Witt Clinton High School in Bronx, NY.

In addition to assistance from Wheaton faculty and staff, Wallace said that through the Fund for Theological Eductaion (FTE) or as an FTE Undergraduate Fellow, he connected with pentecostal scholars and practitioners across the globe.

As a group, the Watson Fellows come from 24 states and seven foreign nations. In their travel and studies, they will span 90 countries, exploring diverse topics from folk puppetry to the global fossil trade. As interesting as the projects are, ''The awards are long-term investments in people, not research,'' says Rosemary Macedo, executive director of the Watson Fellowship Program. The program was begun in 1968 by the children of IBM founder Thomas J. Watson, Sr. and his wife Jeannette K. Watson, in honor of their parents' interest in education and world affairs.