Wheaton grad named Marshall Scholar

Wheaton graduate Derron JR Wallace has been awarded a Marshall Scholarship that will further his aspiration to improve the situation of impoverished rural communities around the globe by enhancing education systems. He is the third Wheaton student to win the award since 2001.

"Educational inequality is a particularly serious issue for many developing nations, including my homeland, Jamaica," Wallace wrote in his personal statement to the scholarship committee. "The unequal distribution of economic opportunities is an all too easily accepted injustice. I continually ask myself why rural students in many parts of the world continue to learn under such poor conditions. And I wonder how inequalities in educational participation and outcomes can be addressed through effective teaching, creative programmatic initiatives and sound policy design and implementation."

Wallace hopes to help bridge achievement gaps and lessen geographical disparities by serving developing nations, especially in the Caribbean, as an educator and an education development strategist. 

The Bronx, N.Y., resident is one of only 40 students from U.S. colleges and universities who were awarded the prestigious scholarship, which supports two years of graduate studies in the United Kingdom. Marshall Scholars are chosen based on significant intellectual distinction, academic record, leadership potential, strong motivation and seriousness of purpose. They are eligible for up to two years of funding at a British university. Wallace plans to attend the University of Cambridge to read for a Masters of Philosophy in Education, Equality and Development in his first year, and the University of Bristol for a Master's in International and Comparative Educational Studies in his second year.

The Marshall Scholarship marks the fourth academic award Wallace has received since his graduation in 2007. As the winner of a Kathryn Wasserman Davis 100 Projects for Peace grant in 2007, Wallace implemented an intensive literacy program in rural Jamaica for 100 primary school students, provided school uniforms for children, and established small school libraries in Tanzania. As a 2007 Thomas J. Watson Foundation Fellow, he traveled and studied the historical roots and current practice of the Pentecostal faith tradition among worshippers in Trinidad & Tobago, Ghana, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, the United Kingdom and Guatemala. During his time in Rwanda, Wallace interned in the Ministry of Education. "In addition to working with a team to revise Rwanda's five-year strategic plan, I researched regional girls' education policies and helped create strategies for implementing changes throughout the country, particularly in rural communities," he said. 

This year, Wallace is teaching English and conducting research on education reform in Thailand as a Fulbright Scholar. He is interested in how Thailand, despite relatively recent natural disasters and economic setbacks, was able to fund and sustain its education reform. At Cambridge and Bristol, he will research financing arrangements and accountability mechanisms that allow for the sustainability of resources to fund education reform initiatives. "Even amidst the current economic downturn, it is critically important that developing nations support education, as it is necessary economic infrastructure for future growth and development."

Wallace, who was born in Jamaica, has been a natural teacher since childhood. His first official teaching assistantship occurred while he was in elementary school. Under the guidance of a teacher, he taught third grade students English for two consecutive summers. In high school, he taught English as a second language. 

At Wheaton that passion blossomed. And, noted Wallace, "my definition of teaching transformed from the mere transfer of knowledge to a means of redressing social inequality."

Wallace came to Wheaton as a Posse Scholar through the college's partnership with the Posse Foundation in New York. Posse connects urban public high school students who have exceptional leadership potential with highly selective colleges around the country.A major in sociology and African Diaspora studies, Wallace was inducted into the national honor society, Phi Beta Kappa, in the fall of 2006, and he earned the college's academic achievement award, Presidential Scholar, two consecutive years.

Wheaton's emphasis on global education matched 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 was 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.

For his leadership and academic achievements, Wallace was awarded the Eunice Caldwell, Ruth Capers McKay, Intercultural Board and the Eliza Baylies Chapin Wheaton leadership awards, along with the Lucretia C. Mott Prize in Sociology. In addition, his academic work has been featured in Contemporary Justice Review and other social science journals. 

Wallace said he plans to teach in Jamaica and later pursue a doctorate in sociology and international education. "I am hopeful that the teaching and research experience I had over the years will prepare me to be an effective public servant and education strategist in Jamaica."