The Office of International Affairs recently awarded a Phyllis Krumm Memorial International Scholarship to three graduate students, Stewart Birkby (Education), William Lywood (History) and Scott Powell (Political Science). The Krumm Scholarship is given to graduate students for research or study in a European country or in China.

This year’s recipients of the $1,000 scholarship are:

• Stewart Birkby, a Ph.D. candidate in education. The Krumm scholarship will be used to support his Chinese language studies at the National Taiwan University in Tapei during the summer of 2008. His dissertation will examine the "post-structural, culturally based language translation issues as related to diplomatic-level American, Chinese and Taiwanese relations. Birkby’s research will require an advanced knowledge of the Chinese language.
  
  
• William Lywood, a Ph.D. candidate in the department of history. He plans to use the scholarship to help fund preliminary research in St. Petersburg and Sochi, Russia for the first stage of his Ph.D. dissertation during the summer of 2008. His thesis will focus on an explanation of how the Black Sea Coast has grown "into a region defined by the idea that it is a world-class tourist destination." Lywood, who is fluent in Russian, plans to conduct research at the Russian National Library which holds collections necessary for his research that are not available in North America.
  
  
• Scott Powell, a Ph.D. candidate in the department of political science. The scholarship will help support his dissertation research in Europe during the fall of 2008. Powell’s "research question examines the role of labor unions in the negotiation – and renegotiation – of an important element of the social contract: the design of institutions to insure against the loss of income in market economies." To conduct his research he will travel to Berlin, Germany and London, England.

The Office of International Affairs administers the Krumm scholarships and awards up to three $1,000 scholarships to graduate students each academic year. Applicants must be enrolled as a post-baccalaureate student at Ohio State in an academic program of study in any field. Students must demonstrate excellence in scholarship and an appropriate background for research or study in Europe or China (including the mainland, Hong Kong, Macao, and/or Taiwan). They must be of good character and intend to conduct research or study requiring independent international travel (i.e., unassociated with an organized study abroad group). Preference is given to U.S. citizens, pursuing a career in diplomatic or other governmental international service.