Hoxie's Jenna Kennedy is K-State's 30th Truman Scholar

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News release prepared by: Beth Bohn, 785-532-6415, bbohn@k-state.edu

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

HOXIE'S JENNA KENNEDY IS K-STATE'S 30TH TRUMAN SCHOLAR

MANHATTAN -- A Kansas State University student interested in a career in international public health is K-State's 30th Harry S. Truman Scholarship winner.

Jenna Kennedy, Hoxie, senior in microbiology, natural resources and environmental science, and premedicine, has been selected to receive the national scholarship, which provides up to $30,000 for college students preparing for a career in public service.

"We're so pleased that Jenna Kennedy, a truly outstanding student, is continuing K-State's long tradition of excellence in the Truman Scholarship competition," said K-State President Jon Wefald. "Jenna is an ideal Truman scholar. She is an active student leader, excels in academics and serves her community as a volunteer."

With 30 winners and one alternate since the first scholarships were awarded in 1977, K-State remains first in the nation among public universities in producing Truman scholars.

Kennedy was among 233 finalists, selected from more than 149 institutions, for the scholarship. Sixty-five scholarship winners were selected by the Truman Foundation following an extensive application and interview process, said James Hohenbary, K-State assistant dean for nationally competitive scholarships.

After graduating from K-State, Kennedy is planning to earn a medical degree and a master's in public health. Kennedy said she was inspired to become a physician from her time spent as a volunteer at a hospital in Accra, Ghana, during summer 2006. Her interest is in tropical medicine and she would like to pursue a career in international public health.

"I would like to gain experience in international public health by serving abroad as an in-country medical officer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," Kennedy said. "In this position, I would use my skills as a physician in tropical medicine. The disease I'm most interested in is malaria, so upon my return, I would hope to develop and implement programs focused on the eradication of malaria. I want to specialize in tropical medicine so that eventually, I'll be able to develop public health policies that can help to eradicate the diseases that disproportionately impact people in low-income countries."

At K-State, Kennedy has been doing undergraduate research in the immunology lab of Stephen Chapes, professor of biology, since November 2005. She is studying the role of two genes in controlling infection and cell function.

A K-State honors list student, Kennedy is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Undergraduate Research scholar, a Kansas State University Foundation Scholar and a Dane G. Hansen Foundation Scholar. She is the advisory board co-chair to K-State PROUD: Students Changing Lives campaign; president of Chimes junior honorary; and recruitment information manager for Alpha Delta Pi sorority, where she also has served as finance vice president. She is a member of the University Committee on Religion, Rotaract and the St. Isidore's Catholic Student Center. She also was a member of Quest, the freshman leadership honorary; vice president of Silver Key, the sophomore honorary; and was a Student Governing Association intern.

Kennedy volunteers with Up 'til Dawn and the Flint Hills Community Clinic.

A 2004 graduate of Wheatland High School, Grainfield, she is the daughter of Keith and Patricia Kennedy, Hoxie.

K-State ranks first among the nation's 500 four-year public universities with the most Truman scholars. The University of Michigan, University of Virginia and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill follow K-State. Among public and private schools, K-State is sixth, behind Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Duke and Brown.

Truman scholarships are used for graduate studies. Scholars are selected primarily on the basis of leadership potential and communications skills; intellectual strength and analytical ability; and likelihood of "making a difference" in public service. Scholars also receive priority admission and supplemental financial aid at some premier graduate institutions, leadership training, career and graduate school counseling, and special internship opportunities with the federal government.