Six students win Gilman scholarships

UIC’s latest Gilman Scholarship winners are, L-R: top row Virgil Cole (Chico, California/Glen Ellyn, Illinois), Cheri Stewart (Chicago – Ashburn) and Samuel Cass (Chicago – Lincoln Park); bottom row Daniel Dunson (Chicago – Hyde Park), Elizabeth Molina (Chicago – Albany Park) and Paulina Rico-Juarez (Chicago – Back of the Yards).

Six UIC students were awarded U.S. State Department Benjamin A. Gilman scholarships to study abroad this spring.

The UIC recipients are among more than 800 American undergraduate students from 350 colleges and universities across the U.S. selected for the honor.

The Gilman International Scholarship Program, sponsored by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, aims to diversify the group of students who study abroad and their destinations. To be eligible for the award, students must demonstrate financial need by receiving a federal Pell Grant for their studies.

Scholars receive up to $5,000 to apply toward their study-abroad program costs. Since 2006, UIC students have won more than 135 Gilman scholarships totaling $545,000.

The latest UIC recipients, representing the colleges of architecture, design, and the arts; business administration; engineering; and liberal arts and sciences; and their destinations include:

• Virgil Cole, a senior in English from Chico, California, who currently resides in Glen Ellyn studying in Moscow, Russia.
• Cheri Stewart, a junior in biological sciences from Chicago studying in Tokyo, Japan.
• Samuel Cass, a sophomore in theatre from Chicago studying in Dublin, Ireland.
• Daniel Dunson, a senior in art history from Chicago studying in Rabat, Morocco.
• Elizabeth Molina, a junior in marketing from Chicago studying in Madrid, Spain.
• Paulina Rico-Juarez, a Honors College junior in computer science from Chicago studying in Paris, France.

Cole, Cass, Dunson and Stewart are participating in programs through UIC’s Study Abroad Office. Molina and Rico-Juarez are participating in UIC student exchange programs.

The Gilman program is funded through the International Academic Opportunity Act of 2000 and is administered by the Institute of International Education’s Southern Regional Center in Houston. The program honors former U.S. Rep. Benjamin A. Gilman of New York, a former chair of the House Foreign Relations Committee.

Interested in applying for a Gilman study abroad scholarship?

The UIC Office of Special Scholarship Programs will host two programs to help students meet the March 1 application deadline.

• Information session, noon Feb. 3, 502 University Hall

• Application review workshop, noon Feb. 24, 2550 University Hall

For more information, call 312-355-2477.