Barbara Crespo awarded Phillips Student Fellowship at Bates

2014 Jun 5

Bates student Barbara Crespo of Bronx, N.Y., has been awarded a Phillips Student Fellowship in the amount of $6,000 to support a summer-long research project. Made possible through the generous bequest of Charles F. Phillips, the fourth president of Bates, and his wife, Evelyn M. Phillips, Phillips Student Fellowships provide Bates students with an immersive experience in another culture, as well as opportunities for extensive research, service learning, volunteer work or career exploration. The grants are awarded by Bates through a highly competitive application process.

Through her fellowship, Crespo will work with fellow Bates student Edward "Teddy" Poneman and Professor Patricia Buck over the course of eight weeks to collect a series of personal memoirs from 10 refugee scholars through a collaboration at Addis Ababa University. The intent of their joint project is to shed light on how the conflict in Somalia dramatically impacted these scholars' lives, their journey to high academic achievement and their powerful engagement in Addis.

Crespo, the daughter of Mr. Jose Crespo and Mrs. Ana Crespo of Bronx, N.Y., is a 2011 graduate of Mott Hall Bronx High School. She is majoring in environmental studies at Bates.

Located in Lewiston, Maine, Bates is internationally recognized as a leading college of the liberal arts, attracting 2,000 students from across the U.S. and around the world. Since 1855, Bates has been dedicated to educating the whole person through creative and rigorous scholarship in a collaborative residential community. With a commitment to affordability, Bates has always admitted students without regard to gender, race, religion or national origin. Cultivating intellectual discovery and informed civic action, Bates prepares leaders sustained by a love of learning and zeal for responsible stewardship of the wider world.