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Senior to Join Washington Think Tank For Immediate Release: 
Sam McCormally, a senior from Herndon, Va., has been selected by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace as a Junior Fellow for the 2007-08 academic year. RICHMOND, Ind. — Growing up as a Quaker in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., Earlham senior Sam McCormally remembers that his parents — Katherine Joyce Cole '75 and Terence McCormally — would often critique U.S. foreign policy by asking, "where's the $400 billion for peace?" McCormally was raised to question the status quo and consider new solutions to the world's problems. Next year, the Herndon, Va. native will return to the nation's capitol where he will have a chance to influence U.S. policymakers at a prestigious think tank. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has named McCormally a Junior Fellow for the 2007-2008 academic year. The program selects only about five percent of its applicants who come from 300 top colleges and universities across the country. Carnegie tapped new graduates from Cornell University, DePauw University, Georgetown University, Grinnell College, University of Southern California and Wesleyan University for the coming academic year. "This will be a great opportunity for me," says McCormally, who will join the South Asia group at Carnegie. He will support the research of the senior staff, but the position will also allow him to do independent research. "They want their junior fellows to publish, so this will give me an opportunity to discover things that I want to research." According to the Carnegie Endowment's Web site, Junior Fellows provide research assistance to associates working on the Carnegie Endowment's projects. In addition to South Asia, the organization studies non-proliferation, democracy building, trade, China-related issues and Russian/Eurasian studies. Junior Fellows have the opportunity to conduct research for books, co-author journal articles and policy papers, participate in meetings with high-level officials, contribute to congressional testimony and organize briefings attended by scholars, activists, journalists and government officials. A Jolly Good Fellow McCormally, who will graduate next month with a double major in economics and mathematics, believes that his strong quantitative skills combined with an interest in economic policy issues helped him land the position. Applications are judged on the quality of the written essay, related academic study and/or work experience, grades, recommendations and personal interviews. "Sam is ideally suited to be a Carnegie Fellow," notes Rajaram Krishnan, associate professor of economics and Earlham's liaison to the Carnegie Endowment. "He knows something about the world, thinks clearly about it and cares a lot about it. He combines the best of the heart and the head." Last summer, McCormally gained some first-hand experience in South Asia when he spent 12 weeks in Calcutta working with a non-governmental organization that provides education to children who do not have access to traditional schools for financial reasons. He talked with teachers at 22 learning centers around the city to help the sponsoring organization assess needs and also helped students with their English skills. He finds the changes that have been taking place in India and Pakistan, for instance, to be very interesting, and he looks forward to exploring them. A Scholar and an Activist As he envisions his future, McCormally believes he will likely do more work with non-governmental organizations overseas or non-profit groups in the United States, but he also anticipates a career as a teacher and scholar. He plans graduate work at some point in economics, geography or urban studies. "I want research and writing to be a part of what I do since I think those are the things I'm best at," says McCormally. When he contemplates an academic career, however, he hopes to follow the example of Professor of Economics Jonathan Diskin, who balances his work at the College with an extensive commitment to a community organization in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati. "I always want to be connecting my research with what is actually happening in people's lives." — EC — Contact:
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Earlham
College · 801 National Road West · Richmond,
Indiana 47374-4095 |