Beth Sherouse, a junior at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, has been named one of fifteen Gilder Lehrman History Scholars, chosen from more than 300 candidates nationwide. Each Scholar will be brought to New York City in June for an exclusive six-week program that combines research training, seminars with eminent historians, and behind-the-scenes tours of rare archives.
In addition to transportation, room-and-board, and a $2,400 stipend, each Scholar receives a chance to produce original research resulting from his or her summer work. Applicants to the scholarship program represent more than 191 different colleges and universities across the United States.
Josh Rogers, also of Mercer, was named a Gilder Lehrman History Scholar Finalist; he joined 39 other Finalists in New York City for a one-week version of the program in June.
“These are the brightest young historians in America,” said Professor James G. Basker of Barnard College and President of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, which sponsors the program. “We see them as a kind of Rhodes Scholar elite among history majors. We hope this spurs them all to consider careers as scholarly historians in the future.”
Sherouse, a history major from Macon, Georgia, is concentrating on Southern studies as well as pursuing a minor in women’s and gender studies. Her academic honors include the Spright Dowell Outstanding Freshman Leadership Award, the Flick Award for Most Promising Rising Senior in history and the award for the Women’s and Gender Studies Program Outstanding Student for 2003-2004, in addition to membership in Phi Alpha Theta and Phi Kappa Phi.
Sherouse has also been involved in the campus chapter of Amnesty International and the Feminist Majority and served as editor in chief of The Cluster, Mercer’s student newspaper.
In New York, Sherouse will join fourteen other scholars from colleges including Bucknell University, Claremont McKenna College, Columbia University, Florida State University, Grinnell College, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Oklahoma State University, the University of Alberta, the University of Nebraska, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Wisconsin, and Yale University.
Further information about the Gilder Lehrman History Scholars Program can be obtained from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, 19 West 44th Street, Suite 500, New York, New York 10036, 646-366-9666, info@gilderlehrman.org, or by visiting www.gilderlehrman.org.
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