PITT SENIOR WINS PRESTIGIOUS MARSHALL SCHOLARSHIP

PITTSBURGH, Dec. 13 -- The British Embassy announced today that University of Pittsburgh senior Rebecca Hubbard has been named one of

40 Marshall Scholars nationwide for the year 2000. The Marshall Scholarship is one of the most competitive and prestigious merit scholarships in America.

More than 1000 candidates with institutional endorsements competed this year from colleges and universities throughout the United States. Pitt and the University of Pennsylvania are the only institutions in Pennsylvania represented among the winners.

The British Parliament created the Marshall Scholarship in honor of General George Marshall as an enduring gesture of thanks from the British people for assistance provided by the United States in the aftermath of World War II.

The Marshall is often compared to the Rhodes Scholarship, and both emphasize character as well as intellect. More flexible than a Rhodes Scholarship, which restricts study to Oxford University, a Marshall guarantees access and funding at any university in Britain for two years of study toward a degree.

In the past 20 years, Pitt honors students have continued to win more Marshall and Rhodes Scholarships than any other college or university in Pennsylvania, private or public.

"Winning another of the 'big two' scholarships speaks volumes about the opportunities available at Pitt for undergraduates who seek them," said Alec Stewart, dean of the University Honors College and Pitt's Marshall representative. "Rebecca's supreme ability, discipline, and generosity of spirit are exactly the qualities prized for the Marshall Scholarship. Her quest for opportunity at every turn won her valuable mentors like Walt Carson, professor of Biological Sciences, and Gail Austin, acting director of the University Challenge for Excellence Programs."

Hubbard is an ecology and evolution major in biological sciences at Pitt with a straight-A average. International interests led her to studies in Japan and Central America, and health interests to an internship last summer at the Harvard School of Public Health. She anticipates an interdisciplinary career in biostatistics applied in the resolution of environmental health problems.

"Because environment crises are tied to human needs and desires, they are not solved by simply identifying causes and consequences," Hubbard says. "Resolving them requires thinking that incorporates multiple frames of reference—interdisciplinary perspectives that reflect both an understanding of ecology and a willingness to address complex needs of the local population."

Hubbard plans to further her understanding of public health and environmental quality under the Marshall Scholarship with studies toward an M.A. in Environmental Health at the University of Edinburgh.

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