Senior Shane Patrick has been awarded the John and Daria Barry Scholarship for study at the University of Oxford.
The scholarship was established in 2019 and "is awarded to the leading students of the United States of America in recognition of their dedication to the pursuit of truth," according to the Barry Scholars announcement. It provides full funding for a minimum of two years of study, including tuition, a living stipend, and yearly stipends for research and travel.
Shane Patrick '24
Patrick, a Near Eastern studies major who is also pursuing certificates in Ancient Roman language and literature, Arabic language and literature, Hellenic studies and medieval studies, will pursue an MPhil in Islamic Studies and history at Oxford.
He received the Department of Near Eastern Studies' Prize for Best Junior Paper last year, and his senior thesis examines an 18th-century Lebanese Christian legal text, the "Mukhtaṣar al-Sharīʿa of ʿAbdallāh Qarāʿalī," which draws on both Christian legal traditions and Islamic law.
At Oxford, he said, he is "looking forward to the opportunity to continue developing as a scholar of the Medieval Middle East under the direction of some of the most respected scholars in the field.”
In addition to his academic studies, Patrick is a correspondent in Princeton's Office of Undergraduate Research; a numismatics research assistant in Princeton Library's Special Collections, working with medieval Islamic coins; and an undergraduate fellow of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, and the Princeton Center for the Study of Culture, Society and Religion. He is also involved with the Aquinas Institute, Princeton's Catholic campus ministry.
He served as a legislative intern in Washington, D.C., in summer 2022 and a history teacher and mentor for the Youth Leadership Foundation in Washington, D.C. in summer 2023.
After his studies at Oxford, he hopes to pursue a Ph.D. and become a professor and scholar in the field of historic Christian-Muslim relations.
