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Date: January 8, 1997
Princeton Senior Named Rhodes Scholar; Two Receive Marshall
Princeton, N.J. -- Davis McCallum, an English major who will graduate in June, has been named a winner of the Rhodes Scholarship, which provides full expenses and a stipend for two years of study at Oxford University.
Two other Princeton seniors, Saj Cherian and Whitney Colella, have received Marshall Scholarships, which cover tuition and expenses for two years of study at any university in Great Britain.
All three Princeton seniors competed in regional interview competitions that concluded last month. McCallum was selected in a competition held in Little Rock, Ark., while Colella and Cherian, both from Maryland, took part in interviews in Washington, D.C.
Rhodes Scholar
McCallum, of Atlanta, Ga., joins a list of approximately 200 Princetonians who have won the Rhodes since 1904. Other Princeton winners include retired U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley, former U.S. Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach, and Harvard University President Neil Rudenstine.
The 22-year-old is the founder of the Princeton Shakespeare Company and spent the spring semester of 1996 traveling with the Shenandoah Shakespeare Express, a professional repertory company based in Shenandoah, Va. McCallum, who will also earn a certificate in theater and dance, is writing a senior thesis that links media theory, Hollywood musicals and Shakespeare.
At Oxford, McCallum will pursue a Master's of Philosophy degree at Oxford in a course of study, "Shakespeare and the Drama to 1640." After that, McCallum wants a career that will allow him to act, write, teach, and direct, all elements of theater that he enjoyed since he played Hamlet in a high school production. "I love the ways in which language functions to create and preserve community," he said.
McCallum praised the Princeton program that helps Rhodes and Marshall candidates evaluate their essays and prepare for interviews. McCallum also received some personal advice -- from his father, a 1968 Rhodes Scholar. "Dad offered me the same advice as the Princeton professors -- try to be yourself."
Marshall Winners
Cherian, of Wheaton, Md., is a major in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He will also receive a certificate in Latin American Studies, and he is particularly interested in the study of emerging markets. Cherian plans to attend Oxford and earn a Master's of Philosophy degree with an emphasis on development issues.
His senior thesis explores the privatization of the petrochemical industry in Mexico. In the summer of 1996, he received a first-hand look at the political fallout of privatization while working at Celanese-Mexicana on a Shultz Fellowship. "I'm looking at this as a case where the political costs far outweigh the economic benefits," he said.
At Princeton, Cherian helped found Challenge '97, his graduating class' tutoring and mentoring project with Hedgepeth-Williams Middle School in Trenton, N.J. Cherian also serves on the Undergraduate Student Life and Campus Center committees.
Colella, a mechanical engineering major from Potomac, Md., will also receive a Woodrow Wilson School certificate at Princeton. She is interested in renewable energy policy, particularly in Africa. Colella plans to pursue a Master's of Philosophy degree at the Science Policy Research Unit of the University of Sussex.
For her senior thesis, Colella will design and possibly build a zero-emissions alternative to the motor scooters commonly used in the developing world. In the summer of 1996, she worked on an alternative vehicle sponsored by the European Union -- a joint effort between several European companies -- while studying engineering in Genoa, Italy on a Metz Fellowship.
"The population of Africa and Asia is growing rapidly, along with energy consumption and pollution. As these regions begin to build new infrastructure, now is a critical time to leap-frog to renewable energy technologies."
Colella sings with Shere Khan and founded the Princeton chapter of the Society of Automotive Engineers. She has also volunteered for U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., who at the time headed the committee handling all Federal funding of science, and for the United States Commission on Civil Rights.