It was serendipitous and a bit suspicious for Jennifer Tate to come home after a grueling early morning midterm to find that she had a message on her answering machine. It was even more exciting that it was not her mother, as she expected, but the U.S. Department of Education calling to tell her that she had been awarded the prestigious $25,000 a year Javits Fellowship. Before she even called the woman back, she called her mom to tell her the good news. "I was laughing so hard that she thought I was crying and that something was really wrong," Tate recalls.

According to Tate, the Javits scholarship is based upon potential to excel in graduate study, potential to do the original work required by the dissertation, indications of creativity and originality, academic commitment and breadth of knowledge, general academic achievement and personal accomplishment. She feels that Southwestern provided her with all of these qualities, not only through her studies in political science and mathematics, but also through the breadth of knowledge she gained by embracing the interdisciplinary nature of a liberal arts college.

"I feel very strongly about the value of my liberal arts education; the Perspectives on Knowledge required classes certainly exposed me to many different disciplines and academic perspectives. Within class, I was encouraged to make those connections between disciplines, and to explore areas of personal interest," says Tate. "Furthermore, close relationships with professors invested in helping me succeed meant that I had the support and encouragement necessary to challenge myself academically." She feels that these close student-professor relationships allowed her to challenge and thereby extend herself.

Tate's honor thesis, which was titled "A Living Past, a Dying Present: An Analysis of Nationalism, National Identity and Ethnopolitics in the Conflict between Serbia and Bosnia Herzegovina" won the Pi Sigma Alpha National Political Science Honor Society Undergraduate Honors Thesis Competition in 1999, and "definitely" made her a more competitive candidate for the Javits Fellowship. According to Tate, this project demonstrated that she could "successfully focus on a long-term academic project as well as conduct original independent research. This was important in the context of the Javits Fellowship, as I had to provide evidence in my application that I would be successful in writing a doctoral dissertation."

Tate is currently working on an MA at Stanford University in International Policy Studies, with a specialization in conflict and security. After her current program ends in June, Tate will pursue a Ph.D. program in political science with an emphasis on international relations. She plans to continue her studies in conflict and security issues as well as the study of ethnic conflict, ethnopolitics and nationalism in relation to international politics. She will regionally concentrate upon Soviet and Post-Soviet politics.

The Javits Fellowship has motivated Tate to work even harder to "maintain the highest standards," but she still finds time to go out every once in a while and take advantage of all San Francisco has to offer.

"I like to go dancing in the city, and on a particularly pretty day a group of us might take a trip down to Monterrey, right on the ocean," says Tate. "You also might find me watching a Stanford basketball game, reading a good book or just relaxing to some music. In January, I went down to Pasadena, Calif., for the Rose Bowl. Stanford lost, but we still had a great time, and it was a fun way to bring in the New Year."

Tate believes that the key to receiving a fellowship like Javits is to plan ahead by beginning to look for funding opportunities as early as their sophomore year of college. This gives time to build and strengthen one’s resume. Most importantly, Tate urges students to embrace all Southwestern has to offer.

"Students should take advantage of the opportunity to work closely with their professors. Do the honors thesis, present papers at conferences, work together on a project or just go in and get to know your professors, and let them get to know you."

Such advice seems to have worked for her.

-Terah Bowling