McNair Scholar wins study-abroad scholarship

Ashley Smith, BE ’07

5:02 p.m., Aug. 24, 2005--Ashley Marie Smith, BE ’07, has been awarded a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship to study abroad for the 2005-06 academic year. She will begin the year studying French at L’Institut Richelieu for six weeks in Lausanne, Switzerland, while living with a family there, before attending the University of Geneva. She has a double major in mathematics and in economics and said she plans to get degrees in both disciplines, which will require another year at UD.

This is not the first time Smith has been recognized by Rotary. In her senior year at Cumberland Valley High School in Pennsylvania, where she was president of her class, Smith received a regional outstanding leadership award from Rotary and was selected to attend a Rotary Youth Leadership Conference in Australia in 2003.

“I was one of the youngest ones there, as most of the others were working professionals in their mid-20s. It was one of the best experiences of my life. I met people from all over the world and keep in touch with friends whom I met there,” she said.

Smith encourages other students to look into the opportunities offered by local Rotary clubs and the Rotary Foundation.

A McNair scholar at UD, a program to help students from diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds attend graduate schools, Smith received its Leadership Award this year.
She has been working on an independent project under the guidance of John Byrne, director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy, entitled “Nonpunitive incentives for voluntary cooperation: Sustainable development through individual responsibility.” The research examines the effectiveness of policies fighting deforestation and soil degradation. Smith said her goal is to pursue a doctorate and teach or work for a nongovernment agency for sustainable development.

Smith receives the Leadership Award from Conrado (Bobby) Gempesaw, vice provost for academic programs and planning and international programs, at the sixth annual McNair and University Undergraduate Scholars Achievement and Celebration Dinner held Aug. 11, in Clayton Hall. Photo by Kevin Quinlan

Also an accomplished violinist, Smith has played with the Collegium Musicum and the Allant Consortium Musica in Wilmington, as well as with her local civic opera orchestra.

Smith said she discovered a new interest at UD when she joined the Sailing Club. She also is an Elliott Fellow for the University Advisement Center and co-vice president of the Student Economics Association. She is a member of Alpha Lambda Delta honor society and the Omicron Delta Epsilon international economics honor society.

Smith spent the summer of 2004 in Massachusetts working with Heifer International, which provides animals to help families overseas become more self-reliant. She worked with the animals--milking goats, feeding lambs, moving the llamas and horses about and caring for poultry. She also presented programs about environmental problems, hunger and global distribution to visitors at the center.

Smith said she is looking forward to her new adventure. She wants to try sailing and skiing and plans to visit cathedrals and castles and tour Europe and possibly North Africa, as well as do some volunteering.

Article by Sue Moncure

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