University of Georgia Foundation Fellow Jayanthi Narain has been selected as one of 43 recipients of a 2007 Marshall Scholarship to study in the United Kingdom. Narain, a senior from Macon with majors in international affairs and economics, is the first female and fifth UGA student to earn this prestigious national award.

After graduating in May, Narain will pursue a one-year master of science program in development studies at the London School of Economics and then a master’s degree in Near and Middle Eastern studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London the following year.

“To have four University of Georgia students selected as Marshall Scholars in the past five years is a real point of pride,” said UGA President Michael F. Adams. “I am pleased that our students are exhibiting a heightened interest in world affairs. The Marshall Scholarship will help Jayanthi pursue important studies for the future of our rapidly changing world.”

The Marshall scholarships were established in 1953 by the British Parliament to serve as a living gift to the United States for its role in the Marshall Plan, the European recovery effort after World War II. Considered one of the highest academic honors an American graduating senior can receive, the Marshall enables at least 40 students each year to immerse themselves in British life and gain an understanding and appreciation of the unique relationship between the U.S. and Britain.

Each scholarship is for two years of study at any university in the United Kingdom, and includes living expenses, tuition, books, research grants, daily travel and airfare to and from the United States.

According to Steve Elliott-Gower, UGA’s Marshall Scholarship advisor and associate director of the Honors Program, the selection process is completed through eight regions where a total of 958 applications were received from all over the country. Narain was one of five students who won a Marshall through the program’s Atlanta Regional Selection Committee, which consists of five former Marshall Scholars and the British Consul-General. The Atlanta region committee (which covers Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee and the Virgin Islands) reviewed 159 applications and interviewed 20 finalists.

“I am most pleased that Jayanthi has received this level of recognition of her academic and personal qualities,” said David S. Williams, director of UGA’s Honors Program. “She not only has a very impressive intellect, but she is also an extremely empathetic person. Jayanthi will doubtless make a great deal of positive difference in the world.”

Studying and working abroad is not new for Narain. Through her Foundation Fellowship, UGA’s most prestigious undergraduate scholarship, she has traveled to New Zealand, South Korea and the Galapagos Islands. In the summer of 2006, she was involved in an HIV/AIDS education program set up in primary and secondary schools in Malawi, a country in southeastern Africa.

In December, Narain visited Cambodia as an intern for Heritage Watch, a non-profit organization devoted to preserving Cambodia’s cultural legacy. She wiorked with their heritage friendly tourism campaign, which targets tourists to raise greater public awareness about the country’s culture, arts and development projects.

Narain was awarded the 2005 National Security and Education Program (NSEP) David L. Boren Scholarship to study Arabic, the Middle East and economics at the American University and the Al-Diwan Institute in Cairo for six months. During that intensive semester, she taught English to refugees and worked closely with a Sudanese refugee family whose children could not attend school.

In addition to being an international scholar and volunteer, Narain has been busy in campus organizations that reflect her interests in women’s issues. She is founder and current president of STOP (Sexual violence Targeted Outreach and Prevention), a group focused on sexual violence awareness, and has helped organize activities such as “Take Back the Night,” an annual community-wide event. As a member of Amnesty International, Narain has encouraged discussion about genocide and women’s rights.

Ken Honerkamp, a professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at UGA, was not surprised that his student’s success in academic and extracurricular activities culminated with a Marshall award.

“For me as a professor, Jayanthi is a very special student,” said Honerkamp. “Her linguistic skills, when coordinated with the course of study she has planned out for the Marshall Scholarship focusing on international development and women’s role in the developing economies of the world, make me proud to have had a hand in her intellectual development here at UGA.”

In addition to her double major, Narain has minors in French and Arabic. Her career aspirations include working in economic development, particularly on sustainable community-based solutions to poverty and giving special attention to women in the Middle East or South Asia.

“This is really one of the most incredible opportunities I could imagine—to live in the UK and study at some of the world’s best institutions, while becoming a part of this legacy of scholarship represented by the Marshall,” said Narain.

Past UGA recipients of the Marshall Scholarship include Matthew Crim, a 2005 Honors graduate in political science and cellular biology who also won a Truman Scholarship; Josh Woodruff, a 2003 Honors graduate in biochemistry/molecular biology and cellular biology; Joe Wolpin, a 2003 Honors graduate in history and Russian; and Joseph Harris, a 1961 graduate who went on to become a chaired professor of English and folklore at Harvard University. Crim and Wolpin were Foundation Fellows while attending UGA.