Athens, Ga. – University of Georgia Honors student Christina Faust has been named a 2008 Morris K. Udall Scholar, a prominent national award honoring outstanding sophomores and juniors planning careers related to environmental or Native American policy.
Faust, a UGA junior, also recently won a 2008 Truman Scholarship. A graduate of Cedar Shoals High School in Athens, she is pursuing a dual bachelor’s/master’s degree in ecology. She is the daughter of Lynn and the late Tim Faust, a former professor in UGA’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, and the granddaughter of Bob and Marian Olyha, also of Athens.
Faust is one of 80 Udall Scholars chosen among 510 applicants and the third UGA student to receive the scholarship in recent years.
“Kudos to Christina for the second significant academic honor this semester,” said UGA President Michael F. Adams. “She is an extraordinarily talented young woman and representative of the quality of the UGA student body.”
The $5,000 scholarships, administered by the Morris K. Udall Foundation, were created in 1992 by the U.S. Congress as a tribute to Udall for his 30-year career in the House of Representatives.
“In addition to an incredibly full academic schedule, Christina has made time for significant contributions to Focus the Nation, a national policy initiative that addresses global warming, to environmental stewardship on campus, and to poverty initiatives in Athens,” said Ron Carroll, a professor of ecology and UGA’s faculty representative for the Udall Scholarship. “Because she thinks deeply about the environmental policy implications of her research and career choice, she is the perfect Udall recipient.”
Faust is conducting avian influenza virus research through UGA’s Eugene P. Odum School of Ecology and the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study in UGA’s College of Veterinary Medicine. She has studied abroad extensively and volunteered for Arcturos, a non-profit wildlife conservation group in Aetos, Greece, where she assisted in research on the impact of development on wolves and conducted a behavioral study on brown bears this past summer.
“Representative Morris Udall was an inspirational public figure who was committed to the environment,” said Faust, “and I hope to carry on his legacy to improve our world.”
Faust would like to pursue a DVM and a Ph.D. in ecology of infectious diseases and use her knowledge and expertise working with environmental non-profits or non-governmental organizations.
“Christina is an impressive person and is highly deserving of recognition,” said David S. Williams, director of UGA’s Honors Program. “Her dual awards cap a year of remarkable success for Honors students in national scholarship competitions.”
In addition to Faust’s Udall and Truman Scholarships, two UGA Honors students received 2008 Rhodes Scholarships and another was selected as a Goldwater Scholar. Only three other schools—all private institutions—have at least one Rhodes, Truman, Goldwater and Udall recipient this year. They are Columbia, Stanford and Yale.
For more information on the 2008 Udall Scholars, see http://www.udall.gov/scholarship.
For more information on UGA’s Honors Program, see http://www.uga.edu/honors.
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Note to editors: A photo of Faust is available by contacting Wendy Jones at wfjones@uga.edu or 706/542-6927.
