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Miami students receive Gilman Scholarships for study abroad

01/02/2008

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Quthesa �Qu� Whitaker

Quthesa "Qu" Whitaker and Kyle Dunnington (spelling correction) are recipients of Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships for study abroad during spring semester. The Gilman program received 1,369 applications for 400 possible awards this year.

Dunnington, a junior architecture major, will use the $3,500 award to study in Italy through the Kent State in Florence program.

Whitaker, a senior sociology major, will study at Miami's Luxembourg campus with her $4,000 award. Whitaker is a non-traditional student at Miami, mother of four and grandmother of four. Her daughter Shaquita graduated from Miami in 2000.

Whitaker first attended Miami Middletown 17 years ago. Family responsibilities got in the way and she left school and raised her children as a single parent. "I'm just overwhelmed," she said, when she found out she'd received a Gilman scholarship.

Whitaker is looking forward to Luxembourg and to graduation in the spring, especially since her college studies have become an inspiration to her seven-year-old grandson.

As part of the Gilman award, Whitaker will write a journal and take photographs of her experiences, to be used to recruit other non-traditional and minority students and encourage them to take advantage of opportunities available at Miami.

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, this congressionally funded program is administered by the Institute of International Education.