MOTIVATION AND MENTORS Student-faculty partnerships merit major fellowships
Kelsey Keith
A firm believer that “no one gets where they are alone,” Buchanan Fellow Kelsey Keith says MTSU’s Honors College and English Department altered her academic trajectory, sharpened her skills as a leader, and expanded her ideas for her future. “During my first semester as an English major, I took classes with Dr. Claudia Barnett, Dr. Eric Detweiler, and Dr. Kate Pantelides. They became my most trusted mentors throughout college,” she said.
All of our fellowship winners possess strong work ethics, excellent communication skills, and teamwork. According to Keith, Interim Chair Ron Kates helped with scheduling and planning for the future, while directors and peers at the University Writing Center (UWC), a tutoring class with UWC Director Erica CirilloMcCarthy, and working as a writing tutor helped her develop “a passion for equity in education that has steered my post-graduation goals.” The English and Spanish double-major, who previously studied abroad in Chile and was editor-in-chief of the fall 2020 Collage: A Journal of Creative Expression, is currently teaching in Spain through the Fulbright fellowship program. Keith additionally won an $8,500 Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship recently. 30
ARETÉ MAGAZINE | Fall 2021
Laura Clippard
Her roommate, Katrina Scott, a Buchanan Fellow with majors in Visual Art and French, said faculty from the World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures and the Art and Design departments made a significant impact on her college career. Department Chair Roger Pieroni’s French classes inspired her to travel abroad, and his guidance and encouragement eventually enabled her to study abroad in Caen, a port city in Normandy, France. The trip inspired what became her Honors thesis project the following semester (see page 6). Scott, editor-in-chief of the spring 2021 issue of Collage, was awarded a slot in the Teaching Assistant Program in Rouen, France. Undergraduate Fellowships Office Coordinator Laura Clippard recently acknowledged that partnerships with faculty, academic departments, Education Abroad, the UWC, the Undergraduate Research Center, and others created a community of support for students and greatly contributed to the success of fellowship and scholarship applicants. As a result of these partnerships, over two dozen students captured coveted opportunities this year, including teaching overseas and conducting research with other universities. Clippard spoke proudly about the caliber of fellowship applicants. “Our students show diversity in their career goals, backgrounds, and campus involvement, but all of our fellowship winners possess strong work ethics, excellent communication skills, and teamwork,” Clippard said. “MTSU has extraordinary and highly motivated students.”
