February 25 1999
The fellowships provide $14,500 and cover tuition and fee costs for one year of graduate study. Winners will be announced during the week of March 29 by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Eighty fellowships, offered annually through the Mellon Foundation are administered by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, Princeton, N.J.
Twenty KU students have received Mellon fellowships since the program was established in 1982.
In the final competition, candidates have a 20-minute interview with a panel of faculty judges from the students' geographic region. VanCleave competes in the central region, which includes Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Texas.
At KU, VanCleave is majoring in English, political science and European studies. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert VanCleave, 13327 W. 113th St., Overland Park.
VanCleave, who was regional finalist for a Rhodes Scholarship last fall, wants to teach literature with an interdisciplinary emphasis on political and social issues.
Barbara Schowen, KU honors program director, noted that VanCleave has shown extraordinary scholarly promise and as an undergraduate is breaking new intellectual ground. "At least three of her professors have urged her to publish papers she has written for her courses. Several have mentioned how her analyses have taught them to think differently about their own work," Schowen said.
VanCleave volunteers and serves on the board of directors for Women's Transitional Care Services in Lawrence, which provides shelter and counseling for victims of domestic abuse. She worked in a homeless shelter in Washington, D.C., for a week as an alternative spring break and completed a summer internship at the White House Counsel's Office.
VanCleave is a National Merit Scholar and serves as vice president of her scholarship hall. She is a graduate of St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Overland Park.
Story by Mary Jane Dunlap, University Relations, (785) 864-8853