KU News Release

KU junior wins Udall scholarship; two others earn honorable mentions

Raymond Red Corn

LAWRENCE — A University of Kansas junior is among the 80 newly announced Udall scholars for 2007-08. Raymond M. “Studie” Red Corn is a member of the Osage Nation planning a career working with the environment and tribal public policy.

Red Corn, a civil engineering major, is the son of Raymond Red Corn of Pawhuska, Okla., and of the late Elizabeth Red Corn. His family formerly lived in Shawnee, Kan. He is a graduate of Shawnee Mission Northwest High School.

Udall scholarships provide $5,000 for students planning careers in fields related to the environment and for Native American and Alaska Natives seeking careers in fields related to health care or tribal policy.

Two more KU juniors were recognized with honorable mentions and will receive a $350 award: Sara E. Edwards of Leawood and Bridget Livers of Overland Park.

“I am pleased to congratulate Studie Red Corn as well as Sara Edwards and Bridget Livers,” said Chancellor Robert Hemenway. “The Udall scholarship not only recognizes Studie’s excellence as a promising environmental engineer but also his personal hopes for meeting the challenges that are facing the leaders of the 21st century, especially within the Osage Nation. To have two more of our nominees distinguished as honorable mentions attests to the excellent quality of students attracted to KU.”

Since the first Udall scholarships were awarded in 1996, 17 have been awarded to 16 KU students (one student received the scholarship twice).

Nominees must be college sophomores or juniors who demonstrate outstanding potential and study the environment and related fields or must be Native American or Alaska Native college sophomores or juniors who demonstrate outstanding potential and study fields related to health care or tribal public policy. Two-year and four-year institutions may nominate a total of six students from either or both categories. Scholars selected during their sophomore year may be renominated during the next year’s competition.

Established by Congress in 1992, the scholarship program honors Congressman Udall and his legacy of public service. The Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in National Environmental Policy Foundation in Tucson, Ariz., administers the program.

The career goals, hometown information and academic and service activities for KU’s new Udall scholar and honorable mentions are below.

JOHNSON COUNTY
From Leawood (66209)
Sarah E. Edwards is majoring in environmental studies and in English, with a career goal of working in environmental law and in the political arena. She is a National Merit Scholar. She is one of 20 students selected from among 5,000 sophomores for KU’s University Scholars academic mentorship program. She is also a member of Phi Kappa Phi honor society. She is president and co-founder of From the Inside Out, a body image peer education group, and vice president of Chi Omega sorority. Edwards also is a member of the advisory board for Rock Chalk Revue, a philanthropic stage show, and has been a member of the KU Marching Jayhawks band. For the past year, she has been a math instructor with the Kansas Algebra Program at KU. She is the daughter of Rob and Elizabeth Edwards and a graduate of Blue Valley North High School.

From Overland Park (66210)
Bridget K. Livers is an environmental studies major with an emphasis in botany. Her long-range goals include working as a teaching scientist focused on environmental problems. This summer, she will conduct biogeographical field research in Australia through a Duke University study abroad program. She works in the lab of Daphne G. Fautin, professor and curator of invertebrate zoology at KU’s Natural History Museum. She is in KU’s University Honors Program and is a member of Phi Kappa Phi honor society. She volunteers with Operation Wildlife, a rehabilitation veterinary center. As a freshman, Livers organized recycling projects in her residence hall and continues to encourage community recycling efforts among her friends. She is the daughter of Richard and Lenda Livers and is a graduate of Blue Valley Northwest High School.

OKLAHOMA
From Pawhuska, Okla., and Shawnee, Kan. (66216)
Raymond M. “Studie” Red Corn is majoring in civil engineering with an environmental emphasis. In his scholarship essay, Red Corn notes, “The No. 1 thing I want to do as an engineer and public servant is make the environmentally sound solution the most economical one.” At KU, he has researched the benefits of hybrid vehicles for campus police fleets. At the request of his father, an Osage congressman, Red Corn is researching the potential for wind as renewable energy source, as well as the most sustainable use of water resources on the reservation. Red Corn serves as regional director for 2020 Vision, a program that promotes implementing renewable energy, and is president of the KU chapter. Active in student government, Red Corn chairs the Multicultural Affairs Committee and the Student Environmental Advisory Board, which manages KU’s recycling program. He has worked as an intern for Camp Dresser McKee engineering firm in Wichita and the U.S. National Park Service.

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