WFU student named Truman Scholar

Anjali GargWake Forest University junior Anjali Garg of Minnetonka, Minn., is among a distinguished group of undergraduates nationwide who have been named 2004 Truman Scholars by the Washington-based Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation.

Garg is one of 77 students from 67 U.S. colleges and universities named as scholars.

Established by Congress in 1975, the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation awards merit-based $26,000 scholarships to college students who plan to pursue careers in government or other public service and wish to attend graduate or professional school to help prepare for their careers. Each Truman Scholar receives $2,000 for the senior year of college and $24,000 for graduate studies.

Specific selection criteria include outstanding leadership potential, an established record of public and community service, intellectual strength, analytical ability and a commitment to a career in public service.

Garg, who is majoring in sociology with minors in women’s and gender studies and political science, has conducted research on the effects of welfare reform on immigrant communities, and on the process of gendered migration among Indian immigrant women. Garg holds multiple local and statewide leadership positions with the Democratic Party in North Carolina and hopes to combine her political background with her interest in social and economic justice through public research.

She is a member of the Wake Forest debate team. “Debate has helped me be successful in everything I do,” says Garg. “It has made me a better student – to think quickly, construct an argument in a coherent way, critically analyze an issue and to know both sides of an issue.”

In 2002, the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation recognized Wake Forest with a Truman Scholarship Honor Institution Award. The award recognized Wake Forest for “active encouragement of outstanding young people to pursue careers in public service” and “sustained success in helping students win Truman Scholarships.”

The 2004 Truman Scholars will assemble May 16 for a weeklong leadership development program in Liberty, Mo., and receive their awards in a ceremony at the Truman Library in Independence, Mo., on May 23. For a listing of the 2004 scholars and more information on the foundation, see www.truman.gov.

Categories: Recognition, Student