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Luce Scholarship Will Send Mirra Levitt, Class of 2003, to Asia for Year
Mirra Levitt is one of 15 young Americans to receive the Luce Scholarship, an award that will give her the opportunity to live and work in Asia for a year. It is the second time in as many years that a Brown graduate has been selected to receive the prestigious award. PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Mirra Levitt, a 2003 graduate of Brown University, is one of 15 young Americans to be named a 2005 Luce Scholar, an award that provides the opportunity to live and work in Asia for a year. It is the second time in as many years that a Brown alumna has been selected to receive the prestigious award. Levitt, a native of Watertown, Mass., majored in history at Brown. For her honors thesis, she wrote about historian Angie Debo and the dispossession of the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma. Since graduating, Levitt has worked as a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs. Elena Lesley, a 2004 graduate of Brown, was named a Luce Scholar last year. She is spending her year in Cambodia, where she works for the Phnom Penh Daily, an English language newspaper. Levitt does not yet know where her Luce experience will take her; she will work with Luce program coordinators over the next few months to determine her placement. She is particularly interested in working in an environment and development agency in China or Thailand. While a student at Brown, Levitt was assistant director of the Rose Writing Fellows Program; worked on the editorial staff of the Brown Journal of World Affairs, serving as its managing editor during her senior year; and played club soccer, captaining the team for one year. She also held internships at the Rules Division of the World Trade Organization and at American Prospect magazine. The Luce Scholars Program, a part of the Henry Luce Foundation, provides stipends and internships for the select group of recipients, none of whom has majored in East Asian studies. Dating from 1974, the program's purpose is to increase awareness of Asia among future leaders in American society. The scholarship is extremely competitive, according to Linda Dunleavy, associate dean of the College: Only 65 colleges and universities are invited to nominate up to three students each, and at Brown, the internal competition for these slots is keen. Nominees have brief interviews with members of the Luce Foundation staff; finalists undergo a two-day interview during which they meet individually with members of their regional committee. Each regional committee names five winners. ###### News Service Home | Top of File | e-Subscribe | Brown Home Page | ||||