Two in College win Marshalls

Mona Knock and Jessica Sebeok each won scholarships to attend Oxford University in England next fall.

The Marshall Scholarship, financed by the British government, provides academically excellent American students with full tuition and expenses for two or three years of study at a British university.

The scholarship was established in 1953 as a gesture of thanks to the people of the United States for aid received under the Marshall Plan after World War II. Approximately 800 candidates from around the United States apply each year for the annual award. Knock, who is concentrating in chemistry, is a member of the early admission program of the Pritzker School of Medicine. She is an accomplished marathon runner, a world-traveled concert violinist and a certified single-engine pilot.

Noting "her love of science and her exceptional academic record," Knock's Marshall award states that she will attend Oxford University, where "she intends to study chemistry, her main interest being the spectroscopic analysis of materials to determine their properties and interactions." She intends to pursue her graduate research career at Chicago after she completes her Marshall studies

Sebeok's concentration is in the field of East European history, with a focus on Hungary, the Hungarian language and contemporary Hungarian cultural issues. Currently working as an intern at the Journal of Modern History, Sebeok has performed with the University Chorus and Motet Choir and is an editor for the Free Press newspaper.

"Jessica will study Russia and Eastern Europe at Oxford University," her Marshall award states, "after which she will be well qualified to pursue her career in journalism or government service and really make a difference to the lives of ordinary East Europeans, who are trying to rebuild their countries after years of communist rule."