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• 18 students selected as Wells Scholars at Indiana University

18 students selected as Wells Scholars at Indiana University

• Aug. 18, 2014

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Editors: Biographies for each of the 2014 Wells Scholars are available online. A link to a print-quality photo of each recipient is available with each biography.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University has announced that 17 entering freshmen and a current IU student will constitute the 25th class of Herman B Wells Scholars. They join the 525 others who have been named Wells Scholars since the first class enrolled in 1990.

This silver-anniversary class is the first brought in by Wells Scholars Program director Christoph Irmscher, Provost Professor of English at IU and the George F. Getz Jr. Professor in the Wells Scholars Program. A distinguished scholar and teacher and a celebrated author, Irmscher was appointed to lead the Wells program in August 2013. 

The scholarship, created in honor of the late IU Chancellor Herman B Wells, ranks among the most competitive and prestigious awards offered by any American university. Wells Scholars have gone on to win more than 75 national and international scholarships, fellowships and grants, such as the Rhodes, Truman, Marshall, Soros, Mitchell, Churchill, Gates Cambridge, Hertz, Luce, Beinecke, Fulbright and Goldwater.

Today, many Wells Scholars alumni are studying or working in Indiana, throughout the country and overseas in medicine, business, education, law, the arts and other fields.

On his 90th birthday, Chancellor Wells was officially presented with the prestigious scholarship program as a gift from his many friends and admirers. Since his death in the spring of 2000, this community of talented and dedicated young scholars has remained a permanent legacy of his educational vision.

Incoming freshman Wells Scholars receive full tuition and course-related fees, as well as a living stipend, for four years of undergraduate study on the Bloomington campus. Scholars may choose to spend up to one of those years studying abroad. Newly named recipients who are already students at IU receive tuition, fees and a stipend for their remaining undergraduate years. Wells Scholars hold named scholarships within the program that honor donors or those donors designate.

The Wells program also offers special seminars; support for a summer research or service project, creative activity or internship; and a wide range of extracurricular events and activities. The Wells program emphasizes close interaction with faculty, academic and career advising, opportunities for public service and contact with distinguished visitors.

The 18 new Wells Scholars and their hometowns are:

• Stephen Browne, Brookfield, Wis.
• Kira Bushman, Fort Thomas, Ky.
• Carolyn Craig, Knoxville, Tenn.
• Berklea Going, St. Louis, Mo.
• Andrew Henderson, Mishawaka, Ind.
• Naomi Kellogg, Elizabethtown, Ky.
• Corrine Kumar, Bloomington, Ind.
• Sarah Lally, Chesterfield, Mo.
• Jack Langston, Carmel, Ind.
• John McHugh, Winnetka, Ill.
• Nathan Meyers, Indianapolis
• Rajanarayana Reddy, Carmel, Ind.
• Sachin Seetharamaiah, Newburgh, Ind.
• Kushal Shah, Carmel, Ind.
• Richard Solomon, Marietta, Ga.
• Kyra Triebold, South Bend, Ind.
• Gabriel Young, Ashland, Ore.
• Timothy Zakian, Bloomington, Ind.

Freshman Wells Scholars are nominated by their high schools or the IU Office of Admissions and selected for having demonstrated exceptional qualities of character, leadership and distinction both inside and outside the classroom. The class includes several students who are the first from their high schools to receive this prestigious award. Internal Wells Scholars are nominated by IU Bloomington faculty and selected for similar qualities.

Related Links

• Wells Scholars Program