Centre senior wins coveted Rotary Scholarship

RELEASED: Jan. 18, 2006

DANVILLE, KY—Ines Kevric, a senior biology major and pre-med student from Bowling Green, Ky., has a long list of credits to mark her already-exceptional college career. Last summer she did an internship in the microbiology department at Harvard Medical School; she’s a resident assistant; an athlete (track and cross country); a seven-term Dean’s List student; a former member of the Student Government Association; a member of the College counsel’s planning and priorities committee; president of the outdoors club; and has studied abroad in Mexico.

Now Kevric has another major achievement to add to the list—a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship with which she’ll spend a year doing biomedical research at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba in Córdoba, Argentina.

The competitive scholarship is a flat grant for one academic year of study in another country. This award is intended to help defray costs associated with round-trip transportation, tuition, fees, room and board expenses, and some educational supplies. According to Rotary International’s Web site, the purpose of the Ambassadorial Scholarships program is to further international understanding and friendly relations among people of different countries.

"After coming back from studying abroad in Mexico, I thought, 'Oh, my gosh! I have to do this again!'" Kevric says. "Eventually I’ll go to medical school, but I wanted to take a year off to do something abroad, preferably in a Spanish-speaking country."

Milton Reigelman, Cowan Professor of English and director of Centre's study abroad programs, helped Kevric navigate the application and interview process.

"Rotary International's Ambassadorial Scholarships program is a perfect complement to Centre’s study-abroad program because it rewards students who are bright, curious about the world and have learned to be sensitive to different cultures," Reigelman says. "In the past several years, Centre students have done exceptionally well against students from larger schools in this particular competition. Last spring, for example, not only did Ines and Mark Mallman receive scholarships, Brad Samples ['06] won an alternate slot and Kelly McGrath ['06] was—like Rocky—a serious contender."

It might seem surprising that Kevric feels comfortable enough with her Spanish-speaking skills to do medical research in Argentina, even though she's only had one class in Spanish and spent just one semester in Mexico. But it isn't so surprising given the fact that her flawless English is the product of only a few short years in the United States—her parents emigrated here from Yugoslavia in 1998.

Steve Asmus, Dowling Associate Professor of Biology and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, is Kevric’s faculty advisor.

"Ines is always excited about learning new material and discovering how molecular mechanisms of cell function help to explain the bigger picture of how physiological systems function," Asmus says. "She's fun to have in class because she routinely asks thought-provoking questions."

"I've enjoyed getting to know Ines both as a student in my senior seminar class and as a student representative to the Biology Program Committee," said professor of biology Chris Barton. "She's a fine student who takes a very active role in her academic endeavors. She's certainly a very worthy recipient of the Rotary Ambassadorial scholarship."

Since 1947, nearly 37,000 men and women from 100 nations have studied abroad under the support of Rotary International. Today it is the world's largest privately funded international scholarships program. More than 1,000 scholarships were awarded for study between 2003 and 2004. Through grants totaling approximately  $428 million, recipients from some 70 countries studied in more than 70 nations.

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

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