UNM STUDENT ELIZABETH PECK NAMED TRUMAN SCHOLAR

March 25, 2003

UNM STUDENT ELIZABETH PECK NAMED TRUMAN SCHOLAR

University of New Mexico student Elizabeth Peck has been named a 2003 Truman Scholar, announced UNM President F. Chris Garcia.

Peck is among 76 students from 63 U.S. colleges and universities to be selected as 2003 Truman Scholars. They were elected by 20 independent selection panels on the basis of leadership potential, intellectual ability, and likelihood of “making a difference.”

Five UNM students have received the scholarship in the past six years, including two in 1998 and one in 1999 and 2001.

The 76 scholars were selected from among 635 candidates nominated by 305 colleges and universities. Each selection panel interviewed finalists from a 3 - 4 state region and generally elected one scholar from each state and one or two at-large Scholars from the region. Each panel typically included a university president, a federal judge, a distinguished public servant, and a past Truman Scholarship winner.

The scholarship carries a $30,000 award including $3,000 for senior year and $27,000 for two or three years of graduate study.

Peck, from Cortez, Colo., is a junior UNM Regent’s Scholar and is double majoring in music and Russian language. She recently spent seven weeks studying Russian language, literature and culture at the Center for Russian Studies in Vladimir, Russia, as a National Security Education Program participant.

“As a previous recipient of a David L. Boren Scholarship that allowed her to study in Russia, she epitomizes outstanding scholarship and a desire to learn,” said UNM President F. Chris Garcia. “Elizabeth follows in the tradition of other UNM Scholars who have received remarkable scholarship opportunities. Elizabeth is an outstanding example of the top-notch students we have at UNM.”

Peck is the editor of Scribendi, a literary magazine for the Western Regional Honors Council, and a musician in various ensembles at UNM. As a member of the UNM Wind Symphony, she recently finished recording a CD with Joseph Alessi of the New York Philharmonic.

To her, music is “an important means of communicating across cultures and a way to serve the community.” She is active in other campus and community organizations, including the Albuquerque Student Alliance for Progress, Sister Cities of Albuquerque, Phi Alpha Delta Pre-Law Fraternity International, and the UNM Speech and Debate Society. After graduation, Elizabeth plans to obtain a master’s in Russian Studies and a juris doctorate in Environmental Law. She hopes to work on environmental issues in Russia, and use this experience to later work in the U.S. State Department.

“Using this award I will gain the skills and abilities necessary to improve future American and Russian lives,” Peck said.

Her father, Paul Peck, is a partnership coordinator with the US Forest Service, and her mother, Mary Peck, is a teacher at Trinity Lutheran Preschool in Cortez.

The 2003 Truman Scholars will assemble May 18 for a week-long leadership development program at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, and receive their awards in a special ceremony at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, on May 25, 2003.

The Truman Scholarship Foundation was established by Congress in 1975 as the federal memorial to the 33rd President of the United States. The foundation awards scholarships for college students to attend graduate school in preparation for careers in government or elsewhere in public service. The activities of the foundation are supported by a special trust fund in the U.S. Treasury. There have been 2,099 Truman Scholars elected since the first awards were made in 1977.

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