Last modified: Wednesday, May 28, 2008
IU history graduate student named Javits fellow
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 28, 2008
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Alex Tipei, a graduate student in history at Indiana University, is one of 44 Jacob K. Javits fellows named this month by the U.S. Department of Education. The fellowships are awarded to graduate students in the arts, humanities and social sciences.
The fellows, selected from 899 applicants, were chosen on the basis of superior academic achievement, financial need and exceptional promise. The fellowships consist of a maximum stipend of $30,000, depending on need, and an institutional payment of $12,981 to cover the full cost of tuition and fees.
Alex Tipei
Tipei is a student at the IU Bloomington Department of History, where her faculty advisers are Associate Professors Maria Bucur and Rebecca Spang. A native of Champaign, Ill., she has an undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a postgraduate degree from the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris.
Her master's thesis dealt with Romanian émigrés in Paris during the Cold War, and she is continuing her research on networks of intellectuals and political leaders that developed across Eastern Europe, notably in Romania, Greece and Poland, allowing French models of national construction to permeate the region. Being named a Javits fellow, she said, will enable her to complete preliminary work for her dissertation proposal and conduct research in the archives and libraries of several countries.
"Personally, winning the Javits brought a real sense of validation to my project and my work as a graduate student," Tipei said.
Javits fellows were selected by panels of academic experts appointed by the Jacob K. Javits Fellowship Board, whose members are distinguished scholars appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Education. According to program rules, 20 percent of fellowships are awarded in the arts, 20 percent in the social sciences and 60 percent in the humanities.
The fellowships may be renewed for up to four years. In addition to the 44 new Javits fellows announced this month, there are 176 continuing Javits fellows attending 62 colleges and universities.
