Last modified: Tuesday, April 7, 2009
IU senior Rebecca Burns receives Wells Senior Recognition Award
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 7, 2009
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Rebecca Burns, a graduating senior at Indiana University Bloomington, has received Indiana University's prestigious Herman B Wells Senior Recognition Award.
Rebecca Burns
The award, established in honor of the late IU Chancellor Herman B Wells, recognizes excellence in academic achievement and excellence of contribution to the campus community through leadership and participation in campus activities.
Burns came to IU Bloomington in 2005 as a Wells Scholar, after graduating from Reading High School in Reading, Mass. In May, she will graduate Phi Beta Kappa with majors in international studies, African studies and English; minors in French and African languages; and a near-perfect grade point average.
"Rebecca's commitment to scholarship, to justice, and to service to others is a model for us all," said Provost and Executive Vice President Karen Hanson. "With leaders like Rebecca, we know that the future is in good hands and our society may well make inroads against injustice and inhumanity."
As a first-semester freshman at IU, Burns founded a chapter of STAND, the student-led division of the Genocide Intervention Network. She served an internship with the network the summer after her freshman year, and is now Great Lakes regional outreach coordinator for STAND, an organization born out of the fight to stop genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.
As a direct result of her work with STAND and her lobbying efforts, the Bloomington City Council, the University Faculty Council at IU and the Indiana General Assembly all passed resolutions requiring public institutions to divest funds from companies doing business with the Sudanese government.
As an IU student, Burns has studied and traveled in Tanzania and Rwanda, studied post-conflict reconstruction at the Center for Khmer Studies in Cambodia, and taken part in a student health delegation to the Dominican Republic under the auspices of the Timmy Foundation. She has been a volunteer with the Bloomington Community Kitchen and a fundraising and development intern with Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Central Indiana.
She was the student co-organizer of a Hutton Honors College symposium on the international role and image of the United States, published an essay in the Undergraduate Journal of International Studies and served as an editorial assistant for Africa Today, a journal based at IU.
Provost Hanson presented the Wells Senior Recognition Award at a recent dinner in Burns' honor. She was also recognized March 29 at the IU Bloomington Honors Convocation.
