University of Virginia Library

Peele, Pruett, Reynolds
Awarded Danforth Grants

By Brian Siegel
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Selection of three fourth-year
men at the University has been
announced by the Danforth Foundation
of St. Louis, Missouri as
recipients of Danforth Graduate
Fellowships for advanced study for
their doctorates.

The fellowships are being given
to Thomas B. Peele, III, William A.
Pruett, and Charles F. Reynolds,
III. Those students will be provided
with tuition and living expenses for
four years of study in preparation
for a career of college teaching.

More than 1,900 fourth-year
college and University students
throughout the United States competed
for the 113 fellowships
awarded this year. Schools are
allowed to nominate a specified
number of students according to
their enrollment. The University
had five nominations this year;
three were successful in winning the
fellowships and one student, Pieter-Schenkkan
won an honorable mention.

Teaching Careers

The Danforth Fellowships are
designed to encourage outstanding
College Graduates who show promise
for distinguished careers in
college teaching in order to help
meet the critical need for University
professors.

A national panel of educators
selects the Fellows on the basis of
the intellectual power of the
candidate and his commitment to
humane values and their place in
higher education. The University
nominees were each interviewed by
such a panel in Richmond. The
personal interview represents an
important part of the selection
procedure, according to Mr. Pruett.

Mr. Peele is a Philosophy major
at the University and plans to
pursue his advanced degree in the
philosophy of religion and aesthetics.
He is unsure as to where he
will be spending his next year.

To Attend Princeton

Mr. Pruett is majoring in History
at the University and plans to
attend Princeton University next
year. He hopes to take his Ph.D.
there, concentrating in Tudor history.
During the past few summers
Mr. Pruett has participated in the
University Head Start Program.

Mr. Reynolds is a fourth-year
man in the College majoring in
Philosophy and Religious Studies.
He is attending Yale Medical School
next year and hopes to enter an
M.D.-Ph.D. program there.

1500 Awarded

Last year Mr. Reynolds participated
in Koinania, an experimental
community at the University with
residents chosen for their openness,
interest, and sensitivity to other
individuals according to a spokesman
for the group.

Mr. Schenkkan, who has already
been designated a Rhodes Scholar,
received honorable mention in the
competition for these awards.

Over 1,500 Danforth Fellowships
have been awarded since the
program was established in 1952,
and more than 700 of the men and
women who received the awards
have received their Ph.D. degrees
and are now teaching in colleges
and universities.

David Harned, University coordinator
for the Danforth Foundation
and Chairman of the Department
of Religious Studies, said "We
have not received notice of how the
University compared with other
schools this year. Last year, with
three Fellows, we were tied for the
greatest number of awards with
several other schools. This year,
however," he added, "I suspect we
will be first, but we cannot tell
until we receive notification."