!["With [education... you] can be leaders in this world, your community, or your profession."](images/dvais_quote.gif)
Davis Scholars Help Internationalize Brown
Last year Dartmouth won it. This year, the honor goes to Brown. On October 1, Shelby M.C. and Gale L. Davis, founders of the Davis United World College (UWC) Scholars Program, and Philip O. Geier, Ph.D., the program’s executive director, presented President Ruth J. Simmons with the “Davis Cup.” Each year, this award is given to the school that matriculates the most first-year Davis UWC Scholars; Brown’s total of 36 placed it highest among all 92 U.S. colleges and universities participating in the program.
“Education creates possibilities,” said Mr. Davis at a reception honoring all the University’s Davis UWC Scholars. “With it, you’re not just getting a job, you’re getting a future. I’m investing in you, a motivated, talented and diverse group of students, who can be leaders in this world, your community, or your profession.”
Brown is a fairly recent participant in this relatively new program. Its foundation is the existing United World College program, which recruits exceptional students from across the globe to attend their last two years of high school at one of twelve international “world colleges.” Philanthropist Davis, recognizing that students graduating from these schools were now skilled ambassadors, decided to offer financial assistance to those accepted at selected schools of higher education here in the United States — including Brown.
The goal is to help internationalize American universities and, according to Geier, “foster greater understanding among the world’s future decision-makers.” Beginning with just 42 scholars attending 5 colleges, it has grown to more than 1700 scholars from 131 countries in just eight years, and is now one of the largest privately-funded scholarship programs in the United States.
“We’re incredibly grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Davis for their philanthropy,” said Dean of Admission James Miller ’73. “Their vision in recognizing the importance of global understanding is significant and impressive. Having students from the United World Colleges here enriches Brown tremendously.”
