Rice Senior, Houstonian Awarded Marshall Scholarship

CONTACT: David Kaplan

PHONE: (713)
831-4791

E-MAIL:dkaplan@rice.edu

RICE SENIOR, HOUSTONIAN AWARDED MARSHALL
SCHOLARSHIP

When Justyna Gudzowska was 9, her
father smuggled the family out of Poland and journeyed to America because he
wanted his children to have more opportunities in life.

Thirteen years later the dream is coming true. Gudzowska, a
Rice University senior and Stratford High School graduate, is winner of a
prestigious Marshall Scholarship.

One of only 40 students in the United States to receive a
Marshall, she will study at Cambridge University for two years beginning in
September.

Gudzowska, an economics/German studies double major, says she
is excited and nervous about “going to a whole new country by myself, but more
excited than nervous.”

Funded by the British government, the Marshall Scholarships
provide up to three years’ study at any British university for college graduates
from the United States. Candidates are judged on their academic distinction and
leadership potential. Gudzowska has a 4.0 + grade point average.

She is also one of the most talented members of the Rice
women’s varsity tennis team. At age 15 she was ranked seventh nationally in the
U.S.T.A. Junior Circuit (age 16 and under).

Gudzowska, who has spent most of her American life in Houston,
says she has received “a great broad education” at Rice and notes that almost
all of her classes are “tiny. I really get to know professors and feel they care
about me. For example, I would have never applied for a Marshall Scholarship if
a professor had not have suggested it.”

Dagobert Brito, a professor of economics, is the teacher who
suggested she apply. Brito notes that when the “very quiet and thoughtful”
Gudzowska speaks in class, “what comes out appears to be plain common sense. But
when you think about it, you realize she did a lot of deep thinking and has
profound insights. She’s very mature intellectually.”

Brito often enters his classroom early to set up his overhead
projector and says he’ll notice that “most of the students will be talking to
each other, but Justyna is working. To have a four- plus grade point average and
train in tennis requires tremendous discipline.”

Gudzowska hopes to work in the U.S. State Department in Eastern
European Affairs, after completing graduate studies. In recent summers she has
volunteered at local retirement homes.

“Justyna Gudzowska is an outstanding example of Rice’s
combination of academics and athletics,” says Mark Scheid, assistant vice
president for student affairs and director of international programs. “She is on
her way to the top economics program in the UK, on the Marshall, the UK’s most
academically rigorous post-graduate program,” Scheid says.

Gudzowska is Rice’s third Marshall winner in the last four
years and its eighth in the last 15.

For an interview with Justyna Gudzowska or for more
information, please contact David Kaplan at (713) 831-4791 or e-mail at
dkaplan@rice.edu.

Rice University is a leading American research
university–small, private and highly selective–distinguished by its superior
teaching, commitment to undergraduate education, outstanding graduate and
professional programs, residential college system, collaborative and
interdisciplinary culture, and global perspective.

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