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Alexander Hartman Wins Watson Fellowship

The award will allow Hartman, of Pullman, Wash., to research a project titled “The Effects of Globalization on National and Ethnic Identity.” He will leave this summer on a yearlong journey to Scotland, France, Cyprus and Romania.

Hartman is among 50 graduating seniors from selective liberal arts institutions in the United States to be named a fellow. The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship Program was started in 1968 and allots recipients a $22,000 grant to create, execute and evaluate a project that generates heightened awareness of international topics. Hartman will be required to submit quarterly reports on his experience and will not be permitted to return to the United States during the 12-month wanderjahr.

“I am truly honored that the Watson Foundation has selected me to conduct this independent research project,” Hartman said. “I feel that during the upcoming year I will gain enormous insight into how ethnic conflict and nationalist movements work in the real world. Moreover, I will gain a better understanding of myself and my future career goals in the field of international conflict resolution.”

Hartman’s award continues a trend in which at least one Occidental student has been named a Watson fellow every year since 1969. Fellows come from all academic majors, and 20 percent are minorities. This year’s recipients are researching a variety of topics, including roller coaster design, the classification of tropical frogs, craters of the Australian outback, the role of youth in peacemaking, racial constructs among the deaf, and Tuvan throat singing.

The Providence, R.I.-based Thomas J. Watson Foundation was founded in 1961 as a charitable trust by Mrs. Thomas J. Watson Sr., in honor of her late husband. Since 1968, the fellowship program has granted more than 2,000 awards with stipends totaling about $23.1 million.