Senior Brian Pellot named Marshall Scholar
The honor allows for American students to pursue degrees in the U.K.
Published Dec. 4, 2009
The U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office named senior Brian Pellot a member of the 2010 class of Marshall Scholars on Tuesday.
According to the office's Web site, the U.K. government has awarded 35 American students a Marshall Scholarship since 1953, giving exceptional American students the opportunity to pursue graduate degrees at top U.K. academic and research institutions.
Named for Secretary of State George C. Marshall, the program began in gratitude for the assistance the U.K. received from the U.S. after World War II in the Marshall Plan, the office's Web site stated.
"I'm absolutely thrilled to receive this award," Pellot said. "I was on the treadmill at Mizzou's Rec Center when the Consul General in Chicago called me to share the good news. I was out of breath and surprised to hear word so soon after the interviews, but ecstatic."
According to the office's Web site, with this award, Pellot joins more than 1,500 American students who have participated in the program, including Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tom Friedman and Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.
As a journalism student, Pellot has gained experience through several study abroad fellowships, working at the American University in Dubai as a Rotary Ambassador Scholar, covering Lebanon's parliamentary elections and reporting for the Huffington Post in Egypt.
Pellot said he built his application over several years.
"The application process was rigorous to say the least," Pellot said. "I began preparing for the Rhodes and the Marshall applications before moving to Dubai at the end of my sophomore year."
Pellot, who is MU's first Marshall scholar in more than 25 years, said the award is a great honor and hopes more students will apply in the future.
"Brian has outstanding personal accomplishments that make him a strong candidate for national awards, but he is also a dedicated applicant," MU Fellowships Coordinator Vicky Riback Wilson said. "In each new application, he builds on the experience and skills gained from previous applications."
Pellot and eight other Marshall Scholars have chosen to study at Oxford University. As a critical language scholar, Pellot studied Arabic and intends to enroll in Oxford's Modern Middle Eastern Studies program.
"They really emphasize learning the language, Arabic in my case, to the point of research proficiency so that I can draw upon primary documents for my thesis," Pellot said.
Pellot said he is planning on studying how religion affects politics in the region and likes the strength of the faculty for Maghreb and Lebanese studies, where most of his work in the Middle East has taken place.
"All of the 2010 Marshall Scholars represent the finest and brightest young American minds across a dazzling educational waterfront," British Ambassador Sir Nigel Sheinwald said in a news release. "I know that all these young men and women will be excellent ambassadors for the United States — and I hope they will draw on their British experience as they go on to highly successful careers and lives."
Pellot said he plans on working as a foreign correspondent for several years in the Middle East following his work at Oxford and beyond reporting, his interests involve working in U.S. politics.
