Racine student receives prestigious Truman Scholarship

Jonathan R. Welch, a senior from Racine pursuing an individual major in health and society, is one of 79 university students from across the nation who have been selected as 1999 Truman Scholars.

Each scholarship provides $30,000 for graduate study. Welch, who is enrolled in the College of Letters and Science, was selected from among 657 candidates. The foundation awards scholarships to college students who have outstanding leadership potential, plan to pursue careers in government or elsewhere in public service, and wish to attend graduate school to help prepare for their careers.

Welch plans a career in health and human rights. He says that serving an internship last summer at the Institute for Health and Social Justice, a non-governmental organization affiliated with the Harvard Medical School, strengthened his intention to pursue a career in public health.

As an intern, Welch helped a Haiti clinic obtain a much-needed shipment of zidovudine (AZT), a drug that can extend life for people with AIDS and prevent transmission of HIV from pregnant mothers to their children. Rebuffed by a United Nations program, Welch went to AZT’s manufacturer, Glaxo Wellcome, which agreed to provide Haiti’s Clinique Bon Sauveur with AZT at a significant discount.

“This success was immensely gratifying, proving to me that deep concern can overcome administrative barriers – in this case, allowing good treatment to reach sick people in the most unlikely of settings, an impoverished village in rural Haiti,” Welch says.

As a UW undergrad, Welch also has volunteered at the UW Children’s Hospital and tutored homeless elementary school students. He also is founder and director of the ASPIRE program (Achieving Success by Promoting Interest in HigheR Education), a new project this semester that encourages elementary school students from minority and economically disadvantaged backgrounds to pursue a college education.

To give the young students direct exposure to the college environment, they attend four weeks of specially designed classes on campus. Thirty students participated this semester; Welch hopes he and his faculty, staff and student partners can bring 100 or more to campus next year.

“By bringing together groups of enthusiastic people with common values, we have been able to establish a new structure through which university undergraduates can inspire minority students in elementary schools to consider going to college,” Welch says.

This summer, Welch plans to return to the Institute for Health and Social Justice. He expects to graduate in May 2000. After completing the undergraduate major in health and society that he designed himself, Welch intends to pursue a medical degree and a doctorate in medical anthropology with an emphasis on infectious disease, poverty, and human rights.

“My long-term plans are to start a non-governmental organization that supports health projects in poor areas throughout the world,” Welch says.

“As an advocate for the poor, I hope to alleviate unnecessary suffering in the United States and other nations by formulating pro-poor health strategies that will equitably ensure health to all people.”