NEWS

UNC senior Elizabeth Kistin wins Rhodes Scholarship

CHAPEL HILL – Elizabeth Kistin of Corrales, N.M., a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has won a 2004 Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University in England.

A double major in political science and Latin American studies, Kistin will use the scholarship to earn a master's degree in developmental studies, exploring the effects of non-governmental organizations on indigenous populations in Latin America.

"Ultimately, I would like to work with the United Nations or an international non-governmental organization for the development of rural Latin America," she said.

The daughter of Dr. Martin and Sidney Kistin of 204 Meadowlark East, Corrales, Kistin graduated from Albuquerque Academy in 2000. A Morehead Scholar at UNC, she has a grade-point average of nearly 3.9, has made the dean’s list every semester and been inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.

"I know I speak for the Carolina community in expressing our pride in Liz," said Chancellor James Moeser. "She has made the most of all that a Carolina education has to offer. Her excellence in academics, service and leadership make her an ideal choice for an honor as rare and distinguished as the Rhodes Scholarship."

Kistin brings to 37 the number of Rhodes Scholars from UNC since the program began in 1902. UNC students have a long tradition of outstanding achievement. Last December, senior Morehead Scholar Karine Dubè of Canada was chosen for a Rhodes Scholarship, becoming the 13th UNC winner since 1980. Carolina ranks second among public universities in numbers of Rhodes Scholars produced.

The award pays all tuition, fees and living expenses for two years at Oxford, plus travel expenses to and from the university. The scholarship will cover a third year at Oxford if it is needed for a student’s area of study. Its value varies by academic field but averages $30,000 per year.

Thirty-two U.S. students were chosen late Saturday (Nov. 22) for the prestigious scholarships, created in the will of English statesman Cecil Rhodes. Originally, 963 students had been nominated by 366 colleges and universities across the country.

Kistin advanced from New Mexico state selection interviews Wednesday (Nov. 19) in Albuquerque to final interviews Saturday (Nov. 22), in Houston, for the Rhodes district covering Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Montana, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.

Ninety-nine finalists from 58 colleges and universities reached the finals. Each of eight U.S. districts chose four winners.

"Liz Kistin is one of those remarkable students who has managed to be an effective presence on campus, in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro community, and even in several Latin American countries where she has spent her summers," said UNC English professor Dr. George Lensing, director of distinguished scholarships and coordinator of UNC's Rhodes nominees.

"Her professors praise her unstintingly. Her energy and dedication seem never to flag, whatever her task. In every sphere, she works to be an agent of social change. It is difficult to imagine a student who has more comprehensively drawn upon the rich variety of opportunities that she has found here."

Kistin came to Carolina in 2000 on the Morehead Award, a full four-year scholarship modeled on the Rhodes. The awards -- to approximately 40 UNC freshmen annually for excellence in academics, leadership and character and physical vigor -- include funding for four summer enrichment experiences.

Those experiences and others abroad fueled Kistin’s interest in development and poverty reduction in Latin America. While teaching adults and children in Costa Rica in summer 2001, she witnessed the dismantling of a village of impoverished immigrants after an eviction notice from a bank.

"I arrived at dawn the day of eviction to help the families save what they could," she wrote. "In desperation, we reduced homes to salvageable roofing and nails. … With the exception of temporary shelter in the municipal gym, the families of El Esfuerzo had nowhere to go."

Their despair continued to haunt Kistin after she returned to Chapel Hill. Volunteering at a local assistance center, the Interfaith Council for Social Services, she helped found Project Rush Hour, to keep the center’s food pantry and financial aid program open during evening hours.

"I am responsible for recruiting volunteers, educating them about the network of social services and mentoring students as they become comfortable engaging in what are often difficult, emotional interviews," she wrote.

On campus, Kistin organized a hunger and homelessness conference for student and community groups seeking solutions to those problems. This fall, as chair of student government’s public service committee, Kistin publicized campus and community service opportunities. She also helped run a skills-building and networking conference for 130 UNC and Duke University students interested in leadership and service.

Summer 2002 took Kistin to New York City to work for UNICEF, writing and pitching news releases and helping to launch that year’s Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF fund-raising campaign. Last summer she began research for her senior honors thesis while in Ecuador, examining the influence of a nongovernmental organization on development and democratization in 25 communities.

Her topic was suggested during another study abroad, in spring 2002, with host families in the mountains, on the coast and in the capital of Nicaragua. There a feminist leader challenged Kistin’s faith in nongovernmental organizations as antidotes to problems of the developing world.

"She urged me to consider that unchecked aid, while cushioning against abject poverty, may also prevent substantial and sustainable change," Kistin wrote. Also in Nicaragua, she worked with muralists intent on combating poverty, who encouraged change through their public art. From that experience, Kistin designed a for-credit course, "The Murals of Revolutionary Latin America," which she will teach next semester to up to 18 UNC undergraduates.

Also next semester, Kistin will recruit speakers for Great Decisions lectures at UNC and facilitate weekly discussions on the talks. Her teaching has extended to designing bilingual curricula in English and Spanish for preschoolers, tutoring middle and high school students and creating and implementing a curriculum to tutor three Spanish-speaking women in English.

Since 1999, Kistin has been on the advisory panel for student concerns for the College Board. In August and September, she was a student adviser and publicist for "Tuesdays with Friday," a speaker series hosted by UNC President Emeritus Bill Friday at the James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence.

Kistin has played intramural soccer, ping-pong and volleyball and coached in the local Rainbow Youth Soccer League. She had no trouble with the Outward Bound course undertaken by all Morehead Scholars before their freshman year, having been an outdoor educator for three years at her high school.

"Action constitutes just one of my responses to the desperation I witnessed in El Esfuerzo," she wrote. "I strive to base my service-oriented actions on a foundation of knowledge in language, culture, history and politics." Oxford, she believes, will be the perfect place to lay that foundation.

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Photo url: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/students/rhodes/2003/kistin_elizabeth.jpg

Note: Kistin can be reached this week at 505-898-8975. For more information about the Rhodes Scholarship and this year’s winners, visit www.rhodesscholar.org.

UNC contact: Dr. George Lensing, director of the UNC Office of Distinguished Scholarships, at 919-962-4053; lensing@email.unc.edu.
News Services contact: L.J. Toler, at 919-962-8589; laura_toler@unc.edu.