News Release

Local angles: Carrboro, Durham

UNC's Post wins Rotary fellowship,
will study in Brisbane, Australia

CHAPEL HILL - Kristin Post of Carrboro, a master's degree candidate in education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has received a Rotary World Peace Fellowship for 2006-2008.

During the two-year fellowship, Post will earn a degree in peace and conflict studies from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. She plans to begin work there in February.

The fellows, who represent approximately 30 nationalities, will study for two years at six Rotary Centers for International Studies in peace and conflict resolution. Together, UNC and Duke University are home to one of only two centers in the United States; the other is at the University of California, Berkeley.

The fellowship covers tuition, room and board, and travel expenses, with additional funds available for a summer internship. Rotary chose 60 fellows from a pool of 175 applicants.

Post, a Chapel Hill native, said she became interested in international politics when she joined the Junior United Nations club at Charles E. Jordan High School in Durham. She graduated from Jordan in 1991, and from UNC, with a bachelor's degree in English, in 1995.

Post then traveled for a year, visiting 21 countries including China, Egypt, England, France, India, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand and Vietnam. She concluded that many Americans have a sheltered exposure to different ways of life, even though different cultures are represented within the United States.

"When you're working with different cultures, it's important to know how you are similar, and from there to understand how to get through conflict or disagreements," she said.

Post intends to return to the United States and found a charter school based on the principals of global education and conflict resolution.
"I certainly love other countries, and I love living in other countries," she said. "But there's work to be done here."

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Note: Post can be reached at kspost@gmail.com

For more information about the fellowships, visit http://www.rotary.org/foundation/educational/amb_scho/centers/index.html

News Services contact: L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589