(Posted May 30, 2001)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Scott Kofmehl, a junior at Juniata College studying international political economics, has been chosen as one of 10 Pickering Fellows in the U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Fellowship Program in 2001. The program awards promising students tuition, room, board and mandatory fees during their junior and senior years of study and during the first year of graduate study in exchange for a minimum of four and a half years of service as a Foreign Service officer.

Kofmehl, the son of Eric and Kathryn Joyce Kofmehl of Pittsburgh, also must commit to pursue a graduate degree in international studies at a graduate school of public policy and international affairs as part of the scholarship. The graduate schools participating in the program provide financial support in the second year of study based on need.

All participants in the program, which is administered by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, must attend a seven-week summer institute at one of five graduate schools of public policy and international affairs. In addition, the students are required to participate in an overseas state department internship as well as one domestic internship within the department.
Kofmehl also will spend the 2001 fall semester studying at the University of Havana, in Havana, Cuba as part of a Center for Cross Cultural Studies program. Earlier this year, he was awarded a National Security Education Program scholarship, although he may turn that opportunity down in favor of the more comprehensive Pickering Fellowship.

Kofmehl has been active in athletics, serving as captain of the men's volleyball team and working as an assistant coach of the women's volleyball team. He has participated in many student activities during his time at Juniata College. He is a member of the Model U.N. Club and was elected president of the club for the 2000-2001 academic year. He was secretary general of the 2001 fall Model U.N. High School Conference held annually at Juniata. He spent three weeks during the summer of 2000 studying at the Fachhochschule, a business school in Munster, Germany.

Kofmehl received the Nyce Endowed Scholarship for Study in Latin America in 2001.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.