Michael Zarzosa, a biology/pre-veterinary medicine major from Kansas City, Kan., now living in Lumberton, has been named the winner of Lamar University’s most prestigious student award, the David J. Beck Fellowship.
Lamar University President James Simmons announced the award Monday at a ceremony in the Spindletop Room on the eighth floor of the Mary and John Gray Library and presented Zarzosa with an engraved medallion and certificate. The fellowship was made possible by generous gift to the Lamar University Foundation from David J. Beck, a Lamar University distinguished alumnus and prominent attorney.
Zarzosa will receive a full academic scholarship for 2010 – including tuition, fees, books and on-campus room and board – along with up to $10,000 to pursue the summer project he proposed as part of his application. He plans an independent research trip to Ambergris Caye, Belize, to survey parasites common to domestic dogs and the probability of transfer to humans.
Zarzosa said two of his professors encouraged him to apply for the fellowship after he participated in biological field research courses Lamar offered in Belize this past summer.
“I think it speaks volumes about the relationships that we’re able to achieve with the faculty at Lamar,” Zarzosa said. “I think their challenging and prompting is really what started the initial desire to attempt this.”
Zarzosa said he appreciates the unique opportunity Lamar University offers undergraduates through this fellowship and believes the fellowship helps the university achieve its goals as well.
“I think the goal is to find and to cultivate quality people, quality students, and to put them out in the world in a capacity that has the potential to make a difference,” Zarzosa said, citing Beck as one successful example. “I think that this personal interaction between students of all levels and faculty is really the foundation that Lamar uses to make those changes and to achieve local roots but infinite possibilities.”
The ceremony also included a presentation by Jennifer Mikel, a nursing major from Sweeny who last year was named the university’s first David J. Beck Fellow. Mikel discussed her summer spent working as a nursing intern in a hospital in Hohoe, Ghana, and doing medical outreach in nearby villages in the west African nation.
Beck, a 1961 Lamar graduate and founding partner of Beck, Redden & Secrest, LLP, a boutique litigation firm in Houston, created the fellowship to reward academic achievement and allow top students to challenge themselves further through undergraduate research or creative activity. The fellowship is open to LU undergraduates in any major with fellows chosen based on the strength of their complete application packet, including proposed summer project, academic record and financial need.
Zarzosa, 32, is in his second year as a full-time student at Lamar University. After graduating from high school in Chula Vista, Calif., he spent 15 years in the workforce, first in retail with Rite Aid and then as a field service technician with Cox Communications, before deciding to pursue a college degree.
Zarzosa said he believes the research experience he will gain through the Beck Fellowship will help him achieve his future educational goals. He plans to pursue both a doctor of veterinary medicine and a Ph.D. in either comparative medicine or public health.
“He has the kind of dreams that really befit this fellowship,” said Kevin Smith, senior associate provost and chair of the selection committee. “He’s pretty much ready to set out on this research on his own. He’s committed to research and scholarship, and that’s what really set him apart.”
Four finalists for the fellowship also were recognized at Monday’s ceremony.
Christine Felix, a chemistry major from Port Arthur, proposed participating in a biomedical research internship at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.
Michael Hennigan, a physics major from Beaumont, now living in Anahuac, proposed a research trip to a NASA test site in Ohio to further his ongoing study of the geometry of liquid surfaces in conditions of weightlessness.
Jeffery Mitchell, an accounting and management information systems major from Wichita Falls, proposed participating in an accounting internship and Chinese language study program in Shanghai, China.
Katie Ondrias, a communication disorders major from Wharton, proposed participating in a communication disorders summer abroad program in London, England, and Edinburgh, Scotland.
Applications for the fellowship are due each October with fellows named each November. For more information on the David J. Beck Fellowship, visit lamar.edu/beckfellowships or call (409) 880-8400.
