Three College of Social Science students nominated for prestigious Truman Scholarship

February 15, 2024 - Karessa Weir

Two Political Science students and an Economics major have been nominated by the MSU Distinguished Student Awards Office for the nationally recognized Truman Scholarship. 

Josie Danielkiewicz and Jerome Hamilton Jr. are both third-year Political Science Pre-Law students and PLS Scholars. Emma Nicolaysen is pursuing dual degrees in Economics and Neuroscience in the College of Natural Science. She is a member of the Econ Scholars Program. All are members of the Social Science Scholars program.

Sponsored by the Harry S Truman Scholarship Foundation, the honor recognizes students with exceptional leadership potential who are committed to a career in public service. The scholarship provides financial support for graduate study and leadership training for around 62 students each year. 

“It is always thrilling to see our students nominated for such a notable scholarship. This is an outstanding group of students who are doing fantastic things in collaboration with our faculty. They are emerging leaders who are already having a major impact. The whole College is rooting for them to win!” said Brent Donnellan, Dean, College of Social Science.

Jerome, a Baltimore, Maryland resident, recently won first place in the oral presentation category for his research in this year’s Diversity Research Showcase. He aspires to have a career in natural resources policy.

Josie is from Marquette in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Her research interests include judicial politics and the impact that U.S. politics has had in Latin America. She plans to either attend law school to become a human rights attorney or earn a master’s degree in public policy.

Emma, from Casper, Wyoming, also works as an undergraduate researcher at MSU's Institute for Public Policy and Social Research (IPPSR), where she conducts research on policies relating to health care in Michigan and Wyoming.

Last year’s MSU nominations for the Truman Scholarship included PLS senior David Koster, a dual major with Political Science and Economics. Three PLS students were nominated in 2020 including Jasmine Jordan, Andrea Blair and Maysa Sitar.

In 2021, MSU gained its 17th Truman Scholar as Economics major Gregory Marchal was selected as one of only 62 students from 51 U.S. colleges and universities to be selected for the honor. Marchal had minors in Social Science Quantitative Data Analytics and Political Economy.

The original press release can be found here.