Hall Center Scholar

Each year, the Friends of the Hall Center sponsor a small number of Hall Center Scholars.  This provides opportunities for KU undergraduates who have strong academic credentials and have demonstrated significant activity within KU, to help with the Humanities Lecture Series and to meet with prominent scholars.

The first Hall Center Scholar was Brenna Daldorph, a 2006 graduate of Lawrence High School, pursuing a Journalism major, an International Studies co-major and a minor in French. She is a National Merit Scholar and a Chancellor’s Scholar, as well as a recipient of the Wooldridge Scholarship through the School of Journalism and the Amsted Art History award. Brenna works for the KU Honors Program and has been involved in many unique Honors program courses and activities. In Spring 2007, she traveled to New York City to pursue fieldwork in the Jewish community. In summer 2007, she was accepted into the Honors Research Development Institute. A true voyager at heart, she enjoys journeys through the classroom as well as real life travel. Next spring, she will be studying abroad.

Brenna first came into contact with the Humanities Lecture Series last fall, when she was asked to attend a luncheon with poet and NPR commentator Andrei Codrescu. Fascinated by this speaker’s unique tales of vampires and New Orleans, she has been involved with the Hall Center and its diverse array of lectures ever since.

For the 2008-2009 academic year, the Friends of the Hall Center selected four Hall Center Scholars. Zach Abramovitz is majoring in English and will write an honors thesis next year on the literature of the First World War.  He also writes poetry. Joel Burnett is majoring in Philosophy and Spanish and hosts his own jazz program on the student-run radio KJHK.  He is a volunteer with the KU Biodiesel Initiative. Katherine Oberthaler is majoring in Creative Writing and Psychology.  She currently holds an intern position with Kansas Public Radio and serves as the Vice President for the Natural History Museum Student Advisory Board. Dan Thompson is majoring in Economics and Political Science with an International Studies co-major and a minor in English.  He has studied abroad in Britain, Mexico, and Hong Kong.