August 16, 2004

CONTACT: Anne Brooks Ranallo, (312) 355-2523, aranallo@uic.edu

UPP STUDENT WINS BOREN FELLOWSHIP

The National Security Education Program has awarded Wendy Messenger, a
University of Illinois at Chicago graduate student, a fellowship to
study water management planning in Jordan.

The NSEP David L. Boren Graduate Fellowship program promotes the study
of world regions that are critical to U.S. national security but are
less often studied at the graduate level by American students.

Messenger's research at UIC and in Amman, Jordan, will focus on the
Jordan Rift Valley Master Plan, particularly its means to address the
tensions that arise in managing scarce water resources.

Messenger is pursuing a master's degree in urban planning and public policy at UIC.

"Water policy in the Middle East results from many layers of influence
-- politics, economics and development factors, as well as ideological
perceptions of water," Messenger said. "I look forward to exploring how
these tensions are addressed within the framework of cooperative
planning."

Messenger will be advised in part by Odeh Al-Jayyousi, an expert in
water resources planning and management at the Applied Sciences
University in Amman next spring. She will study Arabic this fall at UIC
and next spring at the University of Jordan-Amman Language Center.

Messenger earned a bachelor's degree in environmental design from
Auburn University and is a research assistant and project coordinator
on UIC's 2010 Strategic Thinking initiative.

The National Security Education Program is sponsored by the U.S.
Department of Defense. Its Boren fellowships enable students to
specialize in area and language study or to add an international
dimension to their education.

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