OCRL Announces 2007 Religious Life Awards

The Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life presented the 2007 Religious Life Awards to the following seniors during the annual Baccalaureate luncheon held just prior to the Baccalureate Service on Saturday, May 26. The event both honored the outstanding leadership of these individuals within the Brown community and beyond as well as the Baccalureate speaker, Craig Mello '82, a Nobel laureate.

The Gladys C. ('40) and Sherwin J. ('39) Kapstein Family Fund Award for Interfaith Leadership (for demonstrated interfaith leadership both on campus and beyond)
Diana Jean Moke '07

The President James Manning Medal (for the pursuit of excellence in the study and practice of religion)
John Thomas Hoang Do '07
Geoffrey Michael Gusoff '07

The Levi Adams Citation (for distinction and service in the leadership of a campus-based religious organization, project, or initiative)
Mohamed Ossama El Batran '07
Anat Mooreville '07
Kartik Pattabiraman '07

Each of these seniors will be continue their involvement in leadership initiatives around the world. Here is an update on their activities:

The Gladys C. ('40) and Sherwin J. ('39) Kapstein Family Fund Award for Interfaith Awardee
Diana Jean Moke, a religious studies major, wrote an honors thesis titled, "Religious Revivalism and the Evolution of Complementary and Alternative Medicine." She plans to attend Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University next fall.

Manning Medal Awardees
John Thomas Hoang Do was a public policy and religious studies major. In Augus,t he will begin a one-year program with the Jesuit Volunteer Corp, serving as a legal advocate for the San Francisco Bar Association and working with homeless individuals with mental health disabilities. Later, he hopes to do graduate study in law, public policy, and/or divinity.
Geoffrey Michael Gusoff, also a religious studies and public policy major, wrote a senior thesis titled, "The Virtue of Solidarity: Sharing a Life with the Poor in the Writings of Gustavo Gutierrez and Dorothy Day." After graduation, he too will serve a year with the Jesuit Volunteer Corp, working as a poverty prevention advocate at the Mental Health Advocacy Project in San Jose, California. Beyond this, he hopes to pursue work in public interest law and/or community organizing or a graduate degree in law and/or theology.

Levi Adams Awardees
Mohamed Ossama El Batran, a concentrator in international relations, was instrumental in the leadership within the Brown Muslim Student Association and encouraged dialogues among multifaith communities. He has done extensive social work in Egypt, Darfur, and within the city of Providence.
Anat Mooreville was a history and literary arts major at Brown. She is heading to Israel on a New Israel Fund Social Justice Fellowship, working in progressive nonprofit organizations to strengthen civil society.
Kartik Pattabiraman majored in neuroscience. He did an senior honors thesis titled, "The elucidation of the phototransduction cascade in intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells."  After graduation, he will begin work on a MD/PhD at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF).