The Howard R. Swearer Center for Public Service announces the 2001 Howard R. Swearer Public Service Fellow —Tesmerelna Atsbeha '01.
Atsbeha will travel to Bushbuckridge, South Africa, to work with the Rural AIDS & Development Action Research Program (RADAR), a project of the University of Witswatersrand, the South African National Department of Health and the Small Enterprise Foundation. RADAR seeks to understand women's vulnerability to HIV infection as related to their decision-making power in the household and to develop an innovative HIV risk reduction approach combining micro-finance initiatives, HIV and gender awareness training and healthcare provision. Bushbuckridge, a rural district in the Northern Province, has some of the highest rates of HIV in the world; as many as 20 percent of pregnant women were reported to have been infected with HIV in 2000. Atsbeha will work as an HIV and gender awareness educator while documenting participants' stories, their evaluation of the program and their conceptions of empowerment. The documentary work will be used by RADAR to help evaluate and share the results of this new approach to HIV prevention.
Atsbeha, a double concentrator in community health and international relations, recently completed her senior thesis, "Assessing Economic Independence in Zimbabwean Women's Risk for HIV." While at Brown, Atsbeha has been active in both the Providence and campus communities. She has served as a patient advocate at Women and Infants' Hospital, as an ESOL teacher, and a facilitator of arts workshop at Rhode Island's prison for women. On campus, Atsbeha has served as the coordinator of the Minority Peer Counseling Program, chair of the Brown Organization of Multi- and Bi-racial Students and as a teaching assistant in the Department of Community Health. Her experience in public health includes work with the Center for Excellence for Women's Health and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in her hometown of Seattle, as well as work as a health educator in the Dominican Republic and in Honduras.
The fellowship was established in memory of Howard R. Swearer, the 15th president of Brown, and reflects his commitment to public service. It provides funds to undergraduate, graduate or medical students who are either graduating or taking a leave of absence from Brown to pursue a full year of public service in an underserved community or country.
Daniel Souweine ’01 of Amherst, Mass., will accept this year's award for Interfaith Leadership Award from the Gladys C. and Sherwin J. Kapstein Family Fund and the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island.
Souweine is being honored for his work in the creation and facilitation of the "Why Talk at All?" discussion series of dinner conversations that focused on how we talk to one another in and outside of the classroom as well as how we build community at Brown. This award acknowledges Souweine's energy, insight, imagination and service within inter-religious community building and programming.
Gladys C. Kapstein, Pembroke '40, was a member of Brown's Board of Religious Affairs from its inception 1984 until her death in June 1993. She and her husband, Sherwin J. Kapstein '39, are the benefactors for the Brown/RISD Hillel's Gladys C. and Sherwin J. Kapstein Jewish Student Program Fund.
The Interfaith Leadership Award is presented annually by the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life in honor of Charles Baldwin, University Chaplain emeritus.
The President James Manning Medal honors graduating students whose pursuit of excellence in the study and practice of religion is exemplary. There are two winners this year: Megan Evans of Nantucket, Mass., and Noor Jehan Johnson of Shelburne, Vt.
"The academic study of religion enables students to become critical thinkers, and move beyond personal piety into responsible leadership. Both Megan and Noor Jehan have achieved this balance between the particularity of their respective faith traditions and a sense of community and global responsibility," the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life stated in a news release.
Evans is an artist and an active member of the Jewish community at Brown. She is being honored for her commitment to the study and practice of Judaism. Johnson is being honored for her study about the role of spirituality in development processes. This work has culminated in her senior thesis: "Development as Transformation: The Role of Religion and Spirituality in Social Change."
The Interfaith Leadership Award and the President James Manning Medals will be presented at the Baccalaureate Luncheon during Commencement Weekend. Contact the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life, 863-2344, for further information.