2008 George J. Mitchell Scholars Announced

The US-Ireland Alliance today announced the 2007-2008 class of George J. Mitchell Scholars. The new class includes 2nd Lt. Sean Healy, a US officer currently serving in Iraq (who was interviewed via an audio link to Baghdad arranged by the Army); Brendan Hayes, an AIDS activist working with orphans in Swaziland; Art Chan, a filmmaker and counselor for immigrant juvenile delinquents at San Quentin Prison; Frank McMillan, a teacher in the Bronx, and Nate Wright, a human rights activist who founded STAND: a Student Anti-Genocide Coalition focused on Darfur.

The prestigious George J. Mitchell Scholarships are awarded annually to twelve Americans, under the age of 30, to pursue a year of post-graduate study at any university on the island of Ireland. This year’s Selection Committee included former National Security Advisor Anthony Lake; Pulitzer-Prize winning author Samantha Power; Ireland’s Ambassador to the US Noel Fahey; President Bush’s former Ambassador to Ireland, James Kenny; one of the world’s leading experts on breast cancer, Dr. Robert Clarke; former speechwriter to President George H.W. Bush, Mary Kate Cary; Tom Blanton, Director of the National Security Archive; Maureen Murphy, Dean of the School of Education and Irish historian at Hofstra; and Desha Girod, a Mitchell Scholar alum who studied at Trinity College Dublin and is currently a Ph.D. student at Stanford.

The awards are named after former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell who spearheaded the historic Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which produced peace in Northern Ireland. Launched that year, the Mitchell Scholarship program recognizes outstanding young Americans who exhibit the highest standards of academic excellence, leadership and community service. The Mitchell Scholarship program seeks to link future American leaders with the island of Ireland.

"We are thrilled with the new class of George Mitchell Scholars," said Trina Vargo, president of the US-Ireland Alliance. "From Iraq to Swaziland to the Bronx to working with juvenile delinquents in prison, every one of these new Mitchell Scholars reflects the George Mitchell spirit that no problem is too large to be tackled and solved."

Ireland's Ambassador to the United States, Noel Fahey, welcomed the selection of the new Mitchell scholars. "We congratulate the 2007-2008 Mitchell class," Ambassador Fahey said. "We welcome them, and we look forward to their contributions to friendship and close ties between the United States and Ireland."

The newly announced 2007-2008 George Mitchell Scholars are listed below along with their hometowns, their US university affiliation, and their Irish and Northern Ireland university assignment, pending final approval from the universities. Complete biographies of each scholar are available in the Scholarships section of the website.

The Mitchell Scholarship program was inaugurated with an endowment from the Government of Ireland. Other significant financial support is provided by the Northern Ireland Department for Employment and Learning, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, BD (Becton Dickinson & Company), Bombardier Aerospace (NI) Foundation, Cross Atlantic Capital Partners, and the McDonnell Charitable Foundation. Universities in Ireland and Northern Ireland contribute housing and tuition to the Mitchell Scholars.

Quinlan Private is benefactor of the US-Ireland Alliance. Corporate sponsors include: CRH, Cross Atlantic Capital Partners, Diageo Ireland, IONA Technologies, and the Jurys Doyle Hotel Group.