USM Student and Portland Resident Awarded Gilman International Scholarship
March 11, 2010
Timothy Davis, recipient of Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship.
Timothy Davis of Portland, who is currently an International and Russian Studies student at the University of Southern Maine, has been awarded the prestigious Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to support the second semester of his yearlong study of Russian language, culture and history in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Davis is studying at the St. Petersburg State Polytechnical University under the auspices of the American Institute for Foreign Studies. He is one of six students attending college in Maine who are among the more than 1700 outstanding American undergraduate students from some 480 colleges and universities across the U.S. who were Gilman Scholarship recipients for the 2009-2010 academic year.
Davis is a 2007 graduate of Portland High School who grew up on Peaks Island and now lives in Portland. Davis’ interest in Eastern Europe and Russia began when he spent seven months of his senior year in high school as an AFS exchange student in Debrecen, Hungary. Davis says that, “during my time in Hungary I saw the many impacts of the Soviet Union’s domination in the region. It affected the general culture, people’s individual attitudes, the government, even the architecture. Witnessing this first hand I wanted to study Russia’s history and current situation because understanding these things would help me to better understand the Central and Eastern European region.” Davis also credits taking USM’s History 345, Anti-Semitism and Anti-Gypsyism in Europe, with deepening his academic interest in this area of study, as “having seen gypsies driving their horse-drawn carts on the streets of Debrecen and listened to Hungarians talk about gypsies, I was able to bring a different and broader perspective to the course and combine personal experiences with material taught in a classroom setting.”
Already able to speak some Hungarian, Davis is seeking to become fluent in Russian and spends three hours a day for four days each week studying the Russian language. He is also taking courses in Russian history, religion, and contemporary life. He lives in the international student residence hall and has roommates from Finland, Slovakia and Canada. During vacations he has traveled to London; Moscow; Helsinki, Finland; Tallinn, Estonia; Budapest and Debrecen, Hungary; Belgrade, Serbia; and Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Davis said of Belgrade and Sarajevo that, “it was very interesting to travel by train to these cities, seeing the places that some of his friends at Portland High had called home before coming to Maine.”
Gilman Scholarships require each recipient to carry out a “follow-on project” when they return home and Davis plans to use the skills he gains in Russia to work with Russian and Russian-speaking students at both Deering and Portland high schools and to volunteer with Portland Public Schools Multicultural Center as a mentor and translator for Russian and Russian-speaking families making the transition to life in the U.S. He also has agreed to give a presentation to the Upward Bound at University of Southern Maine students on the benefits of studying abroad for Pell Grant eligible students and urging them to not let financial concerns prevent them from taking advantage of these opportunities.
Davis will return in May to continue his studies at USM and, while undecided as to his future career direction, he believes that his study at USM and in Russia will prepare him well for work in business, non-governmental organizations, United States government work or perhaps even further academic study. Davis sees Russia’s resurging political and economic power ensures that Russia will continue to be a major player on the world stage and being fluent in Russian and understanding Russian history, culture and perspective will continue to be vital and useful skills.
The Gilman Scholarship Program aims to diversify the kinds of students who study abroad and the countries and regions where they go. The program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and administered by the Institute of International Education’s (IIE) Southern Regional Center in Houston, Texas.
The University of Southern Maine (USM) offers its nearly 10,000 students more than 115 areas of undergraduate and graduate study. USM’s location in southern Maine, a region cited as one of the most liveable in the country, offers a range of educational, cultural and recreational opportunities.
