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News Nuggets, 11.21.06
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NOTES FROM ECU AND BEYOND...

Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

Duke, Wake athletes named Rhodes Scholars

Chas Salmen of Glenwood Springs, CO, a senior who organized an Arab-Jewish student coalition, won academic and photography prizes and served as captain of Duke athletic teams, is among the 32 recipients selected for prestigious Rhodes Scholarships.

Michelle Sikes, captain of the women's track and cross country teams at Wake Forest University, also has been named a Rhodes Scholar.

Salmen was chosen from among 896 applicants at 340 colleges and universities throughout the country.

Rhodes Scholarships, created in 1902 by the will of British philanthropist Cecil Rhodes, provide two or three years of study at Oxford University in England. Recipients are selected on the basis of high academic achievement, personal integrity, leadership potential and physical vigor, among other attributes.

Salmen was captain of the Duke indoor and outdoor track teams and the cross country team. An English major, his senior thesis on Walt Whitman and D.H. Lawrence won a prize as most outstanding and original senior thesis. He also has won a prize for his photography.

While at Duke, he has conducted research in the department of urology and has been co-author of two research papers published in the Journal of Urology.

A Lebanese-Jewish American, Salmen also organized this fall an Arab-Jewish Student Coalition, called Peace or Pieces, to promote peace in the Middle East. The coalition, which includes a number of Jewish, Arab and Muslim student groups on campus, has facilitated cross-cultural conversations and is now raising money for Rotary International projects in Lebanon and Israel.

Salmen has been a volunteer for four years in Durham’s Big Brother Big Sisters program. He also organized and directed an effort by the cross country team that provided first-aid kits to Hurricane Katrina victims.

Salmen said he plans to pursue a master’s of science degree in medical anthropology at Oxford. He hopes one day to become a doctor and devote his energies to addressing international health issues.

Sikes, a senior from Lakewood, OH, also conducts health policy research and is designing alternative economic models for the U.S. organ donation system. At Oxford, she plans to pursue a Master of Science degree in global health science. At Wake Forest, she is majoring in mathematical economics with a minor in health policy and administration.

"As a runner, my goal is to qualify for the Olympics," said Sikes, who has been named an NCAA Track and Field All-American. She was named Cross Country ACC Freshman of the Year in 2003. "As a student, I want to use the Oxford education as a springboard into a career devoted to solving the health problems within disadvantaged populations."

During the summer, Sikes held an internship with The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research in Washington, D.C. While there, she researched various mathematical models that might increase the number of organ donors. Her honors thesis will focus on using the data collected to propose the best ways to reform the nation's policy on transplantable organs.

Sikes is the 11th Wake Forest student to be named a Rhodes Scholar since 1986. Wake Forest students have been selected as Rhodes Scholars for each of the past four years.

At Wake Forest, Sikes holds an athletic scholarship and an academic scholarship, the Carswell scholarship.

UAB captures Conference USA volleyball

Rallying from two games down, the UAB Blazers defeated Memphis, 3-2 (26-30, 22-30, 30-23, 30-27, 15-10), to win the 2006 Conference USA Volleyball Championship title at Hofheinz Pavilion on the campus of the University of Houston.

Sophomore Ivana Bozic earned MVP honors with a match-high 23 kills for the Blazers. Teammate Briana Galvin also earned a spot on the all-tournament team. Junior Shaniquwa Cooper set both a single-match and tournament record for total blocks and block assists. Cooper totaled a record 23 blocks, with 21 assists.

Old Dominion stuns Georgetown on the road

Arnaud Dahi scored 15 points and Old Dominion sank six 3-pointers in the second half on Sunday to beat No. 8 Georgetown 75-62, ending the Hoyas' 24-year winning streak at their on-campus gymnasium.

The Monarchs shot 58 percent in the second half, and Old Dominion overcame an eight-point second-half deficit to defeat a ranked team for the first time since beating Villanova in the 1995 NCAA tournament.

News Nuggets are compiled periodically based on material supplied by staff members; data published by ECU, Conference USA and its member schools; and reports from electronic services and other sources. Copyright 2006 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Page Updated: 02/23/2007 12:53 PM