David L. Boren Awards for International Study

A highlight of the Boren Fellowship Symposium was the presentation of the Howard Baker Jr. and Sol Linowitz Awards to distinguished Boren Alumni.  This year’s Howard Baker Jr. Award was presented to Shana Leenerts, a 2001 Boren Scholar to China.  Tamara Crouse, a 2003 Boren Fellow in China, received the Sol Linowitz Award.    

The Howard Baker, Jr. Award was named in honor of Senator Howard Baker.  Senator Baker has had an outstanding career in public service, serving as a three-term U.S. senator from Tennessee.  While in the United States Senate, he was Majority Leader for four years. A fter retiring from the Senate, Senator Baker returned to public service as President Reagan’s White House Chief of Staff and as Ambassador to Japan under President George W. Bush. 

Shana Leenerts was awarded a Boren Scholarship in 2001 to study Mandarin in China while an undergraduate student at the University of California, Irvine.  She earned a Master’s degree in International Commerce and Policy from George Mason University in 2008.  She has shown an outstanding commitment to serving our nation through her work as a Counterterrorism Fellows Program Specialist within the U.S. Department of Defense and as an Academic Exchange Specialist with the U.S. Department of State.  

The Sol Linowitz Award was named in honor of Ambassador Sol Linowitz.  Ambassador Linowitz was trained as a lawyer and became the General Counsel, and later Chairman of the Board of the Xerox Corporation.  President Lyndon Johnson appointed Mr. Linowitz as Ambassador to the Organization of American States in 1966.  He later served as a co-negotiator for the Panama Canal Treaties, and from 1979-1981 as President Carter’s personal representative to the Middle East Peace Negotiations.  

This year’s winner, Tamara Crouse was awarded a Boren Fellowship in 2003 to study Uyghur in China.  She earned a Master’s degree in Global Studies from the University of Denver in 2004.  She has shown an outstanding commitment to serving our country through her work as an Intelligence Specialist within the U.S. Navy Reserve and as a Foreign Affairs Officer within the U.S. Department of State.

The awardees were chosen based on the evaluations of a three-person committee, comprised of one member of the NSEP Group of Advisors, one member of the National Security Education Board and one member of the Boren Forum.