Senior Brent Eng Awarded Chandler Fellowship

Media contact:  Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email:[email protected]

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., April 19, 2012 – Williams College senior Brent Eng has been named the recipient of this year’s Class of 1945 Florence Chandler Fellowship. The award is a grant in the amount of $25,000 to be used for independent study and travel abroad.

Eng, an English and Arabic major from Sacramento, Calif., will travel to Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Japan next year. His project will examine how the Western image of meditation and its relationship to Buddhism have affected traditional Buddhist understandings of the practice, particularly as Westerners come to explore meditation in its “native” location.

“I feel wonderful about winning the fellowship, tremendously grateful for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and extremely excited for the future,” Eng said. “This project is something I’ve always hoped to do but never thought I would have the chance or means to. I think I’m most excited about the chance to explore and see the world on its own terms, with the ability to move freely through it.”

At Williams, Eng plays on the ultimate Frisbee team and was the head of the meditation society in his sophomore year. Eng spent his junior year in the Williams-Exeter Programme at Oxford.

Members of the campus selection committee for the fellowship were Katya King, director of fellowships; James Pethica, senior lecturer in English and first-year residential seminars; and Gail Newman, professor of German.

Provided through the generosity of the late Mrs. Harriet Adsit and the Class of 1945 and named to honor the wife of former Williams president John Chandler, the fellowship has been awarded annually since 2003 to a senior to support one year of post-graduate intellectual and personal development.

The Chandler Fellowship is granted to students who exhibit imagination, moral sensitivity, and resourcefulness. Their projects should serve to enrich their lives through intellectual and personal growth as well as increase their familiarity with non-American cultures. Projects are judged on the criteria of viability, consistency with a student’s past and current interests, and suitability to the recipient’s long-term goals.

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Founded in 1793, Williams College is the second-oldest institution of higher learning in Massachusetts. The college’s 2,000 students are taught by a faculty noted for the quality of their teaching and research, and the achievement of academic goals includes active participation of students with faculty in their research. Students’ educational experience is enriched by the residential campus environment in Williamstown, Mass., which provides a host of opportunities for interaction with one another and with faculty beyond the classroom. Admission decisions are made regardless of a student’s financial ability, and the college provides grants and other assistance to meet the demonstrated needs of all who are admitted.

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