University of Mary Washington - Index

University of Mary Washington - summer08 - Index

of Mortar Board, a national honor society. Commencement
found Simeone with a string of volunteer accomplishments
– and with the Colgate W. Darden Jr. Award for having
the highest grade-point average, 3.99, in his class of more
than 1,000.
Simeone was in his second year at
Mary Washington when he realized it
would take more than his passion for
human rights and an undergraduate
degree to help frame new laws for how
nations treat immigrants and detainees.
He asked Jason Davidson, assistant professor of political
science and international affairs, to advise him on how to
get the most from his years at Mary Washington and leave
with a major graduate research grant.
Their plan led to the Fulbright Scholarship that will take
Simeone to the London School of Economics in September.
He’ll enjoy free housing, board, and tuition, and he’ll get
to work with Eiko Thielemann, whose writings intrigue
Simeone. Thielemann, a senior lecturer, is an expert in the
problems Simeone wants to study – in the post-World War II
era, how do countries humanely treat foreigners who want to
immigrate there, who seek refuge, or who are prisoners? Or,
in Thielemann’s case, how do European countries make a
framework of laws that provide for immigrants and refugees,
and how do the countries cooperate in doing so?
When the British scholar read Simeone’s proposal, “E.U.
Member State Resistance to European Asylum Appellate
Jurisdiction,” he invited him to study in London. The
Fulbright Committee agreed to underwrite the project.
Davidson remembers conversations he had with Simeone,
then a sophomore, about his goals and how to realize
them.
“Justin is great academically, but the thing that is extra
with Justin is that he also was savvy enough to think ahead
to this,” Davidson said.
Their plan involved Simeone’s studies on campus and
in England – on a UMW Grellet C. Simpson International
Scholarship – to study human rights law. It involved his
political science honors thesis on how the U.S., Britain,
and Israel treat terror suspects. For that research, Simeone
traveled to Tel Aviv on a UMW International Research
Grant and interviewed politicians, military officials, and a
justice of the Supreme Court of Israel.
Simeone joined the UMW club Students Helping
Honduras, a relief organization that started at Mary
The first Mary Washington graduate to
receive a Fulbright Scholarship was Barbara
Malone Maxwell ’84, who studied in
Germany in 1984. She was followed by Rola
Abimourched ’04, who studied in Jordan
in 2004, and Matthew Kirchner ’06, who
studied in Germany in 2006.
The U.S. Congress began the Fulbright
Scholar Program in 1946 to “enable the
government of the United States to increase
mutual understanding between the people
of the United States and other countries.”
The largest program of its kind, it has
helped nearly 265,000 scholars pursue their
interests. Sponsored by the U. S. Department
of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural
Affairs, the Fulbright Scholar Program for
students, scholars, and professionals is
administered with the help of the Council for
International Exchange of Scholars.
Washington and now includes chapters at 15 East Coast
universities. He traveled with SHH to work alongside some
of the poorest Honduran residents to build an orphanage
addition, a school, and homes. He is board chairperson of
the non-profit group, which has raised more than $200,000
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