Schwam-Baird

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University graduate Michael Schwam-Baird '02 has been awarded a Marshall Scholarship to attend Oxford University, where he will pursue a master's degree in economic and social history. Schwam-Baird is a native of Jacksonville, Fla.

Schwam-Baird applied for the award while enrolled as a College Scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell, where he focused on literature, theory and writing.

"The flexibility of the College Scholar program gave me the room I needed to pursue my many interests," said Schwam-Baird. "I am very excited and honored to be a Marshall Scholar and to represent Cornell in England. I plan to use my time [at Oxford] to synthesize my interests -- literary and social theory, literature, economic justice, organizing and writing."

Since graduating in 2002, Schwam-Baird has worked as a researcher and organizer for the Service Employees International Union and managed a language and cultural exchange program in Ocotal, Nicaragua. There he taught English and worked with members of a farm cooperative seeking to become "fair trade certified" for coffee export.

Schwam-Baird was one of 40 U.S. students selected from approximately 1,000 applicants for the Marshall Scholarship, which was established in 1953 by an Act of Parliament. The award commemorates the ideals of Gen. George C. Marshall, who spearheaded the post-World War II European Recovery Programme, now commonly known as the Marshall Plan. Along with the Rhodes Scholarship, it is the pre-eminent fellowship for Americans to study in the United Kingdom. It is funded by the British government and is administered, in the United Kingdom, by the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission and, in the United States, by the British Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Including Schwam-Baird, 29 Cornellians have been offered the scholarship since 1962.