UA Junior Kendra Key Wins Truman Scholarship

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Kendra Nicole Key, a University of Alabama junior from Tuscaloosa, is the recipient of a prestigious 2009 Truman Scholarship for students who show exceptional leadership potential and who are committed to careers in government, the nonprofit or advocacy sectors, education or elsewhere in the public service.

Key is one of 60 Scholars selected from among 601 candidates nominated by 289 colleges and universities.

The Truman Scholarship provides up to $30,000 in funding to students pursuing graduate degrees in public service fields. Students must be college juniors at the time of selection. The foundation also provides assistance with career counseling, internship placement, graduate school admissions, and professional development.

Scholars are invited to participate in a number of programs: Truman Scholar Leadership Week, The Summer Institute, The Truman Fellows Program, and the Public Service Law Conference. The foundation’s Web site is at http://www.truman.gov/index.htm.

Key, a political science major and member of the Honors College, initiated the University of Alabama Recycling Initiative, is lobbying for state legislation regulating the commercial tax preparation industry and helped to raise more than $40,000 for Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

Key is the 2008-2009 Blackburn Institute student chair and received the 2008 Capstone Hero Award. She also received the 2009 Realizing the Dream Horizon Award from the Martin Luther King Jr. Realizing the Dream Committee. Key intends to study public interest law and obtain a master’s degree in environmental policy and resource management.

Key, the daughter of Nathaniel and Betty Key, graduated from Paul W. Bryant High School in 2006 and attends Friendship Missionary Baptist Church.

In 2007, Dr. Madeleine Albright, the president of the Truman Foundation, named UA a Harry Truman Foundation Honor Institution for its success in winning Truman Scholarships and fostering outstanding public servants.

The recruiting, educating and promoting of the best and brightest students is the mission of the Honors College, whose creation in September 2003 affirms The University of Alabama’s commitment to empower students to achieve the very top of their potential, and then be rewarded for that achievement. The program’s Web site is at http://honors.ua.edu/index.shtml.

The department of political science is part of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All-American Teams.